Noctua NH-U9B SE2 Review
Packaging & Initial Impressions
Published: 31st August 2010 | Source: Noctua | Price: £44.99 |
Packaging & Initial Impressions
The NH-U9B's packaging follows Noctua's standard theme of maroon on black. The front of the box reveals one of the heatsink's two 92mm fans. Opening the box from the top reveals two further containers inside.
One box contains the heatsink's accessories, the other contains the NH-U9B itself. As far as accessories are concerned, you are provided with two separate mounting kits (1 x AMD, 1 x Intel), two fans and an instruction manual.
The cooler itself directly resembles its bigger brother, the NH-U12. It features a dense fin structure and four (albeit not direct contact) heatpipes. All in all, the U9B manages to offer a large workable surface area, particularly thanks to its larger depth.
The fans are mounted by means of small metal clips, which link with indents in the heatsink as shown below.
The quality of the base is very reasonable; while not a shiny finish, it is flat and scratch free. The general build quality is to a high standard; levels beyond similar sized heatsinks such as the Arctic Freezer Pro. That said, its price tag and target audience is different.
The installation process is intuitive enough and results in a very tight fit. All in all we spent just under ten minutes fitting the NH-U9B.
Most Recent Comments
If they started churning out tens of thousands of units of a £10 cooler their high end would suffer more than the drop in price would suggest.
They are onto a good thing and steadily growing, one of my favourite brands even if I hate with a passion their colour scheme.
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Originally Posted by alexhull24
I agree with all your sentiments guys, except the colour scheme. I actually quite like it, if only because it's become synonymous in my mind with top quality kit. I don't think they should change that. Nice to see you posting here Yewen. |
shame its not a dh14 beater
Not this cooler -it's sporting a 92mm fan- no way is that going to beat the king of all air coolers, the DH14. I don't think there's a single air cooler on the market that can beat the DH14....
Nice review for a great product! For a smaller cooler, I think the temps are actually pretty freekin' good!! OC'd to 4ghz and only about 60c seems good to me, esp for a small 92mm cooler!
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Originally Posted by dlb
Not this cooler -it's sporting a 92mm fan- no way is that going to beat the king of all air coolers, the DH14. I don't think there's a single air cooler on the market that can beat the DH14.... Nice review for a great product! For a smaller cooler, I think the temps are actually pretty freekin' good!! OC'd to 4ghz and only about 60c seems good to me, esp for a small 92mm cooler! |
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Originally Posted by Yewen
Noctua have the low volume high quality low tolerance manufacturing down perfectly. If they started churning out tens of thousands of units of a £10 cooler their high end would suffer more than the drop in price would suggest. They are onto a good thing and steadily growing, one of my favourite brands even if I hate with a passion their colour scheme. |
Guys, remember that this isn't supposed to be a NH-D14 killer; at least not when its so much smaller! For its size it does a fantastic job and I'm sure it will suit a large number of users. It does sit a little too close (price wise) to more capable coolers for my liking but no one can knock the build quality of their units!
This appears to be a Noctua (lite) or the diet version, but surely Noctua wouldn't release a product just to fit one type of CPU.
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