Unsurprisingly Noctua have another heatsink around. The company famous for making some of the best fans and heatsinks are dropping another heatsink aimed at bringing solid performance with a small size. The NH-U9S uses either a single NF-A9 fan with optional dual fan support. The heatsink has offers 100-percent RAM comparability and zero issues with all Intel ITX boards and most AMD based boards. The 95x95mm footprint is aimed at mini-ITX boards with limited space between Socket and PCI-E slots. Heatsinks design wise we have a 9cm size with 5 heatpipes. It has a 125mm height.
The NH-U9S offers the usual Noctua SecuFirm2 mounting system, making it as easy as other Notcua heatsinks to install. We have also the standard 6 year warranty as well. Below are some key points for the NH-U9S offering.
- Award-winning NH-U series
The NH-U9S stems from Noctua’s award-winning NH-U9 series. First introduced in 2005, the NH-U series has become a standard choice for premium quality quiet CPU coolers and won more than 800 awards and recommendations from leading international hardware websites and magazines. - S version with better compatibility
Like its bigger brothers NH-U12S and NH-U14S, the NH-U9S features a revised, slimmer layout: Whereas the NH-U9B SE2 was 120mm deep with its two stock fans, the NH-U9S is asymmetrically built and measures only 95mm with its single, more efficient NF-A9 fan, thus providing better performance and compatibility at the same time. - 100% RAM compatibility
With its 95x95mm footprint, the NH-U9S does not overhang the RAM slots on current Intel and most AMD mainboards. This gives the user full access to the memory modules and guarantees 100% compatibility with tall heatspreaders or optional memory fans. - 100% compatibility with PCIe cards on mini-ITX
Many Intel LGA115x based mini-ITX mainboards have the PCIe slot sitting right next to the 95x95mm socket zone. While larger coolers that exceed this zone are likely to block the PCIe slot, the 95x95xmm sized NH-U9S provides full compatibility with PCIe cards, be it on ATX, microATX or ITX.
[accordion title=”Full Specifications” id=”specs”]
| Socket compatibility | Intel LGA2011-0 & LGA2011-3(Square ILM), LGA1156, LGA1155, LGA1150 & AMD AM2, AM2+, AM3, AM3+, FM1, FM2, FM2+ (backplate required) | |
| Height (without fan) | 125 mm | |
| Width (without fan) | 95 mm | |
| Depth (without fan) | 68 mm | |
| Height (with fan) | 125 mm | |
| Width (with fan) | 95 mm | |
| Depth (with fan) | 95 mm | |
| Weight (without fan) | 524 g | |
| Weight (with fan) | 618 g | |
| Material | Copper (base and heat-pipes), aluminium (cooling fins), soldered joints & nickel plating | |
| Max. TDP | see TDP guide | |
| Fan compatibility | 92x92x25 | |
| Scope of Delivery |
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| Warranty | 6 Years | |
| Fan specifications | ||
| Model | Noctua NF-A9 PWM | |
| Bearing | SSO2 | |
| Max. Rotational Speed (+/- 10%) | 2000 RPM | |
| Max. Rotational Speed with L.N.A. (+/- 10%) | 1550 RPM | |
| Min. Rotational Speed (PWM, +/-20%) | 400 RPM | |
| Max. Airflow | 78,9 m³/h | |
| Max. Airflow with L.N.A. | 62,6 m³/h | |
| Max. Acoustical Noise | 22,8 dB(A) | |
| Max. Acoustical Noise with L.N.A. | 16,3 dB(A) | |
| Input Power | 1,2 W | |
| Voltage Range | 12 V | |
| MTBF | > 150.000 h | |
[/accordion]
The NH-U9S
The well package heatsink comes wrapped in cardboard. The nice packaging makes for a pleasurable unboxing. Which is always nice!
Noctua are stars when it comes to supplies. As you would hopefully expect from a heatsink manufacturer, everything you need is there to install the heatsink. Including NT-H1 Thermal paste.
The 5 heatpipes spread through the heatsink should do a great job displacing the heat pretty quickly.
The included NF-A9 is a 92mm PWM fan. Noctua also included a Low-Noise adapter to drop the RPM from the maximum 2,000 down to 1,550. The fan includes Noctua’s SS02 bearing, offering the familiar level of precision and stability.
Testing
Test setup
Intel Core I7 4770k CPU
Gigabyte Z87X-OC Motherboard
Kingston HyperX Predator 2400Mhz
Corsair AX1200 PSU
It’s time to take a look at some results. Both stock and Overclock are below. Our tests are done using OCCT with 64bit mode/AVX/90-percent RAM. The Overclock tests are with the 4770k running at 4.4GHz @1.26V.
Stock Tests
| Heatsink | Ambient Temperature | Delta Temperature | Max Temperature |
| Noctua NH-U9S 1 Fan | 19 | 68 | 87 |
| Noctua NH-D9L 1 Fan | 18 | 67 | 85 |
| Noctua NH-U12S 1 Fan | 20 | 65 | 85 |
| Noctua NH-U14S 1 Fan | 21 | 63 | 84 |
| Noctua NH-D14 1 Fan | 21 | 62 | 83 |
| Noctua NH-D15 1 Fan | 22 | 60 | 82 |
| Noctua NH-U12S 2 Fans | 20 | 59 | 79 |
| Noctua NH-D14 2 Fans | 21 | 59 | 80 |
| Corsair H100i | 21 | 55 | 76 |
| Noctua NH-U9S 2 Fans | 19 | 55 | 74 |
| Noctua NH-D15 2 Fans | 22 | 54 | 76 |
| Noctua NH-U14S 2 Fans | 21 | 54 | 75 |
| Noctua NH-D9L 2 Fans | 18 | 52 | 70 |
Overclock Tests
| Heatsink | Ambient Temperature | Delta Temperature | Max Temperature |
| Noctua NH-U9S 1 Fan | 19 | 74 | 93 |
| Noctua NH-D9L 1 Fan | 18 | 74 | 92 |
| Noctua NH-U9S 2 Fans | 19 | 69 | 88 |
| Noctua NH-D9L 2 Fans | 18 | 68 | 86 |
| Noctua NH-D14 1 Fan | 21 | 67 | 89 |
| Noctua NH-D15 1 Fan | 22 | 66 | 88 |
| Noctua NH-D14 2 Fans | 21 | 66 | 87 |
| Noctua NH-U12S 2 Fans | 20 | 66 | 86 |
| Corsair H100i | 21 | 66 | 87 |
| Noctua NH-U14S 1 Fan | 21 | 64 | 85 |
| Noctua NH-U14S 2 Fans | 21 | 62 | 83 |
| Noctua NH-D15 2 Fans | 33 | 60 | 82 |
Conclusion
While the NH-U9S doesn’t offer the same level of performance as its giant siblings, espcially when overclocking comes into play. The stock results show the NH-U9S can definitely pull its own weight.. and then some. The aim of the heatsink is to get it into a small form factor, where space concerns are a big deciding factor of what components you can use. The NH-U9S will offer peace of mind when it comes to those decisions. It’s a silent heatsink in a tiny package, that won’t cause any space issue.
Overclocking performance isn’t on the level anyone should feel comfortable with, due the temp being right on the threshold of the 4770k. A hot summer day would easily push that limit too far, even with a second fan.
When building a small from factor rig, the user will have to make those important choices. Luckily the NH-U9S does a pretty great job while staying tiny. We can definitely see it being a solid choice for those looking to build a nice tiny but powerful computer.
