Noctua NH-U9B SE2 Review
Testbed and Temperatures
Published: 31st August 2010 | Source: Noctua | Price: £44.99 |
Testbed
Intel Core i3 530 @ 2.93GHz 1.20V | 3.60GHz 1.25V | 4.00GHz 1.30V
Biostar TH55XE
4GB Kingston HyperX DDR3-1866 C9 Memory
nVidia GeForce GTX 460 768MB GDDR5
Be Quiet Dark Power Pro 750W
Noctua NH-U9B Heatsink
Windows 7 Home Premium x64
Temperatures
Following an extensive period of idle operation, we ran Prime95's Large FFTs test until a maximum and consistent temperature was determined. The test was repeated at three different clockspeeds and voltages and with either single and twin fan operation.
Our tests have shown that that the Noctua NH-U9B is more than capable of cooling a heavily overclocked dual core processor. While the second fan in push-pull configuration failed to drastically reduce temperatures, its addition did not excessively contribute to overall system noise.
The temperatures themselves are reasonable however not among the best of the coolers we have recently tested. However, it should be mentioned that the U9B was tested on a different Core i3 530 in a room with a different ambient temperature, which will inevitably have an impact on results. As such, I choise to not compare the results directly with other Core i3 530 tests.
It would seem that temperatures are not entirely the cooler's strong point, however noise levels are a major strength due to the included fans. Let's conclude.
Most Recent Comments

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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.Quote