Introduction

Ever since I met Chris Ram and started discussing CPU coolers with him, the name Noctua was soon to be added from his side of the conversation. Chris was sure to make sure I knew they were some of the quietest, most efficient coolers money could buy, in his opinion. He has tested and personally used some of Noctuas products before, but this is my first time looking at one of their products to gauging whether or not what Chris had told me about these CPU coolers was true.

Today Noctua has sent us the NH-U9B CPU cooler for testing along with a matching optional fan to allow for dual fan testing. The Noctua NH-U9B is a scaled down version of the NH-U12P that we reviewed some time ago. The major difference with these two coolers is that this is a 92mm fan cooled version for HTPC, or possibly even some SFF cases. This four heat-pipe cooler shows promise from what I have read in reviews of other products, as well as word of mouth from forum members and highly experienced people like Chris.

I know, technically the NH-U9B shouldn't compete with its larger brother in temperatures, but Noctua pride themselves on quiet solutions to CPU cooling. With this in mind, I would hope this cooler is in fact quiet and can still hold its own footing battling temperatures. It is time we get to opening up Noctua's NH-U9B and see if everything I have been lead to believe is true.