Introduction:

Noctua positions one of the main creators of personal computing cooling products, the company overcome an extensive range of enthusiasts since 2005. We all know that the quality of the Noctua products is undoubtable. The company sent us the latest additions of its cooling products, the enthusiast NH-D15S Chromax Black and the low-profile NH-U9S Chromax Black.

We recently reviewed the Noctua NH-D15S Chromax Black, the company’s top-tier performance lineup with only a single fan. Today we will also review its another product, the Noctua NH-U9S Chromax Black, a low profile 92mm heatsink with a single fan perfectly designed for Small Form Factor, Home Theater PC and mini ITX boxes. The Noctua NH-U9S Chromax Black is completely compatible with all AMD and Intel sockets.

The Chromax Black lineup with their black layered heatsinks and fans merge the similar noiseless cooling performance representative of company products with a graceful and unseen look. The Noctua NH-U9S Chromax Black is perfect for low-profile systems with multiple features such as 100% PCI Express compatibility on mini ITX boxes, 100% memory compatibility and a 92mm compact sized heatsink with NF-A9 premium fan for the purpose of heat dissipation. There is total five copper heat pipes for superb heat transfer.

Technical Specifications:

Specifications are classified in two groups, cooler specifications and fan specifications.

Cooler Specifications:

Fan Specifications:  

Inside the Package:

Like the NH-D15S Chromax Black we reviewed, the Noctua NH-U9S Chromax Black also arrives in a fully blacked theme box. The packaging of the Chromax Black series from Noctua is all the similar. The main view of the box illustrates the NH-U9S Chromax Black features 100% memory clearance and PCI Express card compatibility, Chromax Black design and a compact size of 92mm best for mini ITX systems. The right side of the box present the detailed specifications of the heatsink, NF-A9 PWM fan and the scope of delivery. Further left side shows the characteristics including the Noctua NF-A9 PWM superior cooling fan. The rear view of the box also presents the good points of NH-U9S Chromax Black.

Let’s take a look inside the box, Noctua always uses its SecuFirm2 mounting kit for their coolers because it is a complete mounting system that includes all the needy items and manuals for mounting your cooler. The NH-U9S Chromax Black heatsink with 1x Noctua NF-A9 PWM 92mm Chromax Black premium fan also inside the box.

Accessories and Contents:

• 1x NH-U9S Chromax Black Heatsink
• 1x NF-A9 PWM 92mm Chromax Black Fan
• 4x NM-APS4 Plastic Spacers for AM4
• 4x NM-APS5 Plastic Spacers for AM2(+) AM3(+) FM1/FM2(+)
• 4x NM-ALS1 Screws for AMD
• 2x NM-AMB11 Mounting Bars for AMD
• 1x NM-IBP2 Backplate for LGA115x & LGA1200
• 2x NM-IMB3 Mounting Bars for Intel
• 4x NM-IPS1 Plastic Spacers for LGA115x & LGA1200
• 4x NM-ITS1 Thumb Screws for Intel
• 4x NM-IBT2 Bolts for LGA20xx
• 1x NM-SMT2 Screw Driver
• 1x NT-H1 High Grade Thermal Compound
• 2x NM-SFC15 Clips for Second Fan
• 1x NA-RC7 Low Noise Adaptor
• 1x Noctua Metal Case Badge

Installation:

The fitting process of the Noctua NH-U9S in your system is quite easy by following the provided guidelines in the user manual. We used Intel LGA 1151 platform, you will have to place the NM-IBP2 backplate on the backside of the motherboard and put the NM-IPS1 (black) plastic spacers on the bolts of it followed by the NM-IMB3 mounting bars on top of the spacers and finally locking it by the NM-ITS1 thumb screws. It is best you use the Noctua NM-SMT2 screwdriver for better grip.

Now our brackets are done, it is time to install the NH-U9S Chromax Black but before that we need to apply the thermal compound on the processor, be sure to use the NT-H1 high grade thermal compound provided by Noctua for best cooling experience. Now install the NH-U9S Chromax Black heatsink carefully on the mounting bars and face the Noctua’s logo before the rear fan of the case. Tight the screws, attach the NF-A9 PWM 92mm Chromax Black Fan on right side and power it from the motherboard’s fan header.

Test Bench and Methodology:

The whole testing was conducted using an Antec NX 800 mid tower case with 2x 200mm stock fans which were placed at the front for intake purposes and one 1x 140mm at the back for to exhaust the hot air. All the fans were controlled by the integrated fan controller and were set at 100% fan speed. The thermal compound being used is the high grade Noctua NT-H1 and the same thermal compound is being used for other coolers to confirm comparison.

The tests were conducted on the Intel Core i7 8700K overclocked to 4.50GHz with the voltage set at 1.35V. In order to find the lowest and steadied temperature, we allowed the system to sit at idle for about half an hour and for highest temperature we utilized Prime95 to stress the system for another half an hour to find the highest level of temperature. The memory modules used in the test system is the Corsair Vengeance RGB (2x8GB) 3000MHz. The results are illustrated in delta temperature by deducting the ambient room temperature. The same method was used for other coolers as well.

Detailed System Specifications:

• Intel Core i7 8700K
• Corsair Vengeance RGB (2x8GB) 16GB 3000MHz
• Gigabyte Aorus Z370 Gaming 3
• MSI GeForce GTX 960 2GB
• Crucial 256GB SSD
• FSP 750W 80+ Bronze Power Supply
• Antec NX 800 Mid Tower Case

Software Used:

• Prime95
• HWInfo

Results:

As revealed in the final results, the Noctua NH-U9S Chromax Black showing the minimum idle temperature. The NH-U9S Chromax Black is the best 92mm cooler and idle choice for small systems and mini ITX boxes.

In maximum load, you can see the Noctua NH-U9S Chromax Black illustrates the 68c because of its 92mm small compact size with single fan but it’s not that bad, it produces only 6c higher temperature than the NH-U12S Chromax Black which presents 62c temperature but the NH-U9S Chromax Black is a masterpiece in its low-profile category. The NH-D15 Chromax Black shows the temperature at 60c, the NH-D15S Chromax Black shows 59c by decreasing 1c and DeepCool Assassin III shows the least temperature of 58c, 1c lower than NH-D15S.

During in RPM testing, the Noctua NH-U9S Chromax Black reached the max RPM of 2070. Like in maximum load testing, it is a common thinking that the NH-U9S Chromax Black requires more effort to dissipate the heat of Core i7 8700k overclocked at 4.5GHz but it is the quality and reliability from Noctua that the company’s cooler runs quiet at high level of operation. As already said, the NH-U9S is intended for small systems and mini ITX boxes and will produce better outcomes in it.

Conclusion:

Finally, we reviewed the Noctua’s another great creation. We possibly think that the original NH-U9S is previously a well-liked and awarded product but its Chromax Black paint coating is making it elegant and stealthy appearance. If you are planning to build small form factors, mini ITX boxes or other compact sized systems, the Noctua NH-U9S Chromax Black is a flawless choice because it is built to fulfil your exact need. The build quality of the NH-U9S Chromax Black is un complain able as the other company’s coolers we tested. The installation was easy and straight forward, thanks to Noctua for providing the SecuFirm2 mounting system with the cooler which contained all the necessary items includes its best high-grade NT-H1 thermal compound. We tested the cooler; the performance is pretty good at its 92mm compact size with only a single NF-A9 PWM premium fan and runs even quiet at load. With the multiple features like memory compatibility, PCI-Express card compatibility and a second optional NF-A9 PWM premium fan which can buy separately from the company, the NH-U9S Chromax Black is a complete low-profile and a compact cooling machine for your compact systems. The NH-U9S Chromax Black 92mm CPU air cooler is available at an international price of $69.95 USD. PPG 100% recommended Noctua NH-U9S Chromax Black for small and compact builds. The company provides 6 years of official international warranty of the product.

We humbly thankful to Noctua for providing us the NH-U9S Chromax Black for reviewing purpose.