In-depth Look

The Noctua NH-U9B comes packaged in a very professional looking package with features and information on the engineering Noctua have put into it. The window on the box gives a peek of the included fan.

In the box you receive the NH-U9B cooler, SecuFirm™ mounting kits for LGA & AM2(+), common parts (such as mounting clips for fans), Ultra-Low-Noise-Adapter (U.L.N.A.), Low-Noise-Adapter (L.N.A.), NT-H1 high-grade thermal compound and an instruction booklet. The instruction booklet tells you how to how to install your AM2 CPU on the left and on the right it tells you how to install your LGA775 CPU.

The NH-U9B has four U-shaped heatpipes. It is lightweight at only 460g and is constructed of copper and aluminium. The base and heatpipes are nickel plated.

The NH-U9B is only 125mm tall, so it can fit in cases with little space. It’s also only 70mm wide meaning it probably won’t interfere with memory slots or other motherboard components and cables you have installed.

The NH-U9B has a totally flat base for maximum surface area contact with the CPU. Noctua included a 92mm fan labelled the NF-B9 which uses clever engineering to reduce noise without reducing performance.

One thing we noticed about this heatsink compared to the others we’ve looked at is the fin ‘population density’. Compared to most other heatsinks we’ve seen, the Noctua’s has more fins per given length compared to others. This was probably done to keep the fin surface area as high as possible thus dissipating more heat.