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Noctua Nh-U9B SE2 cooler testing

Table of contents

1. Introduction

2. Packaging and delivery set

3. Installation

4. Testing

5. Conclusion

Introduction

Many people know the Noctua NH-U9B tower cooling system, which, despite its compact size, copes well with cooling rather hot processors. Recently, the Austrian manufacturer of cooling systems Noctua decided to upgrade its range of coolers. For example, the Noctua NH-C12P model received a larger fan and became known as Noctua Noctua NH-C12P SE14. The Noctua NH-U9B cooling system has suffered a similar consideration. The updated model Noctua NH-U9B SE2 acquired two identical turntables, and the old model was decided to be removed from the lineup. In this review, we will figure out whether the updated version of the cooler has become more efficient and whether the second fan is of much use. At the same time, we will conduct testing and find out its real performance.

Packaging and delivery set

Noctua NH-U9B SE2 comes in a box decorated in the best traditions of Noctua. The box itself contains all the important information that will be useful to a potential buyer. Overall dimensions and installation diagram are indicated directly on the package. That is, the cooling can be installed without looking at the instructions. It is further clarified on one side that this product is an upgraded version of a well-proven model. The mounting system has also become more versatile. The new model supports Intel LGA 1156 and 1366 sockets.

The short instructions are supplemented by the more extensive ones included in the delivery set. There are two of them - for Intel and AMD platforms. For ease of installation, there is a screwdriver with a long handle. The cooler will be blown by two well-known Noctua NF-B9 fans. These turntables have a number of advantages that have a beneficial effect on the noise level and overall performance of the cooler. The blades have special cutouts to reduce noise, and the bearing is hydrodynamic and magnetically suspended.

You can adjust the speed of rotation thanks to special adapters supplied with the cooler. This is L.N.A. - Low Noise Adapter and U.L.N.A. - Ultra Low Noise Adapter. They differ in the color of the connectors: black is L.N.A., and blue is U.L.N.A. The first one reduces the speed of revolutions to 1300 rpm, the second even more - to 1000 rpm, the noise during operation should be 7.9 dB.

The kit also found a place for high-quality thermal paste Noctua NT-H1, which has proven itself well among enthusiasts. There are four screws to provide a good grip on the processor. The fan can be secured with two steel brackets, making sure to insert vibration-absorbing rubber pads between the fan and the radiator. Since the mounts for sockets AM2, AM2 + and AM3 are identical, they use the same set of mounts - two metal frames, screws and plastic stands. For the Intel processor family, there is an adjustable plate that fits the LGA 775, 1156 and 1366 sockets.

Four heat pipes are responsible for transferring heat from the base to the radiator fins. The thickness of the plates is quite large, and is 0.5 mm, and the distance between them is 1.75 millimeters. At such a distance, dust will accumulate for a very long time, and the moment of cleaning can be delayed for a long time. The array of aluminum plates is at a height of 40 millimeters, which indicates wide compatibility with motherboards, where the power circuit is covered with high coolers, for example, Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD5. Also, the RAM slots closest to the processor will not be blocked by the cooling system, and such memory as Geil DDR3 can be easily accommodated.

The tower arrangement of the radiator does not carry any innovations and know-how, only the edges of the fins are made in waves to reduce noise during operation.At the same time, the quality of contact with the heat pipes is reinforced with solder, which will have the best effect on the overall performance. In general, equipping the cooling system with two fans from the factory is not the most common solution, especially with such expensive turntables as the Noctua NF-B9. Although two fans working together will create improved airflow through the fins, the efficiency of the system will not increase significantly, and the price will have to be increased exactly as much as the additional fan costs.

Installation

The fans are fastened with steel brackets for a special eyelet in the radiator fins, so you can also supply a 92 mm wide profile fan, such as the Zalman ZM-F2. In this case, one fan must work for blowing, and the other for blowing, while creating one flow. At the base, the heat pipes are laid in grooves and additionally soldered. The nickel-plated base has a mediocre finish, traces of processing are visible to the eye.

Compared to its predecessor, the tested cooler received an improved mounting system. The Noctua Nh-U9B SE2 uses spring-loaded screw frames, which simplifies the mounting process and makes the clamping more even. When installing on platforms with an AMD processor, there should be no problems with installation, and it is traditionally simpler than on Intel. There is no need to remove the motherboard to mount the cooling system. The mounting bracket simply needs to be screwed onto the retaining plate on the socket. At the same time, a traditional drawback inherent in the AMD platform appears - there is no way to put the cooler so that the heated air is thrown out through the back wall of the system unit. An alternative would be only the direction of the flow towards the power supply unit, and all the worries about the release of heated air outside the system unit will be transferred to it.

Installation on Intel platforms has also been simplified, and now it is possible to install a cooling system on all modern processors. The installation should go without problems, if you do not take into account the fact that you will have to first remove the motherboard and install the reinforcing plate. The screws used to secure the plates are specially made large so that they can be tightened by hand first and then tightened with a screwdriver. On the Intel platform, the cooler can be placed in all four possible ways, which increases its versatility and, if properly installed, can slightly improve its performance.

Testing

Efficiency measurements were carried out on Intel Core i7-960 and AMD Phenom II X6 1055T processors for testing, except for Noctua Nh-U9B SE2, its predecessor with one Noctua NH-U9B fan was included, and Scythe Katana 3 was taken separately to complete the picture. For full load, we used the stress test of the processor in the AIDA 64 package. On the Intel Core i7-960 processor, the Noctua NH-U9B turned out to be the weakest, showing a result of 63 degrees. The hero of our review was able to improve the result by four degrees, and the Scythe Katana 3 turned out to be the most effective of all, with a temperature of 58 degrees Celsius. On the AMD Phenom II X6 1055T processor, the alignment of forces did not change, which only confirmed the reliability of the results. Still, two fans are better than one, the tests only confirm this.

It is also worth noting that, due to its compact size, the cooling efficiency is highly dependent on the fan speed. With a more massive radiator, like the Noctua NH-U12P, the dependence would not be so linear. During testing, the noise emitted by the cooling system was slightly below average at maximum rpm. Using special adapters, you can reduce the fan speed and make the cooler silent.

Output

With its compact dimensions, the Noctua NH-U9B SE2 cooler shows relatively high efficiency and low noise level. The manufacturer was not mistaken, having increased the package bundle to two high-quality fans. This cooling system is best suited for gamers looking to build a compact and powerful system.If the case of the system unit allows you to install a larger cooler, you should take a closer look at other solutions, such as the Zalman CNPS10X Extreme, which has a clearly larger dissipation area. It's a shame that the manufacturer has discontinued the model with one fan, thereby limiting the choice of users. If you don't really need a second fan on the radiator, you can always put it in the case, for example. The advantages include the reliability of the fastening, a good-quality package, including two fans and effective thermal grease. Also, you will appreciate the high fan resource of 150,000 hours and a 6-year warranty. Unfortunately, there is no possibility of manual control of the rotation speed, and three-pin adapters do not solve this problem very much. On AMD platforms, you cannot direct heated air directly outside the chassis. Weight and dimensions, compared to its predecessor, have also increased.

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