Noctua NH-U9S, Premium CPU Cooler with NF-A9 92mm Fan (Brown)

I usually wait a while before coming back to review a product, to see how things work out over time. This time I'll make an exception ... I have a i3 Skylake build for my home office. My CPU monitor was consistently pinging me that my temps were going over 80c under normal use...under idle, it usually hovered around 50 to 60. The case was free of dust and temps in the room were always not nearly hot enough to explain it. Opened my case up yesterday to install a new vid card and decided to also get rid of the original Intel fan and get a better solution. I searched Amazon and this option popped up on top of the list. The reviews and feedback were so good I only scanned a few other options before coming back to this one and pulling the trigger. Same day delivery was an added bonus! Installation is a bit of a project, but nothing anybody with a bit of experience with this kind of thing can't handle. On most mobos you will need to remove the whole board to get the included mounting bracket on the back. As a bonus its nice they include a (necessary) long screwdriver for the main mounting screws, and some quality thermal paste. The entire kit is very solid, quality materials. I mounted mine so the fan directly faces the rear fan in my case. That way the cooling fan pulls air through the block across the CPU, and the rear fan sucks it out the back of the case. Super quiet I hardly know its even on. I recommend searching YouTube for tutorials, I found a couple of guys that walked through the details of how they got it installed with minimal hassle and no errors. Always a huge help and makes it go that much smoother. Immediately after installation I booted up and checked the CPU monitor. CPU temp now hovers under 30c (27 / 29) at idle. In fact, with about 10 Brave tabs open and normal clicking around / typing, its *still* right there at the same temp. Does not even rise at all! Running 3 YouTube videos in separate tabs ... still does not even budge. I haven't tried any rendering or anything that seriously taxes the CPU yet but for normal every day use this thing is doing its job like a champ! Can't speak to long term use but based on all the positive reviews I'm confident its most likely going to continue to do so!

I was recommended this cooling system for my 13th gen i7 because it was overheating real bad i was not sure about a air cooled when people tell you that the only way to go is liquid cooled but i do have to give it to this cooler i play lots of games and my temps used to go up to almost 100c and now under load the max i see is around 50c to 70c max and its super nice when gaming. I have had my system for a couple of years now and it works great for the price point and compatible with most fans. It fits in the case and super quiet. The build quality is nice and should stand the test of time. All round great solution when on a budget.

I have been building PC's for over 30 years. So I have seen it all. Done it all. And went through all the trends with cooling, performance bumps and efficiency. Cooling is one of those things that things can go wrong even when all else is right. I bought a couple of these Noctua NH-U9S coolers because they were the best cooling for the footprint I had to work with (4U Size Server Rack Cases). These perform well IF you get a second fan for a push / pull configuration. Sure 1 fan is fine, but you really need to ensure your airflow is optimal. And believe me the extra money for a second fan is well worth it for this package size. If you do that this is a decent cooler. You cannot OC on this cooler, and in some cases even stock CPU speeds will be throttled a bit depending on how long you keep cycles pegged. It's a solid buy. If you do have room for something taller, Noctua makes other products better suited for a case with more room which you should definitely do.

Using this together with an additional NF-A9 rear fan on a Predator Orion 630 i7. On load, cpu temp min 61C, avg 65C and max 74C, running auto in predator sense which is a significant improvement over stock cooler at 80-90C on auto. Previously I have to run both the stock cooler+rear fan and intake at 60% custom speed to keep it under 85C but it was loud, even more annoyingly loud if I were to switch to gaming mode. I do not have to mess around with predator sense config file after the swap. Installation was easy. Note that the stock rear fan has a higher RPM(3k+, 2 female plug) than NF-A9 (1967, 1 female plug, 1 low noise, 1 Y and an extension cable). This package comes with thermal paste as well. You will need m3 x 12mm screws x 4 pieces and thermal compound remover not included.