Noctua NH-D9L CPU Cooler

Using the Noctua NH-D9L with a Ryzen 5 3600 (unclocked) on a Gigabyte B450M DS3H motherboard, with 32G of RAM.The fan is really quiet even under load, the temp never seems to rise above 40 c compared to 50-60 c with the stock fan. Under load it is running 3 Linux VM's to compile and build source code.It was easy to install and left plenty of room round the CPU and the RAM. I was going to add another fan to the cooler, there is an extra clip in the kit, but think it is fine as it is. The instructions were easy to follow and it was well packaged.The cooler was discounted I think so for me it is excellent value for money.

Amazing cooler! (Ryzen 3900x)

I purchased a Ryzen 3900x recently and this cooler does a good job keeping that 12 core monster cool. I've got it overclocked to 4.3ghz on all cores very good temps. 40-50c idle, goes up 85c under the heaviest load which I'm content with that. I'm surprised how quiet this cooler is as well. I've got the fan on performance mode in BIOS and doesn't make a sound. Awesome job Noctua, you've earned a loyal customer. Highly recommend this cooler to anyone using Ryzen chips and potentially want to overclock.

Be carefule when mounting

Overall I am ecstatic with the performance of this heatsink! Running it on a Core i9-9900k and haven't gone over 35°C yet! Opted to use Arctic Silver thermal compound over their stuff they include with the package, so I can't review it's effectiveness. This isn't their largest heatsink, but still quite large! Double check all the specifications to ensure proper fit before you buy. Mine did fit, but the mounting area and lower portion of the heatsink sticks out quite far, and the online specs don't show enough information to ensure proper fit in this area prior to purchase. On my Asus TUF Z390 MOBO, I have probably less than 1/2" clearance between the RAM, the rear panel and the heatsink... very close fit, but does in fact fit. Just something to keep in mind! Still ... MoreOverall I am ecstatic with the performance of this heatsink! Running it on a Core i9-9900k and haven't gone over 35°C yet! Opted to use Arctic Silver thermal compound over their stuff they include with the package, so I can't review it's effectiveness. This isn't their largest heatsink, but still quite large! Double check all the specifications to ensure proper fit before you buy. Mine did fit, but the mounting area and lower portion of the heatsink sticks out quite far, and the online specs don't show enough information to ensure proper fit in this area prior to purchase. On my Asus TUF Z390 MOBO, I have probably less than 1/2" clearance between the RAM, the rear panel and the heatsink... very close fit, but does in fact fit. Just something to keep in mind! Still an outstanding heatsink... just know, it's big. Trying to engage the screws from the heatsink to the mounting plate was a huge pain! I accept it could very well just be my own human error, but it took me at least 15-20 minutes fiddling with one side, then the other, all the while trying to not press down too hard and bending the radiator fins (very pliable, but that's to be expected). Many of curse words were used, but eventually I found the right ones and it decided to listen to me and the screws engaged. So just know, you might have to persuade or motivate the mounting screws to engage. Still 5 eggs due to it's performance!

Good cooler, relatively silent

I use it with 65W TDP cpu - Ryzen 7 5700X. I did no expect miracles. The temperature at idle is around +14 deg more than ambient. Good results especially that I have only 1 additional fan in minitower chassis.The cpu temperature jumps immediately from around 34C to 65-70C (max 78C for around 2 sec) when loaded e.g. compilation of ffmpeg (make -j16). I opened the chassis (side wall removed) and no difference in temperatures, so ventilation of the minitower chassis is not a problem.I used that Ryzen 7 5700X with the stock cooler from my old Ryzen 5 1600 and the temperatures in the same PC were quite close to what I observe with Noctua NH-D9L. Of course the stock AMD cooler from R5 1600 was so noisy for RPM of the fan > 60%.Noctua NH-D9L is a good cooler 65W TDP ... MoreI use it with 65W TDP cpu - Ryzen 7 5700X. I did no expect miracles. The temperature at idle is around +14 deg more than ambient. Good results especially that I have only 1 additional fan in minitower chassis.The cpu temperature jumps immediately from around 34C to 65-70C (max 78C for around 2 sec) when loaded e.g. compilation of ffmpeg (make -j16). I opened the chassis (side wall removed) and no difference in temperatures, so ventilation of the minitower chassis is not a problem.I used that Ryzen 7 5700X with the stock cooler from my old Ryzen 5 1600 and the temperatures in the same PC were quite close to what I observe with Noctua NH-D9L. Of course the stock AMD cooler from R5 1600 was so noisy for RPM of the fan > 60%.Noctua NH-D9L is a good cooler 65W TDP like Ryzen 7 5700X, but the CPU must not be loaded heavily. Currently I have around 20C in the apartment. Hard to imagine what can happen during the summer and ambient temperature 30C.

Great

1-year later edit: I managed to thermal-throttle my CPU when running some AI stuff on all cores (100% utilization for ~35 minutes) and the temperature rose to ~90-100C, causing the speed to fall to 4.5 - 4.6 GHz (average across all cores, P cores were at ~5GHz and E cores at ~4GHz, max is 5.4 GHz), which is still pretty good, and even then was still pretty quiet. Other than, it's been running perfectly well. I have not needed to add an extra fan.

Great cooler

I've been using Noctua coolers for years in my builds, and have nothing bad to say about the cooler itself. The only reason I'm giving a lower rating is the wait on an LGA1700 adapter. It's being sold as compatible out of the box since December, yet mine didn't have the adapter. I've been waiting for 10 days now since putting in my request for the free mounting kit, and still no shipping confirmation. I have everything else ro build my new system, including the thermal paste that shipped from HK in a standard mail packet. It's rather aggravating, coming from one of my favorite products.

If you can install a NH-D15, this one's a breeze!

Yes I recommend this product to others & most certainly will buy it again, as soon as my budget allows for another. One thing I'd like to recommend is the purchase of an extra NF-A9 PWM fan when purchasing & install using the extra fan clip & cable to combine both into one port (some MB's has only one for CPU Fan). This will reduce temps a bit more versus the single fan. Especially with a hot running CPU, such as the FX-8350/8370, some Phenoms & various Intel models. Some runs cool naturally, others on the hot side, seems like all of mine are in the latter group. Although I'll stop short of recommending this for the FX-9xxx series, these are most likely to benefit from either a large (NH-D15) air cooler, or liquid (where I don't want to go!). While this cooler ... MoreYes I recommend this product to others & most certainly will buy it again, as soon as my budget allows for another. One thing I'd like to recommend is the purchase of an extra NF-A9 PWM fan when purchasing & install using the extra fan clip & cable to combine both into one port (some MB's has only one for CPU Fan). This will reduce temps a bit more versus the single fan. Especially with a hot running CPU, such as the FX-8350/8370, some Phenoms & various Intel models. Some runs cool naturally, others on the hot side, seems like all of mine are in the latter group. Although I'll stop short of recommending this for the FX-9xxx series, these are most likely to benefit from either a large (NH-D15) air cooler, or liquid (where I don't want to go!). While this cooler obviously isn't the NH-D15, installs exactly the same way & due to being small, much faster. Will out do any OEM supplied cooler on the market, this is nickel plated copper, not aluminum, or a hollow copper center such as many included with Intel CPU's (Haswell & older). If by chance your rig is running a bit warmer than desired & too small for a NH-D15 or other full size Noctua cooler, and this fits, go for it. Your computer will last longer, provided the cooler is blown out once yearly, as should be regardless of installed brand. No matter whether OEM or 3rd party cooler, these needs to be blown out, about every 2-3 years, will do a full clean & reapply thermal paste. By then, the fan blades (case fans also) will need a careful cleaning to remove grime for best speed & cooling efficiency. This is a great product at an equally great price, don't let the size fool you! Noctua & Newegg are the BEST! Once a Noctua owner, likely will always be one, I have three coolers and (roughly) 20 case fans in use, have also doctored up a few coolers of lesser quality (because no Noctua would fit) with their fans. Not to worry, Noctua will be there (if) needed.;-)

Quiet and Cool

I'm running a Ryzen 5 3600X non-overclocked but with Precision Boost Overdrive enabled. I had been using the stock Wraith Spire cooler that the 3600X comes with for the last 6 months and finally got fed up with the noise and decided to upgrade to either a Be Quiet! or Noctua. Decided on Noctua because of their reputation and aesthetics. I'm in the minority in that I like Noctua's brown and silver color scheme. I wish more companies would make unique aesthetic choices like this rather than everything needing to be "gamer" red, black, and RGB, but I digress. I've seen feedback of people receiving units with no AM4 mounting brackets but mine had mounting brackets for both AM4/3/2 and Intel boards. The cooler comes with just enough thermal paste in a syringe to install ... MoreI'm running a Ryzen 5 3600X non-overclocked but with Precision Boost Overdrive enabled. I had been using the stock Wraith Spire cooler that the 3600X comes with for the last 6 months and finally got fed up with the noise and decided to upgrade to either a Be Quiet! or Noctua. Decided on Noctua because of their reputation and aesthetics. I'm in the minority in that I like Noctua's brown and silver color scheme. I wish more companies would make unique aesthetic choices like this rather than everything needing to be "gamer" red, black, and RGB, but I digress. I've seen feedback of people receiving units with no AM4 mounting brackets but mine had mounting brackets for both AM4/3/2 and Intel boards. The cooler comes with just enough thermal paste in a syringe to install it once. Installing the cooler was fine until I got to attaching the cooling towers to the mounting brackets. You need to just barely thread one side on and then do the other side. If you tighten too much on the side you start on you won't be able to get the other side to thread. It was an extremely finicky process and took several tries to get right. This is the only negative I have to say about this cooler. Firing my PC back up after install I launched Cinebench R20 to compare thermals to the stock AMD Wraith Spire cooler. I was immediately surprised by the lack of the distinctive whine of the Wraith Spire winding up under load I was so used to. I initially thought the benchmark wasn't running yet and had to double check Cinebench. This thing is whisper quiet! With the NH-D9L my 3600X maxed out at 72.4C after running Cinebench R20 for 10 minutes which is an improvement of around 7C over the Wraith Spire. I am very happy with this, though better thermals are secondary to me as my main reason for upgrading was to stop the noise. I don't think I'll ever settle for a stock cooler again. Definitely recommend Noctua.

Solid cooler

I bought this on the recommendation of some Internet colleagues, who insisted Noctua's products were excellent. It was competing against the Zalman passive cube monster for my money. I have used Zalman products before and have been pleased, but the deciding factor in favor of the Noctua was that this product could be firmly secured to the CPU and motherboard at multiple points, with no twisting. Zalman, after all these years, still relies on a single bracket to hold down a 1 pound hunk of metal, which can still rotate in place. This fan is being used in a midtower case with 1 case fan to cool an i7-3770k (LGA 1155) running at the stock 3.5GHz. The stock Intel fan is alright, but this product is much quieter. The room is air-conditioned, but can still get up to the ... MoreI bought this on the recommendation of some Internet colleagues, who insisted Noctua's products were excellent. It was competing against the Zalman passive cube monster for my money. I have used Zalman products before and have been pleased, but the deciding factor in favor of the Noctua was that this product could be firmly secured to the CPU and motherboard at multiple points, with no twisting. Zalman, after all these years, still relies on a single bracket to hold down a 1 pound hunk of metal, which can still rotate in place. This fan is being used in a midtower case with 1 case fan to cool an i7-3770k (LGA 1155) running at the stock 3.5GHz. The stock Intel fan is alright, but this product is much quieter. The room is air-conditioned, but can still get up to the low 80s F. I measured CPU temps with the ASUS AI Suite II program. Idle temps were several degrees cooler with the Noctua, on average around 33-34C. For stress testing, I used BOINC and several projects such as SETI@home and Milkyway@home, running 6-7 simultaneous tasks. With the stock Intel cooler, temps shot up to 53-54C and tended to stay up there. With the Noctua they are usually 46-48C, though I did notice it flirt with 53C today (ambient air temp was about 70F). Maybe a fluke, maybe not. The fan is noticeable at this point, but not loud unless you take the side panel off and get close to it. Conclusion: This is an effective, well-designed cooler that is quieter than the stock fan Intel ships with their CPUs. It is certainly more comfortable working at my computer with this cooler. Be warned, however: this cooler is quite large and uses ALL the specced space around an Intel socket. If you have RAM modules with tall/thick heatsinks, they may come into contact with this cooler. I have Crucial Ballistix memory (the yellow ones with heatsinks) on an ASUS P8P67 motherboard, and I was fine. Low-profile memory is not necessary.

What? I cant hear you!

My Ryzen fan was plenty quiet during idle but above 30% it starts to sound like a UFO with a bad hover drive. buzzzzzzzz booooo buzzzzzzzzzz booooo, OMG It was driving me nuts. So I bought this. Now I hear nothing. My main fans are Be Quiet shadow wings 2 and my GPU cooler is a Artic turbo 3 so what i mean to say is my system is now as quiet as silence. No Wurries! Pro's : I cant hear it, It runs at slightly cooler than the stock wraith cooler It comes with everything to do the job even a all metal screwdriver It comes with a metal Noctua badge, I really like that. It fits and works with Ryzen and can be orientated left to right or up and down fin wise. Also comes with a great big tube of CPU lube, Thermal paste that is! grey gold. Thou I used my own so I can't ... MoreMy Ryzen fan was plenty quiet during idle but above 30% it starts to sound like a UFO with a bad hover drive. buzzzzzzzz booooo buzzzzzzzzzz booooo, OMG It was driving me nuts. So I bought this. Now I hear nothing. My main fans are Be Quiet shadow wings 2 and my GPU cooler is a Artic turbo 3 so what i mean to say is my system is now as quiet as silence. No Wurries! Pro's : I cant hear it, It runs at slightly cooler than the stock wraith cooler It comes with everything to do the job even a all metal screwdriver It comes with a metal Noctua badge, I really like that. It fits and works with Ryzen and can be orientated left to right or up and down fin wise. Also comes with a great big tube of CPU lube, Thermal paste that is! grey gold. Thou I used my own so I can't speak for its heat moving quality. But a back up tube will last me for years! Con's: I can now here the ringing in my ears. knitpicking I didn't like the all metal screwdriver, its not magnetic and slippery could lead to dropping it. and I'm not in love with Noctua Blown and Light Brown color scheme ,thou I feel the color is a nice nod to anyone that knows the brand and makes you instantly say "you got a noctua" Would I recommend it. Only if you got are plan to make the rest of your system quiet. otherwise the wraithcooler sat me around 45 idle and 55-70 under load and Noctua is about 45 idle and 50-65 under load which is not that big a deal. Unless you like it quiet. I do I do Ido