Noctua NH-U9S CPU Cooler

I added an extra NH-A9 PWM fan for a push/pull. According to what I have read this will give you about 3C more play room on CPU temps. The unit is asymmetrical. It looks odd at first but it is actually an advantage. The cooler can be mounted in any direction you want. By using the off-center to my benefit I was able to point the outflow out the top of the case and still not cover the South Bridge on my MB. Regular install would cover 1/2 of one of the most visually appealing parts of the MB. I just built this computer this week so I don't have any numbers to report. Under a light-to-moderate load the temps barely move. The specs i have read show this cooler coming close to an AIO in performance. ... update 10/09/2017 I read somewhere that a CPU cooler on the Intel ... MoreI added an extra NH-A9 PWM fan for a push/pull. According to what I have read this will give you about 3C more play room on CPU temps. The unit is asymmetrical. It looks odd at first but it is actually an advantage. The cooler can be mounted in any direction you want. By using the off-center to my benefit I was able to point the outflow out the top of the case and still not cover the South Bridge on my MB. Regular install would cover 1/2 of one of the most visually appealing parts of the MB. I just built this computer this week so I don't have any numbers to report. Under a light-to-moderate load the temps barely move. The specs i have read show this cooler coming close to an AIO in performance. ... update 10/09/2017 I read somewhere that a CPU cooler on the Intel i7 6700K needs to have the heat pipes oriented vertically. My original install had them going horizontally and temps were high. I pulled the cooler, cleaned everything and reinstalled with the fans blowing out the back, heat pipes vertical on the CPU. BTW, the thermal compound from the 1st install was nice and even - the Noctua mounting system did a good job of spreading it. Temperatures are from AIDA64 Extreme stress test; run 10+ minutes each time; in degrees Centigrade. Heat pipes horizontal: average CPU temperature 83.5; max 94 Heat pipes vertical: average CPU temperature 71.6; max 82 ... end update ASRock Fatal1ty Z170 Gaming-ITX/ac Intel Core i7-6700K Noctua NH-U9S CPU cooler Corsair SF600 600W SFX G.Skills TridentZ 16 (2x8) DDR4 3200 ASUS R9 Nano GPU Samsung 950 Pro 512MB OS drive Samsung 850 Pro 512MB storage Ncase M1 V5

Due to the ease of installation, I was able to try out this cooler in many configurations. First with the one included fan in push & pull [and] in vertical and horizontal mounting. Then I did the same with 2 fans. For context, my rig is a I7-10700K with a RTX 3070, 25c ambient (summer) and a cheap-ish case with average (at best) airflow. In my experience, this cooler is not adequate for serious overclocking on a high-core count CPU. I have not been able to finish a benchmark (blender bmw 2.93.1) before hitting 99c (my personal limit) in stock (5.1Ghz) settings. I find about 1.25-1.3v (usually around 48-4900mhz all cores) to be about the max it can handle. Does much better gaming (lower workload). If you're looking for an air cooler under $100, and are running a ... MoreDue to the ease of installation, I was able to try out this cooler in many configurations. First with the one included fan in push & pull [and] in vertical and horizontal mounting. Then I did the same with 2 fans. For context, my rig is a I7-10700K with a RTX 3070, 25c ambient (summer) and a cheap-ish case with average (at best) airflow. In my experience, this cooler is not adequate for serious overclocking on a high-core count CPU. I have not been able to finish a benchmark (blender bmw 2.93.1) before hitting 99c (my personal limit) in stock (5.1Ghz) settings. I find about 1.25-1.3v (usually around 48-4900mhz all cores) to be about the max it can handle. Does much better gaming (lower workload). If you're looking for an air cooler under $100, and are running a stock I7 or an unlocked I5/Ryzen 5, I think this merits strong consideration, but plan on buying a second fan.

Good heatsink, but the compatible CPU list is misleading and mounting was difficult.Brack lists this as compatible with the LGA 1366 socket. However, the box does not contain the right mounting kit for this socket. I needed to order the NM-I3 mounting kit from Noctua (https://noctua.at/en/nm-i3-mounting-kit). This is free but requires 2 weeks to ship.When the mounting kit finally arrived I discovered it didn't work with my case (HP Z400), which interferes with the backplate. I was finally able to get something working using a combination of brackets from the NM-i3 and screws+standoffs from the AMD kit. I realize that HP deserves more blame for this problem than Noctua, but there should have been some warning about the mounting kit requirements.The heatsink ... MoreGood heatsink, but the compatible CPU list is misleading and mounting was difficult.Brack lists this as compatible with the LGA 1366 socket. However, the box does not contain the right mounting kit for this socket. I needed to order the NM-I3 mounting kit from Noctua (https://noctua.at/en/nm-i3-mounting-kit). This is free but requires 2 weeks to ship.When the mounting kit finally arrived I discovered it didn't work with my case (HP Z400), which interferes with the backplate. I was finally able to get something working using a combination of brackets from the NM-i3 and screws+standoffs from the AMD kit. I realize that HP deserves more blame for this problem than Noctua, but there should have been some warning about the mounting kit requirements.The heatsink itself is well made and the fan is reasonably quiet. The instructions were clear (or would be for a standard motherboard).Brack should include a better description and pictures of the included mounting hardware. However I can recommend the product if you're sure about compatibility.