Noctua NH-U9B SE2 Review

[section_title title=”Conclusion”]

Conclusion

The Noctua NH-U9B SE2 was a pleasure to install, as is every Noctua cooler, but did it perform well enough to pick up any awards from us today? I guess there’s only one real way to find out so let’s add up the positives and negatives to determine an outcome.

I was very pleasantly surprised to find out that it could cope with a hot running Intel Core i7-4770K at 4.5GHz. It did get a little warm but that’s to be expected with its size and also with the nature of the Haswell CPU as they have a habit of running extremely hot anyway. While it isn’t the coolest in the world, it far outdid my expectations in terms of its cooling performance and the noise levels at which it operated. All Noctua fans are notorious for providing good airflow and static pressure whilst remaining as quiet as a Noctua fan always is. It’s quite unlikely that you will have a high overclock on something such as a HTPC but if it is being used as a gaming system as well as to serve its HTPC duties, an overclock may be desired to give the system that extra bit of grunt. However, that’s ultimately not my say, and it is down to whether the end user would want to overclock for maximum performance or opt for the sweet silence that it offers with the voltage reduction cables in place.

The cooler may not score highly in the looks department but in most cases where it would be used, in my mind, would be in a concealed case anyway rather than being put on display. Noctua may not produce the most extravagant coolers to appeal to one’s eyes but they do perform well enough to omit that.

As this Noctua uses the SecuFirm2 mounting kit, the same mounting kit as every other Noctua cooler that I can think of, it was a breeze to fit it. It’s simple, quick, and effective too. It’s a near enough hassle free installation and I applaud Noctua for implementing it across their entire range as there are some right pain in the rear end coolers out there to mount (which I shall not name).

So with all of that said, it’s probably time to give it a final say and possibly an award. For the money, it’s a brilliant cooler. It may be a little expensive compared to some other coolers on the market but you have to remember that it comes with two premium Noctua fans which on their own retail for over £10 each, so that’s £20 of the £45 gone on just two fans, and then you need to factor in the cooler too, as well as its accessories, and then you realise that it isn’t all that bad after all. However, had the cooler come in at sub £40, it would be an absolute steal. With all of that in mind, and due to the admirable way that it performed, I feel that it is a great contender for anyone looking into small form factor PCs for either a gaming or HTPC rig.

So to conclude, would I recommend this product to you? More than likely, yes! If the looks are the deciding factor, you’d probably want to look at a different cooler but the performance figures are usually a more dominant factor unless it is for a showcase build. It’s a great cooler, and I feel that it should walk away with an Editor’s Choice award from us today. It may not earn five stars in each category, but it’s still a great little cooler for what it is and that’s why I’ve awarded it accordingly. I’ve yet to find anything that rivals it for both performance and price factor, although there may be something out there which I’ve yet to test. If there is, I hope to get my hands on it soon so that I can put it through its paces.

I’d like to thank Noctua for providing us with a U9B SE2 sample for testing.