Noctua NH-U9B Special Edition SE 2 Review

Testing:

To put the latest performance heatsink from Noctua, the NH-U9B Special Edition SE2, to the test, I will be making a comparison of the temperatures at idle and under load. Both will be made while the CPU is at the stock voltages and clock speeds, as well as when the CPU is overclocked and 'over-volted' to show what kind of cooling performance that the this monster of a heatsink has to offer when compared to other socket 1366 compatible high performance heatsinks. These heatsinks will be tested head-to-head as they are delivered from the manufacturer. I could throw in a bunch of testing variables, but it is not what the products are capable of as delivered. To test the idle temperatures, I will allow the computer to stay idle for 30 minutes and take the idle temperature at this point. For the load testing I will use Prime95 version 25.9 and choose the blend testing and allow the processor and memory controller to heat up to the maximum temperatures. The time frame is a four hour run, to allow the temperature to peak usually in the 14K test. I will use Real temp 3.0 to take the high and low temperatures and average the temperatures generated over the four cores as my reported temperature.

Testing Setup:

• CPU: Intel Core i7 920 133x20(Stock) 166x20 Overclocked
• Motherboard: MSI X58 Eclipse
• Memory: Mushkin HP3 12800 7-7-7-20
• Video Card(s): Nvidia GTX 260-216
• Power Supply: Mushkin 800 watt Modular Power Supply
• Hard Drive: 1 x Seagate 1TB SATA
• Optical Drive: Asus DVD-R
• OS: Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit SP1
• Chassis: ThermalTake Armour +

Comparison Heat sinks:

• Noctua NH-U12P SE 1366
• Thermalright TRUE
• Noctua NH-D14

While shorter in stature and overall bulk, the NH-U9B Special Edition delivers decent results. At stock speeds it allows the processor to run a full 10 degrees Celsius warmer than the NH-D14 that in and of itself is an accomplishment considering it ran within 5 degrees Celsius of the TRUE and NH-U12P. When tested on the overclocked settings, the lack of additional fin capacity allows the gap to rise to 8 and 9 degrees warmer than the 120mm based heatsinks. It still puts in an admirable performance with no noise.