It is safe to say that hardware enthusiasts are concerned with cooling and is one reason why there are lengthy discussions on what cooler is best. Keep in mind that ?the best? cooler is a bit of a misnomer in that a cooler appropriate for overclocking might not work well if you are building a super stealthy system. Likewise, going with inexpensive coolers for the sake of replacing an OEM heatsink isn't the right approach either as it may not be sized properly to give adequate performance.

In this review we will be looking at the Noctua NH-D9L D-Type heatsink. This is a cooler we got to see last year at Computex and were rather amazed that they would attempt a smaller heatsink given their prevalence for 140mm+ designs. The purpose here is to complement the push for smaller form factor machines and still deliver superior cooling performance with near silent operation.