A little while ago I mentioned in my review of the Noctua NH-D9L low profile dual tower cooler (which I found to be a reasonable product for its target market) that the manufacuter had updated its popular NH-U9B SE2 tower cooler with two new models as of November 12th, 2014. Today I'll be looking at one of these models, the NH-U9S U-Type tower cooler, to find out how well it performs.

The NH-U9S is designed to fit into the same spaces as the older NH-U9B SE2, but it ships with only one fan. The heatsink now incorporates two additional heat pipes for improved CPU cooling. The fan included with the NH-U9S is the NF-A9 PWM premium fan, which has higher maximum rotational speed able to move over an additional 14 cubic feet of air per minute at 5 more decibels of noise. Noctua supplies a second set of mounting clips for a dual fan setup.

The one item that you might find similar between these tower cooler models is the SecuFirm2 mounting system, but the kit for the newer NH-U9S does have some differences. The Intel LGA1115x option uses a square-shaped fixed-screw back plate instead of an X-shape plate with selectable screw slots, and the nickel plated copper heat sink plate already has the fastening brackets attached. If you need past or future socket compatibility for your NH-U9S, you can obtain the optional NM-13 mounting kit for LGA 1366 or 775 Intel processor sockets directly from Noctua for free.