INTRODUCTION

   For the most part the market is filled with medium to large sized Tower CPU coolers which thanks to their high cooling efficiency are suitable for use by gamers, professionals and overclockers and small to medium sized top-down CPU coolers which offer good performance levels for their size and are mostly targeted towards people with limited space in their systems such as HTPC owners. However from time to time we do see small tower type CPU coolers which can fit everywhere and usually land between the above mentioned solutions in terms of performance. The only problem with this type of coolers is quality since most of the time we see models by manufacturers who mostly care about keeping a low cost. Noctua is amongst a handful of manufacturers that put quality and performance before cost for their products and their latest NH-U9S is one such bright example.

   Designed in Austria, Noctua's premium cooling components are internationally renowned for their superb quietness, exceptional performance and thoroughgoing quality. Having received more than 3000 awards and recommendations from leading hardware websites and magazines, Noctua's fans and heatsinks are chosen by more than a hundred thousand satisfied customers around the globe. Noctua comes from a cooperation of the Austrian Rascom Computerdistribution Ges.m.b.H. with the Taiwanese cooling specialist Kolink International Corporation, pooling more than ten years of experience in the development, manufacturing and marketing of high-end cooling components. Established in 2005, Noctua took the international silent enthusiasts' hearts by storm and quickly developed into one of the most acclaimed suppliers of premium quality quiet cooling products. Today, Noctua is present in more than 30 countries across the globe and working with several hundred sales partners. Chosen by noise conscious PC users, system integrators and industry clients alike, Noctua has become synonymous with impeccable quality, excellent customer service and class leading quiet cooling performance.

  Although very compact in size the brand new NH-U9S CPU cooler by Noctua is basically a cut-down version of their very successful NH-U14S and NH-U12S models (design-wise always) so although the large reduction in size means we can't expect similar performance (far from it actually) still we're quite curious to see how it performs. That being said the NH-U9S supports most CPU models (old and new) comes ready with an high-speed NF-A9 PWM 90mm fan and if by any chance that's not enough for some people Noctua has made it possible for users to mount a second NF-A9 PWM fan in push and pull configuration for improved cooling performance. So the time has come for us to see what our good friends over at Noctua have been working on lately.