- Review -

21.02.2013 SF3D.fi

Like you can see from the diagram, Noctua NH-L9i wins Intel stock cooler by huge margin. It did not make difference if fans were controlled by PWM or Low Noise Adaptor. Temperatures were same in both situations. Fan speed was 1900 RPM in load in both situations. Subjective noise level evaluation about NF-A9x14 PWM fan is that it is a lot more quiet compared to Intel stock cooler. Even at maximum 2500 RPM it is barely hearable from 3 meters away and from close distance we were able to hear only little whisper from air which was passing the fins of cooler. With PWM control you can have completely silent computer, when you use NF-A9x14 PWM fan.

"Noctua has once again showed us how they can improve their products year by year. Honestly, NH-L9i CPU cooler is one of the most high quality products I have ever seen in cooling components. [...] NH-L9i is a perfect choice in to some very high quality HTPC or some very silent setup. Nothing prevents you from using this cooler in any kind of setup. There is a lot more cooling capacity than in Intel stock cooler, so this is good replacement for it in any case." (Atso Tarujärvi, SF3D.fi)