Testing
We will be testing the Noctua NH-U9S in our Intel X79 system.
It is comprised of the following components.
Processor: Intel Core i7-4960X Extreme Edition
Motherboard: ASUS P9X79 Pro
Video Card: Sapphire R9 280X Toxic
Memory: 16GB Kingston 10th Anniversary
Power: Thermaltake Toughpower DPS G 850W Power Supply
Storage: 750GB SATA II Drive
Cooling: Noctua NH-U9S
Case: Cooler Master Cosmos II with 5 fans
For testing we will be using the Intel Burn Test with the AVX instruction set. We use this instead of Prime 95 as it will push the processor much harder. We have it set on the maximum setting and let it run through 3 passes. This gives us a realistic idea of the temperatures the processor would hit when it is under full load.
Keep in mind this is an Extreme Edition processor. These run much hotter than normal chips so keep that in mind. We have three different test setups with the Noctua NH-U9S. First we ran it with a single fan at normal speeds, then again using the included low-noise adapter, then finally a third test with a second NF-A9 PWM fan installed. First up are our idle temperatures.
Now for the load test.
As you can see the NH-U9S does a great job!
