Sunday 21 June 2009

Option 3: Installing Noctua NH-U9B CPU Cooler








This Austrian Heatsink was really expensive. It might not be a good idea to install this heatsink for AMD 6400+ because it didn't show a good result. But I will put the method in case you have bought this accidentally or if someone suggested to you. So far, other three heatsink options are performing better than this. The only best staff from Noctua is the fan. Every Noctua Fan is performing great: less noise and lots of airflow.


Open up the box and take out everything. You need some staff for bending as well.




Please note that installing third party heatsink like this one requires a bending work. But it is not difficult if you have a proper materials like a pair of pliers.


1) Prepare the followings.



We don't need the smaller size of Mounting Bars by the way. (above)





And you need TWO ADDITIONAL SCREWS, WASHERS, and NUTS
My local stores in London were full of IDIOTS and I couldn't get the proper ones.
So I made up WASHERs by cutting the back slot cover. PLEASE GET THE PROPER WASHERS. It is better not to imitate what I am doing here. But I will show you what I did anyways.....







I had to prepare 4 washers due to the screws (they are so THIN!!) but I couldn't make 4th one so I simply used the red nuts that that was included in the package.





And finally the above mounting brackets.


2) Pick up the plies and hold the edge of the Mounting Bar shown below:




Bend the material to the direction shown. We need this to be installed on the motherboard shown below.



Screw tightly once you have correctly done.


3) The next thing is to use the additional two screws, washers and nuts to tighten up the mounting brackets.
I DIDN'T HAVE THEM SO I MADE THEM UP. It is a shame I need to say this over and over again...




Please don't laugh at me.......


4) Screw them on the heatsink.




OR


If you want to change the direction of heatsink, you have to prepare the bigger mounting brackets (Below)




...and screw them




NOTE: if you want to change the direction of the heatsink, you need to change the direction of ONE of the mounting bars on the motherboard.


If you have used the proper washers and nuts, your heatsink now should look like this (Below)





5) Finally, use the following screws to screw it up (Below)





and the Result You should get.





If you have changed the direction of the heatsink by screwing the bigger mounting brackets, the result should be something like below.






I changed the direction of the fan too.


6) the Temperature result

I did a Prime95 CPU stress test and got the following results:

Idle temp: 28C~36C Average 34C

Load temp: 48C~60C Average 55C


When I did the testing, I tested for FULL HEAT. The load temp of 60C was from that test. You may or may not get such temperature because I did a bit of overclock with this heatsink. (the reason why I did the test with overclocked CPU is because I wanted to see how much this heatsink can handle)

I have listed the GPU and HDD temp as well.




Have you noticed that the GPU and Hard disc temp is rising over time??



The temp didn't change anymore from this stage.



Right!. This is not a good result but it is ACCEPTABLE (if you don't overclock)
The problem is due to the case design. The hot air do not go out from the back properly. The actual heatsink is doing it's job though.

I have also installed TWO Noctua fans and pushed the air from the back to front and this actually improved the cooling efficiency. You might want to try that out. But please note that this noctua fan is not effective on the new phenom CPU as the new ones produced more heat than I have expected. Please go back to the content to read about my new rig.


Pros:
Provide space so that you can install double slot Graphic card (need to make hole at the back)
Easy to mount two Noctua 92mm Fan which is effective
Quiet operations

Cons:
Too expensive.
GPU temp +10-15
Hard Drive Temp +15
Case get really hot and PSU gets really hot

You can also make a hole on the side and install additional fans (preferably thin 80mm ones) Please go to additional fan section back at the table of contents. Thank you.


Although this is the expensive method to cool the CPU but it is very quiet and this is the main reasons for buying noctua products in my opinion.




( I will update this section if necessary)

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