Noctua launched CPU coolers aimed at mini-ITX builds late last year, and the Austrian manufacturer is now rolling out a new low-profile cooler in the NH-L9 series, the NH-L9x65. Also announced is a new NF-A6x25 PWM fan that delivers automatic speed control.

The NH-L9x65 is aimed at offering much better performance than its predecessor, the NH-L9i. WIth mini-ITX motherboards now facilitating powerful processors, there is an increasing need for CPU coolers that offer an ample amount of cooling in a small form factor. The NH-L9x65 fits the bill in that regard, with the 51mm tall cooler featuring four nickel-plated copper heatpipes for efficient heat dissipation, which is aided by an NF-A9x14 fan.

The 2500 RPM fan is quoted to run at a noise level of 23.6 dBA. Although the presence of the fan raises the height of the cooler to 65mm, Noctua has retained the 95 x 95 footprint with the NH-L9x65 as well as full compatibility with PCI-Express devices and RAM modules, which is crucial in a segment where space is at a premium.

The NH-L9x65 features Noctua’s SecuFirm2 mounting system for both Intel and AMD motherboards, and comes bundled with the NT-H1 thermal compound. While several of Noctua’s offerings are aimed at the overclocking segment, the brand has mentioned that the NH-L9x65 is ideally suited for CPUs that do not exceed a TDP of 84W. The CPU cooler will be making its way to retailers later this month, with prices starting at $52.90.

Also announced with the NH-L9x65 is a new PWN fan called the NF-A6x25. The 60mm offering comes with the new SSO2 bearing, delivers fully automatic speed control through the 4-pin fan headers, and has a Low-Noise-Adaptor to reduce the maximum speed during from 3000 to 2300 RPM. The fan will retail for $17.90.

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Corsair has been at the forefront of liquid-cooled all-in-one CPU coolers with products like the H100i and the H110, and now the vendor is rolling out a new flagship cooler that was demoed during this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, the H110i GT.

The H110i GT features a 280mm radiator, which along with two PWM 140mm fans assist in dissipating heat from the CPU. The CPU cooler is compatible with Corsair Link, which allows you to monitor the temperatures, change the LED lighting on the Corsair logo and more. The cooler features a new pump design and a tool-free mounting mechanism.

One drawback with the H110i GT would be space, as the 280mm radiator with dimensions of 140mm x 322mm x 27mm won’t fit into most mid-tower enclosures. Ensure that the chassis you’re buying can accommodate a 280mm radiator without any difficulties.

In addition to the H110i GT, Corsair launched the H100i GTX, which features two 120mm fans and a 240mm radiator, and the H80i GT, which also comes with dual 120mm fans with a 120mm radiator.

All three coolers can be attached to a variety of motherboards, with compatibility for Intel’s LGA 115x, 1366, 2011 and AMD AM2, AM3, FM1, FM2 sockets. The H110i GT is retailing for $119, while the H100i GTX is available for $109. The H80i GT is selling for $89. All three models come with a five-year limited warranty.

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Noctua is a well-known manufacturer of cooling solutions, with its unique brown-colored line of heatsinks considered to be one of the best available in the market. The Austrian-based manufacturer launched a new line of heatsinks late last year, with one model – the NH-D9DX i4 3U – aimed at LGA2011 socketed servers, while the other two – the NH-U9S and NH-D9L – targeted at consumers.

Noctua has several heatsinks in the 120mm to 140mm category, and now with the 92mm offerings it is looking to target smaller form factors like mini-ITX and HTPC. The goal with the NH-U9S and NH-D9L is to provide a similar amount of performance as the larger heatsinks albeit in a much smaller footprint.

NH-D9L overview

The NH-D9L is a dual-tower cooler with a fan at the center. There is also the ability to attach another fan to create a push pull mechanism. The fan in question, the NF-A9, is PWM controllable, and has custom rubber and nylon inserts to prevent it from coming into contact with the heatsink, mitigating noise levels in the process.

The NH-D9L sits lower than other offerings from Noctua in this series and is designed to slot into smaller form factor cases with ease. The 95x95mm footprint means that it won’t come into contact of any expansion slots or memory modules. Clearance of 110mm means that it is significantly lower than the larger products in the NH-D series, like the NH-D14, which has a height of 160mm.

Coming to the heatsink itself, the base and heatpipes of the NH-D9L are made out of copper, with aluminium the material of choice for the fin stack. There are 35 aluminium fins on either stack, and the design of the NH-D9L is such that the fan is larger than the fin stacks, sticking out at the top and bottom. The four heatpipes traverse through the fin stack, culminating in spikes at the top. The surface of the heatsink is not quite mirror-like, but it is smooth and flat, which is what is needed in this case.

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Antec announced today that it has a new model coming out in the GX family of chassis: the GX300.  The case joins the GX900, GX700, and GX500 of which all are mid-tower cases.  The GX300 cases are the entry point into the GX family, and these cases will come in windowed and non-windowed styles.

 The case is painted black inside and out that will provide a much nicer looking setup, especially with the windowed variant.  The USB, audio jacks, and power/reset buttons are located on the top of the case  with a fan controller to switch the case fans between high and low speed operation.  This board supports graphics cards up to 400mm long, CPU coolers up to 140mm tall while supporting ATX, mATX, and mini-ITX motherboards.  For the price the case is a rather sharp looking case for the low cost that it will be retailing for.  The price and the looks of this case will definitely make it a popular option for those who are budget minded and looking for a new case.  The GX300 is covered by Antec’s standard  3 year limited warranty.

Specifications

• Chassis color: Black
• 6 drive bays
• 6 x 3.5″ / 2.5″ drive trays
• Motherboards: Standard ATX, microATX, Mini-ITX
• 7 expansion slots
• Maximum graphics card size: 15.7″ (400 mm)
• Maximum CPU cooler height: 5.5″ (140 mm)

Cooling System:

• 2 x 120 mm top exhaust fan (Optional)
• 1x120mm rear exhaust fan pre-installed
• 2 x 120 mm front intake fan (Optional)

Front I/O ports:

• 1x USB 3.0 High Speed USB port
• 1 x USB 2.0
• 1 x Audio I/O (HD97)

Unit Dimensions:

• 485 mm (H) x 180 mm (W) x 475 mm (D)
• 19.09″ (H) x 7.08″ (W) x 18.70″ (D)

Net Weight:

• 5.45 kg

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Austrian hardware vendor Noctua launched three new CPU coolers geared at different use cases. The NH-U9S and NH-D9L are aimed at retail users, while the NH-D9DX i4 3U is targeted at the enthusiast segment with LGA2011 socket compatibility. All three models feature Noctua’s NF-A9 PWM 92mm fan.

The NH-U9S and NH-D9L are being offered as successors to the NH-U9B SE2, and Noctua states that both models come with additional improvements including better performance, compatibility and PWM support.

The NH-U9S has an asymmetric design and comes with five heatpipes. The cooler has been designed in such a way as to not obscure expansion slots, and the 95mm x 95mm footprint goes allows you to install memory modules with heat sinks with ease.

With the NH-D9L, Noctua is targeting system builders looking to install a CPU cooler in HTPCs and other small factor devices. The cooler has the same footprint as the NH-U9S, but has a shorter clearance of 110mm when seen against the 125mm of the NH-U9 series. The NH-D9L comes with four heatpipes.

The NH-D9DX i4 3U is similar in design to the NH-D9L, but comes with mounting brackets for LGA2011 sockets for both Square ILM and Narrow ILM Xeon platforms. The cooler also works with LGA13x6-based processors.

Noctua has carved out a niche for itself thanks to its quiet CPU coolers, and with its latest line, the vendor is continuing the trend. As is now considered standard, all three recently announced models come with Noctua’s NT-H1 thermal compound and a six-year warranty. The NH-U9S and NH-D9DX i4 3U will be available shortly for $59.99, while the NH-D9L will cost slightly lesser at $56.90.

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Since its launch in 2012, Thermalright’s Macho CPU cooler has been lauded as an efficient cooler that strikes a balance between performance and noise levels. Today, the vendor is launching a special edition called the HR-02, or Macho Zero, that takes things to an entirely new level as far as noise levels are concerned.

Thermalright tweaked the design of the original CPU cooler with an added focus on silent operation, which resulted in the Macho Zero becoming a fanless CPU cooler with passive cooling. The cooler features six 6mm thick copper heatpipes feeding into the black anodized aluminium fin stack, which have been optimized for lower air resistance. There’s an oval duct in the center of the fin stack that the vendor claims “provides controlled air turbulence” for enhanced cooling.

The Macho Zero has dimensions of 140mm x 102mm x 162mm, which means that users will not have any issues in fitting the cooler into most mainstream mid-tower enclosures. Thermalright claims that the fanless design is adequate for mid-tier non-overclocked CPUs. But if users are looking to push their systems to the limit, the vendor is also offering an active mode that lets users attach 120mm or 140mm fans to the sides of the cooler to maximize airflow. The fan brackets come in black to match the color of the cooler, and Thermalright is also offering 140mm PWM controlled fans designed specifically for the Macho Zero.

The CPU cooler comes with mounting kits that fit all AMD (AM2/AM2+/AM3/FM1/FM2/FM2+) and Intel (LGA775/1366/1156/1155/2011/1150/2011-3) sockets, two grams of Thermalright’s Chill Factor 3 thermal paste, a pair of white cotton gloves as well as a magnetic screwdriver and two anodized black fan brackets.

In total, the Macho Zero features three modes: a passive mode with a fanless design, an active mode through which air is circulated via fans attached through the fan brackets, and a semi passive mode in which the cooler uses the rear exhaust of the chassis to direct air away. While the two former configurations will be made available widely, the semi passive mode version will only be available on MindFactory in Germany. The standard Macho Zero retails for $60, and is set to launch soon.

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As company description explains, this company has extremely long lead-times, needed for implementation into designs of computers from manufacturers such as Dell, HP, Acer and many others. If we take into account that the mainstream Nehalem platform (Lynnfield and Clarkdale processors, probably branded as Core i3 & i5) is set to debut this summer, it’s no wonder that i5 design appeared on AVC’s website five months before introduction.

This cooler fits almost all sockets on the market - including the upcoming LGA-1156 ;)

The company now lists several products compatible with LGA-1156 socket, from OEM solutions (competing for the boxed cooler contract) to a retail multi-heatpiped beast called Napoleon (Plus). In order to win the OEM contracts for enthusiast-class machines, Napoleon (Plus) fits inside the Intel Socket Load Limit policies – e.g. weighs in exactly 450g. A lot of enthusiast coolers weigh more than double that, and while it may be ok to keep a 1000 gram cooler mounted vertically on a horizontally mounted motherboard (e.g. testbed configuration), it is definitely not ok to keep such a monster in a chassis. Napoleon (Plus) has no such issues and can be mounted on any LGA-1156 motherboard without additional strengthening.

For the end of this post, we can probably state that most or even all LGA-1366-compatible coolers can support LGA-1156 processors as well.

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