Threadripper Cooling Comparison - Noctua CPU Cooler Differences

### Article: Noctua CPU Coolers Comparison for AMD’s TR4 Threadripper Socket

#### Introduction

Hey guys, Jarrod here, and today we’re going to check out three different CPU coolers from Noctua that support AMD's TR4 Threadripper socket. We’ll be comparing their performance in terms of temperatures and overall system volume at both stock clock speeds and while overclocked.

I originally bought the largest model available, the NH-U14s, for my 16-core AMD Ryzen 1950X CPU. However, I wondered if it’s possible to save a little money by opting for a smaller and cheaper cooler that might still deliver similar performance. So, I reached out to Noctua and asked if they’d be willing to provide their other two Threadripper coolers—the NH-U12s and NH-U9—that also cover the full TR4 socket. Thankfully, they agreed, and we’re here with all three coolers for a comprehensive comparison.

#### The Main Differences Between the Coolers

The first obvious factor we’ll consider is the size of the heatsink. The NH-U14s that I purchased initially is the largest among the three, followed by the NH-U12s, and then the NH-U9 being the smallest.

One thing worth noting is that while the NH-U14s covers the first PCIe slot on my ASUS ROG Zenith II Extreme motherboard by default, it does have the ability to lay off-set the heatsink by three or six millimeters if needed. Fortunately, I didn’t encounter any coverage issues with the smaller coolers during testing.

Here’s a quick breakdown of the specifications:

- **NH-U14s**: Comes with a 140mm fan and weighs 1,030 grams.

- **NH-U12s**: Features a 120mm fan and weighs 870 grams.

- **NH-U9**: Includes two small 92mm fans and actually weighs slightly more at 895 grams, owing to the extra fan.

What makes all these coolers special is that they provide full coverage of the Threadripper IHS (Integrated Heat Spreader), which should result in better cooling compared to other coolers that use the ASA tech bracket.

#### Testing Methodology

For this comparison, I’ll be testing all three Noctua coolers with my AMD 16-core Ryzen 1950X Threadripper CPU at both idle and under full load, using stock clock speeds and overclocked settings.

To simulate a realistic workload, I chose Cinebench R23, as research suggests it’s more representative of real-world performance compared to something like Prime95. All tests were conducted in an ambient room temperature of 20 degrees Celsius, with temperatures allowed to stabilize for half an hour before each test.

#### Temperature Performance

Let’s start by discussing the idle temperatures. As expected, the larger NH-U14s cooler performed the best at idle, both at stock speeds and when overclocked. However, there was only a small difference of one to two degrees between the coolers during idle.

Under full load at stock speeds, the differences became slightly more noticeable, but they were still fairly close. When we pushed the CPU to an overclock of 3.9 GHz across all 16 cores, we began to see a larger disparity in performance. The NH-U14s outperformed the NH-U12s by almost 8 degrees Celsius under load. Interestingly, the smaller NH-U9 didn’t fare much worse than the NH-U12s, which I found surprising given its size. It seems that the extra fan on the NH-U9 helps compensate for its compact design.

#### Noise Levels

Noise is another critical factor when selecting a CPU cooler. For this test, I measured the overall system noise rather than just the CPU fans. The case fans ramp up and down automatically based on CPU temperatures, so it should provide a fairly real-world example of what you can expect.

At idle, the coolers performed similarly in terms of volume, with only slight variations when overclocked. Interestingly, I found that the larger NH-U14s was slightly louder at idle but quieter under full load compared to its smaller counterparts. Given that I’ve run much lower-powered laptops that easily reached 55 decibels, I’m impressed by how quiet these coolers are, even with the demanding task of cooling a 16-core Threadripper CPU.

#### Final Thoughts and Recommendations

It’s important to note that there are other Threadripper chips with fewer cores that might produce less heat. For example, the 12-core Ryzen 1920X or 8-core Ryzen 1900X would likely run cooler than the 16-core Ryzen 1950X I tested here. However, since I don’t currently have those lower-tier Threadripper CPUs to compare against, we’ll focus on the cooling differences with the top-end chip, which should provide a worst-case scenario for these coolers.

Based on my testing, running at stock speeds, any of the three Noctua coolers would handle the Ryzen 1950X without issues, both at idle and under full load. However, when overclocking is introduced, the smaller coolers start to struggle a bit more. If you’re planning on buying a Threadripper and overclocking it, I’d highly recommend going with the larger NH-U14s cooler if you have the physical space in your case.

I initially planned to use this air cooler as a temporary solution until more all-in-one coolers became available that cover the full Threadripper socket. But after my testing, I’m more than happy with the results of these Noctua coolers and will be sticking with the NH-U14s for some time to come.

#### Conclusion

If you’re interested in seeing the full benchmarks from this Threadripper system, make sure to subscribe to my channel for a separate video on that topic. In the comments below, let me know which cooling solution you’ll be using for your Threadripper setup and don’t forget to leave a like if you found this information useful!

Thanks for watching, and don’t forget to subscribe for more tech videos like this one.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey guys Jarrod here and today we're going to check out three different CPU coolers from Noctua that AMD's tr4 thread ripper socket and see how they perform both in terms of temperatures but also overall system volume at both stock clock speeds and while overclocked I originally bought the largest model available the Nhu 14s for my 16 core 1950 X CPU but then I wondered if you could save a little money and get a smaller and cheaper cooler with perhaps similar performance so I reached out to not to her and asked if they'd be willing to provide their other two thread Ripper coolers that also cover the full tier 4 socket the Nhu 12s and Nhu 9 and they were happy to help out so huge thanks to them for that let's first discuss the main differences between these three coolers so we know what we're comparing the first obvious factor is the size of the heatsink where the U 14s that I purchased first is the largest of the lot followed by the U 12s and then the u 9 being the smallest as you can see here the U 14s actually covers the first PCIe slot of myasu seemeth extreme motherboard by default however it does have the ability to lay you off set the heatsink by three or six millimeters and I didn't have any coverage issues with the smaller coolers the U 14s comes with a 140 millimeter fan and weigh is one thousand and thirty grams the u 12s comes with a 120 millimeter fan and weighs 870 grams while the u 9 comes with two small and ninety-two millimeter fans and actually weighs slightly more 895 grams owing to the extra fan what makes all these cool as special is that they have full coverage of the thread Ripper IHS which should provide better cooling compared to other coolers that use the ASA tech bracket I'm going to be testing these three coolers with my AMD 16 core 1950 X thread Ripper CPU at idle and under full load birth with stock clock speeds and overclock to 3.9 gigahertz I simulated full system load using a 264 and this was chosen as from my research it appears to be a more realistic workload when compared to something like prime95 and I was after something closer to real-world than absolute insanity for this test all tests were also completed with an ambient room temperature of 20 degrees Celsius and I waited for of a half an hour for the temperatures in each test to stabilize first we'll discuss the idle temperatures as expected we can see that the larger you 14s cooler performs the best at idle both had stock speeds and overclocked however there's only a small difference of one to two degrees from one call to the next down the line while running at stock speeds under full load there's a little more difference however the results are still fairly close together only with a 3.9 gigahertz overclock across all 16 calls do we start to see a larger difference with the u 14s performing almost 8 degrees Celsius better than the u 12s while overclocked the u 9 was only a little worse off than the u 12s which I found interesting based on its size I thought it would be worse off it looks like the extra fan is helping it out it is possible to what a second fan to the U 14s and u 12s however that wasn't tested here as I don't have additional fans and I've tested with the fans that you'd get if you bought these coolers yourself calling performance isn't the only concern let's next take a look at how loud the system got with each cooler for this test I'm measuring the overall system noise rather than just the CPU fans and the case fans should ramp up and down based on the CPU temperatures automatically so although this test depends on the fans off my case hopefully it's a fairly real-world example of what you could expect to see or I guess here in this case for reference the case I'm testing in is the thermal take u 71 it's got quite a lot of openings for air between the tempered glass in the case we can see its stock speeds the idle volumes are very close together with a little more variance when overclocked at idle interestingly I found that the larger coolness was slightly louder at idle but quite under full load overall I'm pretty impressed with the system volumes i've run much lower powered laptops that easily reached the 55 decibel mark and 16 calls is quite a lot more to cool now it's important to call out that there are other thread ripper chips with less cause that probably run cooler than what i've got here in this particular example i've got the 16 core 1950 x which will likely produce more heat compared to the 12 core 1920 x or 8 core 1900 x cpus I don't currently have those lower-tier thread Ripper CPUs to compare against so for now we'll just be getting an idea of the cooling differences with the top-end chip which I actually think is better as it should provide more of a worst case scenario that these coolers would be dealing with based on these tests it seems that running at stock speeds any of the three knocked over coolers seemed fine with the 1950 X at birth idle and full load are when overclocking is introduced two things start to get a little worse off for our smaller coolers if you're planning on buying thread Ripper and overclocking it I definitely recommend the larger u 14s cooler over the others if you have the room to physically fit it inside your case I was originally planning on using the air cooler as a temporary solution until there were more all-in-one cooler options available that cover the full thread ripper socket but after my testing I'm more than happy with the results of the nocturnal coolers and I'll be sticking with the U 14s for some time to come I'll have full benchmarks of the thread Ripper system in a separate video so make sure you subscribe to that if you're interested let me know down in the comments which cooling solution you'll be using for thread Ripper and leave a like on the video if you found the information useful thanks for watching and don't forget to subscribe for future tech videos like this onehey guys Jarrod here and today we're going to check out three different CPU coolers from Noctua that AMD's tr4 thread ripper socket and see how they perform both in terms of temperatures but also overall system volume at both stock clock speeds and while overclocked I originally bought the largest model available the Nhu 14s for my 16 core 1950 X CPU but then I wondered if you could save a little money and get a smaller and cheaper cooler with perhaps similar performance so I reached out to not to her and asked if they'd be willing to provide their other two thread Ripper coolers that also cover the full tier 4 socket the Nhu 12s and Nhu 9 and they were happy to help out so huge thanks to them for that let's first discuss the main differences between these three coolers so we know what we're comparing the first obvious factor is the size of the heatsink where the U 14s that I purchased first is the largest of the lot followed by the U 12s and then the u 9 being the smallest as you can see here the U 14s actually covers the first PCIe slot of myasu seemeth extreme motherboard by default however it does have the ability to lay you off set the heatsink by three or six millimeters and I didn't have any coverage issues with the smaller coolers the U 14s comes with a 140 millimeter fan and weigh is one thousand and thirty grams the u 12s comes with a 120 millimeter fan and weighs 870 grams while the u 9 comes with two small and ninety-two millimeter fans and actually weighs slightly more 895 grams owing to the extra fan what makes all these cool as special is that they have full coverage of the thread Ripper IHS which should provide better cooling compared to other coolers that use the ASA tech bracket I'm going to be testing these three coolers with my AMD 16 core 1950 X thread Ripper CPU at idle and under full load birth with stock clock speeds and overclock to 3.9 gigahertz I simulated full system load using a 264 and this was chosen as from my research it appears to be a more realistic workload when compared to something like prime95 and I was after something closer to real-world than absolute insanity for this test all tests were also completed with an ambient room temperature of 20 degrees Celsius and I waited for of a half an hour for the temperatures in each test to stabilize first we'll discuss the idle temperatures as expected we can see that the larger you 14s cooler performs the best at idle both had stock speeds and overclocked however there's only a small difference of one to two degrees from one call to the next down the line while running at stock speeds under full load there's a little more difference however the results are still fairly close together only with a 3.9 gigahertz overclock across all 16 calls do we start to see a larger difference with the u 14s performing almost 8 degrees Celsius better than the u 12s while overclocked the u 9 was only a little worse off than the u 12s which I found interesting based on its size I thought it would be worse off it looks like the extra fan is helping it out it is possible to what a second fan to the U 14s and u 12s however that wasn't tested here as I don't have additional fans and I've tested with the fans that you'd get if you bought these coolers yourself calling performance isn't the only concern let's next take a look at how loud the system got with each cooler for this test I'm measuring the overall system noise rather than just the CPU fans and the case fans should ramp up and down based on the CPU temperatures automatically so although this test depends on the fans off my case hopefully it's a fairly real-world example of what you could expect to see or I guess here in this case for reference the case I'm testing in is the thermal take u 71 it's got quite a lot of openings for air between the tempered glass in the case we can see its stock speeds the idle volumes are very close together with a little more variance when overclocked at idle interestingly I found that the larger coolness was slightly louder at idle but quite under full load overall I'm pretty impressed with the system volumes i've run much lower powered laptops that easily reached the 55 decibel mark and 16 calls is quite a lot more to cool now it's important to call out that there are other thread ripper chips with less cause that probably run cooler than what i've got here in this particular example i've got the 16 core 1950 x which will likely produce more heat compared to the 12 core 1920 x or 8 core 1900 x cpus I don't currently have those lower-tier thread Ripper CPUs to compare against so for now we'll just be getting an idea of the cooling differences with the top-end chip which I actually think is better as it should provide more of a worst case scenario that these coolers would be dealing with based on these tests it seems that running at stock speeds any of the three knocked over coolers seemed fine with the 1950 X at birth idle and full load are when overclocking is introduced two things start to get a little worse off for our smaller coolers if you're planning on buying thread Ripper and overclocking it I definitely recommend the larger u 14s cooler over the others if you have the room to physically fit it inside your case I was originally planning on using the air cooler as a temporary solution until there were more all-in-one cooler options available that cover the full thread ripper socket but after my testing I'm more than happy with the results of the nocturnal coolers and I'll be sticking with the U 14s for some time to come I'll have full benchmarks of the thread Ripper system in a separate video so make sure you subscribe to that if you're interested let me know down in the comments which cooling solution you'll be using for thread Ripper and leave a like on the video if you found the information useful thanks for watching and don't forget to subscribe for future tech videos like this one\n"