What do you say when an unknown company sends you an email stating that their coolers are better than Thermalright, Zalman, and Skythe? Exactly, you tell them to bring it on. Noctua's email showed that they were confident of the performance of their product, so I was curious as to whether or not the NH-U9 and the NH-U12 would live up to their self-promotion. I had received similar claims from another company and was extremely disappointed when I tested their coolers.

Noctua is a new company out of Austria who only has the two products; the NH-U9 cooler designed for 80mm and 92mm fans, and the NH-U12 cooler designed for 120mm fans. Here is a little blurb about Noctua from their website:

"Noctua arises from a cooperation between the Austrian Rascom Computerdistribution Ges.m.b.H and the Taiwanese Kolink International Corporation and entertains a development partnership with the Austrian Institute of Heat Transmission and Fan Technology (Österreichisches Institut für Wärmeübertragung und Ventilatorentechnik, ÖIWV). These connections form the key to the achievement of our goal: The partnership with the ÖIWV permits the application of scientific measurement instrumentation, methods of calculation and simulation technology in the R&D process. Rascom's long, customer-oriented experience in developing and distributing sound-optimised high-end products ensures a clear focus on the users' needs. The use of Kolink's advanced manufacturing technology and ultra-modern production plants allows us to efficiently implement our technical edge and provide solutions of the highest standard in quality and performance at a fair price."

The Noctua coolers are not available in North America yet, but they have both have received very favorable reviews from European reviewers. I was looking forward to getting this pair of relatively unknown coolers on my test bench to see what they were capable of.

Package

I was a little concerned when the box containing the Noctua coolers arrived, it was sent straight from Austria and had looked like it had quite a struggle making it to the U.S. There was a packing material inside that I had never seen before, it looked like cardboard that had been run through a shredder. It must work pretty well, the contents of the box were unscathed.

Inside were boxes that were identical except for the size. I like the style and theme Noctua uses in their on package advertising, it gets all the basic information to you while still looking classy. The information is on a sleeve that surrounds a basic black box.

Opening the box the first thing I'm met with is a small installation manual written in German, English, French and Spanish. The installation manual is well written, but when I say small I mean real small. There was a point where I wasn't sure of an installation step and went to look at a picture, but it was too small to make anything out. Unfolding the flaps under the manual exposes the heatsink nestled tightly in a cardboard sleeve. The sleeve slides out and the installation hardware is packed in underneath.