Thermalright Ultima-90 vs Noctua NH-U9B SE2

[solofly]

I can't find any reviews between these two so can you guess and tell me which do you think is a better cooler...(just these two)

 

[gorobei]

ultima90 is no longer produced.

 

[solofly]

Yes I know but I have two them and was wondering if by any chance Noctua might be better...(I personally don't think it is but second opinion or in this case 'guess', is always helpful)

 

[sgaliger]

I have the noctua NH-U9BSE and am happy with it. Don't know too much about the Ultima 90. As I understand it, the main advantages of the Noctua are that it comes with 2 fans so you don't have to buy them separately (which apparently doesn't matter for you) and it has "quieting" resisters that you can install to lower your fan speed to reduce noise. Performance-wise, it's worked fine for me on a I5-750 overclocked to about 3.2 mhz and I rarely break 50 degrees. I doubt it would be worth the upgrade unless you wanted a quieter fan(s).

 

[gorobei]

ultima @ 6 heatpipes > noctua @ 4 pipes

only exception would be if noctua was 8mm pipes

 

[Fallen Kell]

ultima @ 6 heatpipes > noctua @ 4 pipes

only exception would be if noctua was 8mm pipes

Number of heatpipes is NOT everything... placement of the heatpipes on the CPU and even distribution of the heatpipes and joints with fins has a LOT to do with it. One of the reasons why the orochi with its full 8 heatpipes (not 4 heatpipes in a U shape which are then "counted" as 8), gets beat by 3 heat pipe designs like the Vendetta (let alone the Vendetta 2 with its direct attached heatpipes).

 

[c0balt]

I found a couple reviews (older version of the Noctua) and their performance was about the same. Maybe the newer Noctua is slightly better? But unless you can go to a larger size cooler I'd think your best bet is to keep chuggin with the Ultima's.

 

[gorobei]

I found a couple reviews (older version of the Noctua) and their performance was about the same. Maybe the newer Noctua is slightly better? But unless you can go to a larger size cooler I'd think your best bet is to keep chuggin with the Ultima's.

Number of heatpipes is NOT everything... placement of the heatpipes on the CPU and even distribution of the heatpipes and joints with fins has a LOT to do with it. One of the reasons why the orochi with its full 8 heatpipes (not 4 heatpipes in a U shape which are then "counted" as 8), gets beat by 3 heat pipe designs like the Vendetta (let alone the Vendetta 2 with its direct attached heatpipes).

ultima has always outperformed noctua. anand's review showed it beating its bigger brother the u12f.
http://www.anandtech.com/casecoolingpsus/showdoc.aspx?i=3068&p=6

direct comparison
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/coolers/display/noctua-thermalright-zalman_15.html#sect0

 

[solofly]

Thanks for that chart...(it's good to know there is nothing better under ~148cm in height, nothing taller will fit in my case)