Visual inspection
The Noctua NH-L9x65 is the better and newer version of the NH-L9 low-profile cooler. The cooler has a weight of 413 grams with the fan installed, and a height of just 65mm, with a width & length of 95mm. The main purpose of the NH-L9x65 is to provide optimal cooling for a mid-range TDP CPU, while also being silent and having good clearance.
The heatsink uses a total of 49 aluminum made fins, these are stacked to not only maintain the straight edge of the heatsink, but to also have a perfect gap between the fins. The only design elements present on the fins are found on the sides of the heatsink, the middle fins are shorter than the rest, to allow for easy access to the mounting system screws. On the other side, the fins have grooves to allow for the metallic fan clips to mount securely on the heatsink.
The NH-L9x65 has a total of four nickel-plated copper heatpipes, each with an outer diameter of 6mm. The contact between the baseplate and the heatpipes is done through direct soldering of the two components. The endings of the heatpipes are machined smooth and have a symmetrical shape.
The baseplate of the cooler is made from nickel-plated copper and has circular marks left from the manufacturing process. Thanks to these marks, the baseplate surface has a sunburst reflective texture. This circular pattern will not affect the spread of the thermal compound.
The NH-L9x65 uses a single 92mm fan, the Noctua NF-A9x14 PWM. This fan has a maximum speed of 2200RPM and a minimum speed of 500RPM, and can be controlled through software, thanks to PWM. The main advantage of the NF-A9x14 is that it has a thickness of just 14mm, and thus, lowers the overall height of the CPU cooler.
The corners of the fan have rubber pads applied on both sides to prevent any vibrations from being passed into the system.
The cable of the fan has a medium length and is protected by high quality sleeving. The connector used is a standard 4 Pin.
