In the quest for ever-higher overclocking, enthusiasts are resorting to exotic cooling on any component that plays a role in system clocking.  Aside from CPUs and GPUs, this now includes chipsets and even MOSFETs.  As such, the market is now providing tools for cooling these components. Which brings us to today’s review, the Noctua NC-U6 chipset cooler. 

     The NC-U6 is essentially a miniaturized version of their CPU heatsinks:  the NH-U12F and the NH-U9F.  Will the proven tower design commonly used on CPU heatsinks relate to effectiveness on the chipset as well?

Specifications:

 What Noctua says about their product:

 “The NC-U6 implements a miniature-version of the well proven design of Noctua's award winning NH-U coolers to cool mainboard chipsets. Sporting 2 Dual-Heatpipes, 29 aluminium fins and soldered joints for optimal heat-transfer, the NC-U6 is the ultimate solution when it comes to silently cooling today's high-end chipsets.”

 Will this live up to the ClubOC challenge?  Read on and find out! 

 Package Contents:

     The retail package of the Noctua contains everything you would expect, including the cooler, two different brackets,  heatsink grease, and a spacer for chipsets that do not have an integrated heat spreader. 

 Installation:

   Installation is fairly straightforward.  Removal of the motherboard may be necessary in order to remove the old heatsink, though sometimes you can simply pull on them to get them out.  Once the old heatsink is out, you will want to clean off the old grease and apply new grease.  Once you have determined which bracket you want to use, you will need to screw it into the base of the cooler, accessing it through the screw hole in the top.  You will want to screw it tight enough to be sturdy, but not so tight you can't adjust it.  Then simply place the cooler on the chipset, and push the pins through.  The tension of the push pins is a little bit lacking, there isn't a whole lot of pressure holding the tower down, however prior to installing you can bend the brackets up to help increase tension.

     One potential concern is with clearance.  As you can see here, there is almost no room between the tower and our RAM.  The unit can be rotated a total of 120 degrees to help with any clearance issues, so there is a good amount of flexibility for varying motherboard layouts.

We are also bumping up right against one of the capacitors.   

Test Setup:

CPU:  AMD 3700+ San Diego at 2.44GHz, 222x11
Motherboard:  Asrock 939Dual-SATAII
RAM:  Generic PC3200 2x1GB
Video Card:  9800Pro 128MB
Sound Card:  Creative Labs Audigy2 platinum

Test Methodology:

     All temps are measured with Speedfan.  Idle temps are defined by the settled temperature while the PC is at the desktop.  Load temps are achieved with Orthos running Large FFTs for 15 minutes.  Ambient temperature is 25C.  

      Not bad for upgrading to a cooler that is still passive.  This unit can be easily fitted for a 60mm fan as well, which makes for even greater cooling possibilities.

Conclusion:

     The Noctua NC-U6 is an example of trickle-down technology.  The tower design is a proven method of reducing temps on CPUs, so there is no reason why it could not work for chipsets as well.  And like the CPU versions, the chipset version may run into clearance problems.  This is something users will need to take into consideration before purchasing; thank goodness Noctua readily publishes the dimensions of their products on their website. 

     All-in-all, the cooler performs like you would expect, and has an excellent fit and finish.  At $33, it will have a home in any enthusiast’s gaming rig.

Innovation:	9.0 out of 10
Performance:	8.0 out of 10
Quality:	9.0 out of 10
Stability:	10 out of 10
Overclocking:	N/A
Software/Drivers Pack:	N/A
Value:	9.0 out of 10
Overall Rating 9.0
Project Skill Level (10 being most difficult)	5 out of 10