Noctua NH-D9 DX-3647 4U (LGA3647) CPU Cooler Review

Bohs Hansen / 6 years ago

Final Thoughts

Pricing

Server and workstation hardware isn’t the cheapest on the block, but there’s a reason for that. It has to stand up to a lot more than the average consumer product. With that in mind, I think the Noctua NH-D9 DX-3647 4U premium cooler is priced well, especially in the US where you can get it for just $89.90. Here in the UK, you need to pay a little more as Amazon UK carries it for £140.70. While it’s worth it IMO, it’s on the heavy side.

Overview

It was a pleasure to test all these LGA3647 CPU coolers from Noctua, today was no different than the previous two I’ve reviewed. The NH-D9 DX-3647 4U is a classic server cooler and it resembles the other desktop variants very little.

The NH-D9 DX-3647 4U is designed for maximum efficiency in space-constrained setups, whether they use a single CPU or more. It will fit server chassis’ very well and you won’t get any interference for your PCIe cards or memory modules. It fits, it works, and it does a great job. A tiny monster!

Build Quality

The build quality is superb, in every way. From the perfect baseplate over the heat pipes to the fin stacks. This is also a fact that’s heavily underlined by the 6-year warranty on all parts – even the fans. That’s impressive and it only goes to show that Noctua has a lot of faith in their NH-D9 DX-3647 4U.

Fans and Heatsink

With a base and heat-pipes of copper and aluminium cooling fins, the NH-D9 DX-3647 4U does a great job at keeping our Xeon Gold CPUs well within operating temperatures. Under load, the fans ramp up a little more which also means that there will be a little more noise than we saw from the NH-U series. Still, the results are awesome and Noctua can be proud of this cooler.

A big part of the cooling abilities comes from the two included NF-A9 HS-PWM fans. Those are the high-RPM versions which can go up to 2500RPM. Sure, the things get a little louder then, but they also generate a maximum airflow of 96.3 m³/h.

Should I Buy One?

Building a classic server in a 4U chassis? Then yes, go for it. The NH-D9 DX-3647 4U will do an amazing job at keeping your chips cool under preassure. If you’re building in a classic tower chassis, then you should look towards the NH-U12S version instead.