Packaging and Accessories
Packaging and Accessories
In typical Noctua fashion the only thing which separates this shipping container from its brethren is its size and label. It seems people either really like the colour scheme or hate, as there is no middle ground. Whether you like it or hate it, it is distinctive and you can tell who made it from across a room even if you have your beer goggles on. This distinctiveness is pure brand recognition and when you boil it all down to essentials this is the real purpose companies don’t just sell their products in brown paper bags (except for Thermalright but that is a different story all together.). As usual, the box contains all the necessary information that one would need to make an informed decision, but that is par for the course for any Noctua product.  
When you do open the box you are greeted once again to a classic Noctua design; a design which works very well and we were glad to see it used on the relatively diminutive U9. The protective design philosophy of all Noctua CPU cooler shipping boxes seems to be one of brute force simplicity. The cooler is engulfed in a thick trauma reducing cardboard and even the fan is used as a secondary protective barrier against damage to the heatsink itself. 
The accessory list that comes with the Noctua U9 is not only complete but is of typical high quality Noctua construction. You get all the necessary mounting equipment for both AMD and Intel 775 systems (including backplates), low noise and ultra low noise fan adapters, two instruction pamphlets (one for AMD and one for Intel 775 installations) enough wire brackets and vibration dampening material to mount two 92mm fans, a single NF-B9-1600 92mm Fan, a tube of Noctua branded TIM and (just like its bigger sibling the U12) we see the return of the long handled chrome screwdriver which is always a nice touch.
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