Noctua NH-U12F - Mishima Review!

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Noctua NH-U12F Review

Socket: LGA775/AMD AM2/AMD K8
Description: Copper Base & Heatpipe with 38 Aluminium Fins
Reviews:
BJORN3D
CPU3D
3D Gameman

Introduction:

Noctua are a company originating from Austria that specialise in cooling solutions and fans. Their range of products are limited to just CPU/system cooling, but it won't be long until they move into other areas just like other companies out there have extended their target audience. I was originally going to purchase a Thermalright HR-01, but I was advised by WJA96 to purchase the Thermalright LGA775 bolt through kit for the cooler so that it had a secure fitting on the motherboard with it being fairly heavy like most of the other 'tower-style' heatsinks available today. As OcUK did not stock the HR-01 775 version I had to go elsewhere and this other store took such a long time to order the bolt through kit that I decided to research into other coolers. I first took a look at the Tuniq Tower 120, and then what Scythe had to offer. Whilst some of the reviews seemed good, others seemed bad. I then came across the Noctua NH-U12F and the feedback from this cooler from websites and magazines ranged from very good to excellent. With such great feedback, I decided to post on forums to see what other enthusiasts thought of the cooler, I got no response. I also did searches on the forum and nothing showed up, perhaps a mention in a list with the other coolers like the Tuniq Tower 120, AC7 etc appeared but that was all. So it seemed that the Noctua cooler was very much something that hadn't been tried and tested. This is what lead me to buying it. I decided to follow on from recommendations from the sources online. I was not disappointed.

Specifications:

- Socket compatibility Intel Socket LGA 775, AMD K8 (754, 939, 940) & AM2
- Height (without fan) 155 mm
- Width (without fan) 126 mm
- Depth (without fan) 70 mm
- Height (with fan) 155 mm
- Width (with fan) 126 mm
- Depth (with fan) 95 mm
- Weight 790 g
- Fan size 120x120x25mm / 120x120x38mm (2 fans mountable)
- Fan Noctua NF-S12-1200
- Bearing SSO-Bearing
- Blade Geometry Straight-Blade-Design
- Rotational Speed (+/- 10%) 1200 RPM
- Rotational Speed with U.L.N.A. (+/- 10%) 800 RPM
- Airflow 81 m³/h
- Airflow with U.L.N.A. 59 m³/h
- Acoustical Noise 17 dB(A)
- Acoustical Noise with U.L.N.A. 8 dB(A)
- Input Power 1,44 W
- Input Current 0,12 A
- Voltage Range 4-13 V
- MTBF > 150.000 h
- Scope of Delivery NH-U12F
- NF-S12-1200
- Complete mounting hardware
- Ultra-Low-Noise Adaptor (U.L.N.A.)
- Thermal Paste Anti-Vibration-Strips

- Warranty 6 years

Installation

Inside the box you get the following:

 
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To install the NH-U12F you have to remove your motherboard from your case, which is a minor inconvenience - I would rather have the cooler securely fitted than to have it carelessly fitted all for the sake of 15 minutes of time! The instructions manual guides you through the installation very well, and the procedure is fairly easy. What I like about this cooler is it can be fitted at any 90 degree angle you wish. I decided to install it at this orientation:

 
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What’s more is you can also fit another fan to the other side of the cooler if you so wish. Installation took about 30 minutes, I would recommend having someone assist you when trying to fit the cooler to the motherboard as it can be a little tricky on your own trying to fit the back-plate.

 
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Conclusion:

I originally bought this cooler to replace the stock intel HSF that came with my E6600 because it was noisy and inefficient. I was reporting temperatures of 45C - Idle (Stock 2.4GHz) and 55C+ - Loaded (Stock 2.4GHz).

I am now running experiencing the following temperatures at low speed with the NH-U12F:

temps.jpg


This recording was with the fan on low – 900RPM. The noise of the cooler is almost non existent, and I think you can agree that the temperatures are a very significant improvement over the stock HSF. I haven't yet overclocked my E6600 but will be doing this very shortly and I'm very confident the Noctua will allow me to comfortably move up to 3GHz with my Core 2 Duo.

In conclusion then, I would highly recommend this cooler to anyone considering an after-market cooler for their LGA755 Core 2 Duo. Its certainly a contender to the Tuniq Tower and other coolers that get spoken of so highly. I would even put out a challenge to say that the Noctua is a better cooling solution than the TT, going on the reported temperatures and reviews I have viewed.



Verdict:

If you want an excellent cooling solution for your Core 2 Duo chip and are looking for something which is extremely quiet then this is the cooler for you.

MISHIMA’S STAMP OF APPROVAL!

Any comments or questions are welcome :)
P.s. apologies for poor focus on photos :P
 
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Minstadave said:
Why did you go for the heatsink orientation like that if you don't mind me asking?

I would have gone for lining it up with the rear exhaust.

Nice review by the way, thank you :)
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To be honest with you I was wanting that arrangement too, and then when I had fitted it I realised I had put it at a different orientation. Rather than have to remove it I left it and thought it might be interesting to see what results I get. The fan blows onto the HS and the PSU blows out air towards the HS and then the exhaust pulls all the air out. Seems to work quite well too!

Thanks for the comments guys :)
 
geff_r said:
Would it even fit with orientation facing the rear exhaust? it looks very wide to even fit that way in an eclipse.
Click to expand...
It would fit that way no problem, cause before I secured it onto the board when I opened the box I placed it over the CPU that way to see if it fitted.

Thanks for that PSU query, makes sense! :)
 
jamrowls said:
Vertical
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With the fan on the opposite side to the exhaust on your case? Be interesting to see what the temperatures would be like if you had it horizontal, whether they would drop or increase!
 
Thanks Wayne :) I'll be doing another review very soon, Noctua have asked me to review their northbridge cooler, so keep a look out!!

No need for heating when you have temps like that, just huddle round the case in winter ;) 83 load! lmao! I'd be scared to run any sort of game.
 
davejm said:
Any chance this will fit in an Antec Sonata case?
Click to expand...
Easily fits into my Akasa Zen and the Sonata is a wider case. Should have no problems there :)

Thanks for the support guys I appreciate your nice comments. Just as a small update for this review from my case mod project. I swapped the orientation to the traditional position and attached another Noctua S12 1200RPM, the temperatures have dropped quite significantly - a good -6C drop.

anothernoctua.jpg
anothernoctua2.jpg


finished_main.jpg
 
Fair comment. If you read the full review you will notice the CPU is clocked at stock (2.4GHz). The temperatures there in the review were on my E6600 at stock speeds with a single Noctua S12 fan mounted.

The above photos show the cooler mounted with two S12's and the quoted temperatures are with a 25% overclock - 3GHz (FSB333). So not only has the temperature dropped a few degrees it is also overclocked and in warmer conditions. The review/test was performed during end of winter and the current overclock was reported just two weeks ago (mid spring).
 
Hi,

Sorry I haven't got back to you I was suspended from the forums for listing a competitor. I would have the fan closest to the RAM blowing across the heatsink in the direction of the exhaust.
 
I'm using Thermalright paste. Try lowering the voltage, the temperatures should drop. I'm overclocked to 3.5GHz with my E6600 and I have exactly the same setup as you with the fans and I'm reporting 37C idle and 50C fully loaded.
 
Try lowering your vcore to 1.19v that should improve the temperatures at stock. You probably won't be able to get away with that voltage when overclocking though, but at stock its ideal.
 
Hi there sloth,

My NH-U12F isn't in the Zen anymore its in this Custom case. With the Zen there was about an inch to spare but with the custom case I would estimate at a few cm! This case is thinner in width.
 
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