It seems like everyone and their mother has a heatsink out now. Companies known for their graphics cards, power supply moguls, and case manufacturers have all had their go at making the latest and greatest heatsink. And most of the time, the ugliest. And now someone else wants to put their chilly mark on the cooling industry. Actually, it’s a whole freaking country. They call themselves Noctua, and they want to show us that Austrians are as cool as the rest of us.
My test product this friendly afternoon is the NH-U12P from the good people at Noctua. It boasts the quality of sound-optimized premium components, including the new NF-P12 fan which has been specially designed for high air pressure and flow. The fan even has Vortex-Control Notches, a proclaimed psychoacoustic optimization that enables maximum airflow without sacrificing your peace and quiet.
The heatsink itself looked to me like your standard Fins N Pipes job, with the typical U-Pipes that are so widely popular today. Here are a few specs from the manufacturer’s website that provide a little more detail behind the design. The NH-U12P continues the legacy of Noctua’s classic NH-U coolers, which won over 150 awards and recommendations from leading international websites and magazines. While retaining the successful design and the well-proven SecuFirm™ mounting system, the newest revision has been reworked for enhanced main board compatibility and now comes with Noctua’s NT-H1 pro-grade thermal compound.
4 dual heat pipes
4 dual heat pipes, soldered joints and widely-spaced aluminum cooling fins guarantee optimal heat dissipation even at low fan speeds.
Award winning NH-U design
Noctua’s NH-U coolers allow for perfect airflow direction and have received more than 150 awards and recommendations from leading international websites and magazines.
NF-P12 premium fan
The NF-P12 has been specifically developed for applications like CPU cooling and brings the performance of the NH-U12 to a whole new level. Thanks to psycho-acoustic optimizations and Noctua’s premium-grade SSO-bearing, the NF-P12 achieves exceptional quietness and long-term stability.
Improved compatibility
Thanks to its raised fin-stack, the NH-U12P offers improved compatibility with main boards featuring very high chipset coolers.
SecuFirm™ multi-socket mounting system
Noctua’s professional SecuFirm™ mounting system for LGA 775, AM2 and AM2+ provides superior reliability and contact pressure.
Incl. Noctua NT-H1 high-end thermal compound
Noctua’s NT-H1 is a pro-grade TIM solution that provides minimum thermal resistance, excellent ease-of-use and long-term stability.
Are you basking in the glory, or are you a little skeptical? After all, what could the Austrians know about keeping things cool? Well, maybe because they are surrounded by snow-capped mountains. That’s a damned good reason as far as I’m concerned. Actually, that would be a reason to have a knowledge of keeping things warm wouldn’t it? Alright. Aside from the fan that is supposedly chipped for maximum pleasure, this seems like a standard everyday heatsink that has been done over and over again. But, as Bill Cosby said way too often, the proof is in the pudding. At least I think that was him.
I keep my desktop computers in my studio, which was once my garage. One of the reasons for that is because it’s convenient to have your work systems in your work area, but also because it’s usually between 50 – 60 degrees Fahrenheit in there. As long as there’s good air flow in the cases in a room that cold, things can stay nice and chilly. Sometimes I expect to walk in and find icicles hanging off my motherboard. Not so far, but the winter is still young.
I opened the box to find all the parts I would need for installation. The thermonuclear fan, mounting clips for two fans in case you want to add a second to the opposite side, an Ultra-Low-Noise-Adapter, NT-H1 high-grade thermal compound, and SecuFirm mounting kits for LGA and AM2 processors. The heatsink only supports LGA 775, AM2, and AM2+ CPU slots. I personally prefer a broad spectrum heatsink, but I suppose these guys intended this one for the interest of the few instead of the many. Not being a little more universal can only hurt you.
There are few things I hate more than installing a new heatsink. This one is one is a prime example of exactly why. You have to remove your entire motherboard in order to install it. The hardest part of the installation is always getting the point of actually installing it. I slapped some of the included thermal grease on my CPU and proceeded to put everything back together. It was something of a hassle trying to maneuver the mobo back into the case while trying not to bang anything or rip this heatsink off, but eventually I got it back together.
The computer I’m testing this out on has the following goodies jammed into it:
- AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Dual Core Processor, AM2 slot.
- 3GB of system memory
- 320GB Western Digital HD
- Two 120mm Case fans
I checked the temperature of the room, and it was holding steady at 51 degrees Fahrenheit. I am testing this against the Transformer6 heatsink that usually resides on my processor. Upon first starting up I saw that the fan was actually very quiet, with very strong airflow to the back side. It seemed to be living up to its word so far, albeit a little on the ugly side. I can’t begin to comprehend the reasoning behind making the fan brown and the outer fan casing cream-colored. But that’s not really the point here is it? Maybe part of it.
As usual, I let the PC run idle for twenty minutes before I tested its idle temperature. So I went and grabbed a sandwich and read a little Computer Power User before coming back to check the status. With background processes running the idle temperature on the cores was a few degrees higher. So just to be fair I’m going to go with the higher rated temperature for this test. I was getting a steady 27 degrees Celsius from CORE 0 at this point. So I turned on SiSandra to load the system and give me a load temperature.
After about twelve minutes the test was done, and I could read the final temperature of the processor. At full load the temperature of the cores were 30 degrees and 34 degrees. Even at the load temperature the processor was still quite cool. Especially compared to the Transformer6’s temperatures of 29 degrees idle and 46 degrees under load.
So here’s the final bill. The Noctua NH-U12P comes in pretty when it comes to temperatures. The idle temp was not much more than standard, but it showed its true colors when I turned on the heat. The heatsink’s other colors might not appeal to everyone, however.
The only real drawback to this heatsink is its height; as it may not fit in every case. This tower design is pretty standard today, because it is simply one of the most efficient architectures. Hopefully Noctua will send us one of their low-profile C12-series heatsinks for testing.
Noctua’s heatsink is solid and well constructed, and its fan is simply unique. The Noctua NH-U12P has it where it counts and does a great job of cooling, and will certainly last through several PC upgrades.
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