Noctua (an Austro-Taiwanese concern) makes some of the best air cooling products in the world, be it air coolers, fans or thermal pastes; Noctua is every where and makes its presence felt.
It is nice to be known as the manufacturer of the best air cooler in the world. It is also nice to make some money. The real money in the computer world is in the mainstream products. For every one NH-D14 sold, Noctua probably sells 3 or more, more mainstream products. Though Noctua might earn more with a sale from a single NH-D14, it will certainly make more by selling 3 more affordable products.
Affordable does not always mean “compromised”. It is possible to get decent (or better) performance from affordable products. To see how Noctua’s NH-U12SE 2 fares in this area read on.
THE BOX
The cooler comes in a standard “Noctua” box. The color scheme is consistent with other Noctua coolers (pretty easy to spot in a “busy” shelf). Consistency obviously leads to brand recognition and Noctua knows it.
The front of the box has a little window which shows the front fan (a NF-P12). The rest of the front is occupied by the company logo, the product’s salient features, the reason it is called a “SE” (special edition –Core i3 and Core i5 compatibility among other things).
The top flap has the fan and heat sink specs.
The right side of the box lists comments from some of the reviews for the product series as well as the cooler’s dimensions. Two diagrams illustrate how the cooler is installed on an Intel and AMD platform.
The left side lists the cooler features in languages other than English. At the bottom are graphical representations of the awards that the cooler has won.
The back of the box describes the cooler’s and the fan’s salient features in English.
The box is very sturdy and will protect its contents from the usual trauma of shipping. I only wish other manufacturers mimic Noctua and improve their packing.
THE UN-BOXING
Inside the box, the cooler comes in a protective card-board shroud. The shroud also houses one of the 120mm fan (NF-P12).
The other fan, (which is also a NF-P12) as well as the accessories is in a white cardboard box.
The cooler comes with a very “complete” set of accessory. They even ship a screw driver with it! This is, after all, Noctua we are talking about. Perfection is thy motto and it certainly shows!
Within the box is an installation set for AMD and Intel platforms. A clear plastic bag has the “common” accessories that are used for installation on an AMD or Intel platform.
So far everything I have seen is very reminiscent of all Noctua products I have used. I’d have to look very hard to find faults (and even then I would be nit picking). Noctua certainly pays a lot of attention to detail. The difference in presentation here as compared to most other air coolers is like the eating a McChicken out of a Styrofoam container as compared to eating Lobster ala carte out of fancy china.
LOOKING AT THE COOLER
This a “U” specced cooler, meaning that the heat pipes run in a “U shaped fashion with in the heat sink.
The NH-U12 is a single tower cooler armed with 4 heat pipes. The cooling tower is made up of Aluminum heat plates while the heat pipes and the base are made of Copper and then Nickel plated.
The cooler weighs 600 grams without fans. Each fan adds about 170 grams. Thus a fully “armed” cooler weights a tad under 950 grams.
THE COOLER TOWER
The cooling tower is made up of 36 Aluminum plates, which are placed about 2.8mm apart.
The plates have several modifications which improve heat dissipation & air flow.
The plates have a serrated design which helps reduce air turbulence and improve air flow and decrease noise generated as air moves across it.
The heat plates have several opening in them which improve the tower’s ventilation. These run through out the entire length of the cooler tower.
The heat pipes run in pairs of two through the cooling towers. Each pair is slightly offset from the other to improve heat dissipation further.
The top heat plate bears the “Noctua” logo.
The sides of the heat plate have recesses. The clips used to mount the fan go into these.
Each heat plate has an area of about 75 cm2. The total heat dissipation area provided by the cooling tower is about 5400 cm2. In contrast Venomous-X has an area of 3500 cm2 and the mighty NH-D14 has an area of about 10000cm2.
The cooling tower is very well constructed –the edges are not going to shave off your skin. The heat pipes are soldered to the heat plates in the cooling tower. Overall A+ for construction
THE HEAT PIPES
The cooler is equipped with 4 Nickel plated heat pipes with a diameter of 4mm. They exit the base in line, but run offset in the cooling tower.
The heat pipes are soldered to the base as well as the cooing tower plates. The joints are very well ground off, with nary a sight of excess solder.
About the only thing that I can say that Noctua can improve on is the diameter (to 6mm) and number (to 6) of the heat pipes. Perhaps another revision of the NH-U12 is in order sometime in the future?
THE HEAT SINK BASE
The base is again made of Copper and is Nickel Plated. It has a “matte” finish and is almost flat. Surface optical characteristics don’t really affect performance, but base topology does. (I.e. flat base is better than a shiny base)
The heat pipes are neatly soldered to the base.
The base also provides screw holes for mounting the fastening brackets. These are used to fix the heat sink to the mounting mechanism on the motherboard.
HEAT SINK –THOUGHTS
The heat sink is solid in design and construction. It takes a traditional design and adds Noctua’s own modifications to improve noise and cooling characteristics. The attention to detail (the embossed logo, ventilation holes, Nickel plating, smoothed edges etc) is trademark Noctua. Only addition of 6 x 6mm heat pipes could make this product better.
FANS
The cooler comes with two Noctua NF-P12 fans. Unlike many of its competitors, which do not bundle any fans with their coolers, Noctua ships the unit with a pair. And these are premium quality fans. This is the same 120mm fan that is shipped with the NH-D14.
The fans have the traditional “earthen” color tone (cream colored frame with a brown propeller). They come with a decently long sleeved cable.
Both fans share design improvements that help improve air flow, lower noise and enhance life span. These include:
1. Self Stabilizing Oil-pressure (SSO) Bearing
Helps lower noise and enhance the life span of the fan
2. Vortex Control Notches
Noctua uses a 9 blade design for its fan. This enhances air pressure and air flow but at the same time also increases the noise generated by the fan. The vortex control notches help to reduce air turbulence and help lower the noise generated by air flow.
3. Smooth Commutation Drive Technology
Another source of potential noise is the fan motor itself. To reduce the noise generated by the motor Noctua employs a “Smooth Commutation Drive” technology which provides a greater continuous switching of the coils in the motor. This helps to reduce noise generated by the motor.
The fan is rated at 1300 rpm and move about 93m3/h of air while generating about 20db(A) of noise. As you will find out later, the cooler comes with a special connector which can help lower the speed and thus the noise generated.
The fans are used in a traditional “push”, “pull” configuration. It is possible to run the cooler with just one fan as well.
The fans bundled with the NH-U12 are quality fans and are worth quiet a bit on their own. The addition of sleeve to the fan cable is a definite plus. It is generous of Noctua to bundle not one but two fans with the price of admission!
THE ACCESSORIES
The accessories package can be divided into those used to mount the cooler, those used to mount the fan and finally those used to control fan speed.
The cooler can be installed on all contemporary Intel and AMD platforms (Intel LGA 775, 1156 & 1366. AMD AM2, AM2+ & AM3). For Intel processors the Secufirm2 installation system is provided with the cooler
1. The Secufirm2 installation system for Intel processor
This is one of the best installation system for any CPU cooler. Only Thermalright’s system included with the Venomous-X edges this out. The system is very, very easy to install. It is possible to install the cooler without looking at the manual.
The system consists of a back plate with a rubber inlay for LGA 775 socket processors. 4 bolts are threaded through the plate via the appropriate openings depending on the socket type. Once that is done, 4 plastic spacers are placed over the bolt. The mounting bars are then placed over the bolts and screwed in using the thumb screws. And that is it! The orientation of the mounting bars can be changed if the cooler is to installed parallel to the expansion slots (i.e. fans pointing up and down-wards, rather than forward and backwards)
2. Fan Mounts
The fans are mounted using a set of wire clips and anti-vibration strips. There are two pairs of each for the two fans. The clip system is used by almost all the manufacturers of after market air cooling. This system, however, is different from the one employed on the NH-D14. The fans with the D-14 came with pre-applied clips. They were arguably easier to use especially in tight fit cases.
3. Fan Speed Control Cables
The fans also come with a set of low noise adapters that reduce the rotational velocity of the fan to either 1100 rpm (the black Low Noise Adapter, LNA) or 900 rpm (the blue Ultra Low Noise Adapter, ULNA). With the reduced fan rotation comes reduced noise generation and air flow.
This is certainly a welcome addition and could only have been outdone by providing a dedicated fan controller. That would obviously raise the price of the product.
4. NT-H1 Thermal Paste
The list of accessories will not be complete without provision of a thermal paste. Noctua provides its own premium grade thermal paste in the form of NT-H1. There is enough thermal paste in the tube for several applications. The paste requires no curing time and is electrically “safe” (non-conducting).
5. Odd n Ends
Noctua provides a screw driver and a Noctua badge for the computer case. This is not simply a sticker, but a proper badge. No compromises on presentation folks!
INSTRUCTIONS & ONLINE RESOURCES
Noctua provides separate instructions for Intel and AMD processors in a neat little paper jacket. Both are well illustrated and will help novices and first time installers mount the cooler without problems.
Online resources are also very well done. There is a page for motherboard compatibility (updated to include the most recent boards) as well as a FAQ page detailing use of the cooler in various orientations, use of the provided fans as case fans and problems with extra tall memory sticks.
OFFICIAL SPECS
These are taken from Noctua’s web page for the NH-U12SE2
COOLER INSTALLATION
The cooler, is really, really easy to install. The secufirm2 system makes this possible (on Intel platforms).
Those blessed with a case that has a large enough cut out to access the rear of the CPU socket on the board will find it even easier. It is infinitely better to have one of these than a removable tray these days.
Once the back of the motherboard is accessible the bolts are placed through the mounting holes in the back plate meant for LGA 1366 sockets.
Plastic spacers and mounting bars go in next followed by thumb screws to finish the assembly process of the mounting system
The fastening brackets are screwed onto the cooler which is then installed on the mounting mechanism after applying some thermal paste (pea size in the center) to the processor’s heat spreader.
The heat sink base makes a good solid contact with the processor heat spreader. The impression obtained is actually better than the one that NH-D14 generates!
Once that is done the fans are mounted with the help of wire clips. Anti-vibration strips must be pre-applied to the heat sink before the fans are installed.
The clearance between the board and the lowest heat plate is about 55mm.
Things really could not get any easier. If I was to find one thing that could have been improved for the Special Edition, it would be the fastening mounts. They should be fixed to the cooler rather than being screwed in. This is probably the only thing Noctua over looked when rethinking the NH-U12!
TESTING
The cooler was tested against an elite group of competitors. It was possible to include other coolers in the test, but that would have just cluttered the results. Suffice to say that these are the cooler you really want to compete against if you want the price/ performance crown.
There was no significant difference between AS5 and NT-H1.
Coolers were tested with bundled fans (in case of the NH-U12P SE2, NH-D14) and with Thermalright TR-FDB-2000 fans (85cfm at 38db(A)). The Venomous-X was also tested with NF-P12 fan(s). Further more the product in question was also tested using the LNA and ULNA speed control cables
The results should be interpreted as:
- 1. Cooler Name (20): Tested with TR-FDB-2000
2. Cooler Name: Tested with bundled fans or with NF-P12 in case of Venomous-X
The coolers were tested in the standard front-back configuration.
RESULTS
ONE FAN
As you can see the cooler performs in line with its nearest competitor, the TRUE-120. It follows its course to the dot!
TWO FAN TESTS
With the addition of another fan the cooler gains 6C which is more than the double that Noctua’s estimates.
SPEED CONTROL
If a relative quiet setup is required the speed control cables can be used. This takes away about 2-4C of performance depending on the cable used. These are based on using the cooler with two fans in push-pull configuration.
CONCLUSIONS
The NH-U12P is not strictly a new design as the NH-D14, or the Venomous-X. It belongs to the TRUE era and it handily competes with it. The Noctua package is more attractive as it adds two high quality fans.
If you don’t have 90 dollars to spend on a NH-D14, or even the 70 that Thermalright asks for the Venomous-X (no fans included), the NH-U12P SE2 is an outstanding alternative. You get a top notch heat sink together with two quality fans as well as a complete installation kit.
PROS
- • Traditional Noctua build quality (read: great!)
• Two high quality fans
• Secufirm2 mounting system makes installation a breeze
• Extensive CPU compatibility
• High grade thermal compound
CONS
- • Does not hold the performance crown
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