Noctua NH-L12S Premium Low Profile CPU Cooler

i bought this for my father and he was happy about that

This coolers size is perfect for itx builds or small form factors its not too noisy and has great cooling preformance can go long gaming sessions with no issues, mounting is some what difficult but easy to set up uses the stock am4 and or am5 back plate

I picked up this cooler to replace an H80i v2 which failed on me after just a few months in my ITX 9700K Solidworks PC build. I figured I’d go back to old reliable air cooling since it seems like other folks have had similar issues with that particular AIO.

First of all, the packaging design for this cooler deserves an award. I’ve bought Noctua fans before, but this was my first CPU cooler from them – all the packaging (aside from a couple plastic bags for mounting hardware) is beautifully folded cardboard that snugly keeps everything in its proper place. It would have been easy for Noctua to just make a few styrofoam molds to hold this thing, but they took the time to come up with this lovely origami-esque solution that is functional and environmentally friendly. Nice job guys!

All of the hardware is great quality – mostly metal aside from a couple plastic spacers. The fan comes pre-installed in the most compact configuration (you can put it on top for better performance, but it might not fit in many ITX builds) and there are several instruction booklets (again, nice quality, for the different chipsets. Compared to other air coolers I’ve used, the mounting for this is a breeze – the LGA115X backplate has the feed-through standoffs press-fit so you just sort of pop it through the back and the rest of the installation is quite straightforward. If you’re using this for AMD or a less common Intel chipset, the installation is a little more involved but probably not too bad. Additionally, there is a little metal Noctua decal “sticker” included which is the nicest logo swag I’ve ever gotten with a PC component (and I have built some very high end PCs!).

The build is in a Silverstone SG13 case with a Silverstone SFX PSU. The CPU is an Intel 9700K running at stock settings with 2 sticks of 16GB Crucial 2666 spreaderless RAM. There is about 3/16″ clearance between the top of this cooler and the PSU (PSU is flipped such that the intake fan is directly over the CPU heatsink) and about 1/8″ between the CPU fan and the RAM. I put an additional Noctua 120mm fan on the front of the case for additional airflow.

As far as cooling performance goes, I was very pleasantly surprised. Keep in mind, this is not a gaming build. This is a Solidworks PC that I use for moderate CAD work (about 1500 parts in my most complex assembly). Probably most importantly, when under typical loads, there is not a big, power-hungry GPU dumping a bunch of heat into my little ITX box – there is a tiny little P400 workstation card which is mostly there to provide multi-monitor support. That said, at an ambient temperature of nearly 90F (in my top floor California apartment with no AC) I was able to run the Solidworks benchmark as well as mess around with my largest assembly without every seeing a core temperature go above 70C. All the while, core clocks never dropped below 4700MHz. When I threw Prime95 at it, The core clocks evened out to around 4400MHz (130W power draw according to Core Temp) and temperatures hovered in the low 70’s with the max I ever saw at 76C. Again, this is in a stuffy 90F ambient apartment.

I can’t provide measurements for noise levels, but I will say that, under moderate loading with all BIOS fan settings set to “Standard” this cooler cools my 9700K almost silently. Yes, when Prime95 is running and all 8 cores are under 100% load, it gets a bit louder, but not nearly as loud as some blower GPUs I’ve heard in gaming builds. In an office setting where the ambient temperature will be almost 10C below what I was testing at, I would never worry about my CPU overheating or the fans blowing so loudly that they bother my neighbors.

This product receives my wholehearted recommendation – great job Noctua!

Silencioso, fácil de montar, presentación impecable, calidad genial y funcionamiento perfecto. Y con el ventilador en el interior (como viene de fábrica), es hasta bonito. Montado en un 3700x sin problema alguno.

It is very big and heavy (but short in low profile mode, which just clears under the PSU in my Cooler Master Elite 120 ITX case), so the cooling capacity is excellent, as close to a water AIO cooler. That is why a mounting bracket is required (which necessitated the removal of the motherboard, a minor hassle). One of the best non-conductive thermal pastes, NT-H1 is also included (a $10 value).

Cooling performance wise – it is very good. Before, I reached 100C on the i5 4670k with a low quality Arctic “Freezer” 12 LP, now I reach 85C on a CPU stress test with this. I think there is further improvement to be found with a proper delidding of the CPU and replacing the old dried goop under the IHS. In true Noctua fashion, this cooler runs quiet (without the included low noise adapter) – it is more quiet than my case fans.

Installation of the cooler made things difficult for the installation of other things. The 4 pin power connector and fan connectors on the motherboard get obstructed by the massive size of the cooler, so I had to angle those cables respectively under the cooler. One of the stand-offs for the motherboard was under the cooler as well, I could not tighten it with a regular screwdriver and I was forced to just hand tighten it loosely. Also to keep in mind is RAM clearance, I had short clearance RAM so I had no issues there. Take note, please connect and tighten as many things before actually settling the cooler on the CPU to avoid hassle.

A 6-year warranty is provided by Noctua to justify the high upfront cost of $75 CAD, in case if anything goes wrong with the cooler itself. Quality is indeed quite high because of the heaviness and the quietness of the cooler. Recommended, despite the high cost.