Noctua NH-U12P

Noctua NH-U12P

Manufacturer: Noctua
UK Price (as reviewed): £43.00 (inc. VAT)
US Price (as reviewed): $69.95 (excl. Tax)
CPU Socket Support: Intel Socket LGA 775, AMD AM2 & AM2+, Intel Xeon on request

Weight (with fan): 770g
Size (with fan): 158mm x 126mm x 95mm
Fan Size: 120mm
Fan Speed: 900-1,300RPM
Noise Level: 12.6-19.8 dBA
Bearing type: SSO-Bearing
Warranty: 6 Years

Introduction

Noctua is a company that goes a little against the grain – for starters it is based in Austria, hardly a part of the world known for its excellence in PC cooling solutions. What’s more though, the company has continually made waves which have rippled through the home build PC community for all the right reasons.

The company has excelled in making truly silent coolers—mostly for CPUs—and we were very impressed when we looked at the model that is being replaced by the heatsink we’re looking at today: the NH-U12F. The NH-U12P is fundamentally the same design as the older model; however there are some subtle changes to its core design, along with the addition of a new fan – the combination should provide better compatibility and better performance.

Box Contents

The box is very informative but more importantly, the heatsink is securely packed with the additional components held in a separate section. The extra bits are sectioned into separate Intel and AMD bags so you can easily identify which parts are needed for the platform you have. The bags are also resealable so you don’t end up with a ton of bits in the bottom of the box all mixed up again – clever thinking Noctua!


The manual is incredibly professional – you open it to find there are separate fold outs on either side for both Intel and AMD, making it easy and intuitive to get straight to the point. The diagrams are exceptionally clear and it's generally very detailed and well written which makes a refreshing change.