Noctua NH-U12F: Quiet Air Cooling from Austria
by Wesley Fink on April 25, 2007 4:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Final Words
It should be clear to anyone that the Noctua NH-U12F is first and foremost a heatpipe tower and fan designed for very low-noise cooling. The included fan, the elastomeric fan mounts, and the solid vibration-free attachment to the motherboard all point to a cooler designed to take up residence in a silent computer.
The Noctua delivers on the silent promise very well as far as we can ascertain. Noise levels in every configuration were well below the test system's noise floor. However, confirming Noctua specifications requires highly specialized test environments for accurate measurements of claimed noise levels of 8 dB-A with the U.L.N.A. and 17 dB-A with a full speed S12 fan. We did confirm that the Noctua was quieter than our power supply in every configuration we tested, but that noise level is quite a bit higher than the virtual silence claimed in the Noctua specifications. Subjectively, we could hear no noise at all from the mounted Noctua cooler. For those whose first consideration is ultra-low system noise, the Noctua should certainly be on the short list of heatpipe towers worth considering.
As we have learned the hard way, however, coolers that are terrific at keeping quiet are often not the best cooling solutions for performance. We asked in the beginning if the Noctua could also acquit itself well as a performance cooler for the overclocking enthusiast. The answer is it does very well as an overclocking cooler - particularly if you equip it with a pair of fans in push-pull configuration. This is particularly easy with the Noctua, since it is grooved for front/back fans and Noctua even includes two pairs of fan-mount wires in the retail kit. The included fan is also available as a standard retail fan from Noctua.
Having said that, we should also be clear that the Noctua did not top our overclocking performance charts. Most top air coolers tested so far have reached 3.90GHz in our standard test bed, with the top Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme reaching a record 3.94GHz with stability. The Noctua manages 3.88GHz, just a tiny amount less, but cooling temperatures are not really in the same league at this overclock as the best-performing coolers we have tested. This is with dual push-pull fans, and other configurations did not improve on this performance.
In the end the Noctua NH-U12F is a carefully balanced system of heatpipe tower and fan, which performs the designed task of cooling with silence extremely well. It is also a decent performance cooler, reaching overclock levels near the best tested. If your goal is the best overclocking cooler you can get, however, the Thermalright Ultra 120/Ultra 120 Extreme, and Tuniq Tower 120 are still your best choices.
This certainly is not a failing of the Noctua because it is a much better overclocking cooler than other coolers we have evaluated that emphasized silence first. It is also a more silent cooler than most others that advertise that feature. The fact that a higher output fan did not really improve the overclocking of the Noctua, as it did the Thermalright, Ninja and most other tested coolers, says quite a lot about the kit supplied by Noctua. If you want more cooling, add a second fan in push-pull as it works better than replacing the excellent low-noise fan provided by Noctua.
There are times when a product being evaluated doesn't top your performance charts, but it still grabs your attention. The Noctua NH-U12F is just such a product. It is a very elegant product, well conceived, logically presented, and with installation instructions that are completely on target. We like the product and would have no hesitation recommending the Noctua to most users. It will not take you to the top of the air cooler overclocking charts, but it may take you to silence if that is your goal. Unless extreme overclocking is your primary goal you will find the Noctua very satisfying. The top Thermalrights and the Tuniq 120 are better coolers at almost every frequency. So are some configurations of the Scythe Infinity and Ninja, and the Thermalrights are just as jewel-like as the Noctua. However, the careful balance of components in the Noctua is easy to admire and very satisfying.
It should be clear to anyone that the Noctua NH-U12F is first and foremost a heatpipe tower and fan designed for very low-noise cooling. The included fan, the elastomeric fan mounts, and the solid vibration-free attachment to the motherboard all point to a cooler designed to take up residence in a silent computer.
The Noctua delivers on the silent promise very well as far as we can ascertain. Noise levels in every configuration were well below the test system's noise floor. However, confirming Noctua specifications requires highly specialized test environments for accurate measurements of claimed noise levels of 8 dB-A with the U.L.N.A. and 17 dB-A with a full speed S12 fan. We did confirm that the Noctua was quieter than our power supply in every configuration we tested, but that noise level is quite a bit higher than the virtual silence claimed in the Noctua specifications. Subjectively, we could hear no noise at all from the mounted Noctua cooler. For those whose first consideration is ultra-low system noise, the Noctua should certainly be on the short list of heatpipe towers worth considering.
As we have learned the hard way, however, coolers that are terrific at keeping quiet are often not the best cooling solutions for performance. We asked in the beginning if the Noctua could also acquit itself well as a performance cooler for the overclocking enthusiast. The answer is it does very well as an overclocking cooler - particularly if you equip it with a pair of fans in push-pull configuration. This is particularly easy with the Noctua, since it is grooved for front/back fans and Noctua even includes two pairs of fan-mount wires in the retail kit. The included fan is also available as a standard retail fan from Noctua.
Having said that, we should also be clear that the Noctua did not top our overclocking performance charts. Most top air coolers tested so far have reached 3.90GHz in our standard test bed, with the top Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme reaching a record 3.94GHz with stability. The Noctua manages 3.88GHz, just a tiny amount less, but cooling temperatures are not really in the same league at this overclock as the best-performing coolers we have tested. This is with dual push-pull fans, and other configurations did not improve on this performance.
In the end the Noctua NH-U12F is a carefully balanced system of heatpipe tower and fan, which performs the designed task of cooling with silence extremely well. It is also a decent performance cooler, reaching overclock levels near the best tested. If your goal is the best overclocking cooler you can get, however, the Thermalright Ultra 120/Ultra 120 Extreme, and Tuniq Tower 120 are still your best choices.
This certainly is not a failing of the Noctua because it is a much better overclocking cooler than other coolers we have evaluated that emphasized silence first. It is also a more silent cooler than most others that advertise that feature. The fact that a higher output fan did not really improve the overclocking of the Noctua, as it did the Thermalright, Ninja and most other tested coolers, says quite a lot about the kit supplied by Noctua. If you want more cooling, add a second fan in push-pull as it works better than replacing the excellent low-noise fan provided by Noctua.
There are times when a product being evaluated doesn't top your performance charts, but it still grabs your attention. The Noctua NH-U12F is just such a product. It is a very elegant product, well conceived, logically presented, and with installation instructions that are completely on target. We like the product and would have no hesitation recommending the Noctua to most users. It will not take you to the top of the air cooler overclocking charts, but it may take you to silence if that is your goal. Unless extreme overclocking is your primary goal you will find the Noctua very satisfying. The top Thermalrights and the Tuniq 120 are better coolers at almost every frequency. So are some configurations of the Scythe Infinity and Ninja, and the Thermalrights are just as jewel-like as the Noctua. However, the careful balance of components in the Noctua is easy to admire and very satisfying.
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HeatMiser - Thursday, April 26, 2007 - link
Wes -- how far does this Noctua cooler hang over the edge of the motherboard closest to the Power supply? Just trying to figure out if I have room. Thanks for the great reviews on these coolers.Bumtrinket - Friday, May 4, 2007 - link
It largely depends on the motherboard - if the CPU socket is close to the top edge, you could have problems if there's not much space between the mobo and PSU. This also applies to the Thermalright Ultra 120 and other similar designs. The design of the heatsink mounting lets you rotate it through 90 degrees, but that's not the preferred orientation.There's more info at Noctua's site, but they say this in the FAQs:
"How much space between mainboard and power supply is required when the NH-U12 is installed upright?"
"When installed upright (see picture below), the NH-U12 may jut out over the upper edge of the mainboard. In this case, the gap required between the upper edge of the mainboard and the power supply in the case is (depending on the position of the CPU socket on the mainboard) up to 25mm. Measured from the upper mounting holes of the CPU socket, the required distance to the power supply unit is 35mm."
n7 - Wednesday, April 25, 2007 - link
I am a big fan of Noctua, so nice to see their heatsink do as well as i expected.Their fans are very good @ providing a mix of performance & realtive quietness, & it appears this heatsink is no different.
I too would really like to see a TT Big Typhoon added to the reviews, mainly to see how it does compared to the new leaders, something the Typhoon used to be.
I also look forward to seeing your testbed redone with a quieter PSU.
TA152H - Wednesday, April 25, 2007 - link
OK, I read this article with some interest, and as usual find the remarks about fanless power supplies completely off-base.I mean, if you're measuring overclocking a CPU, or some high end gaming system, or some high-end Peltier cooler, I could see the point in not using a fanless power supply because such a power supply wouldn't be useful in that configuration. But, I don't buy power supplies with fans anymore, and guess what type of heatsink I go after when I buy them? Yes, very quiet ones. So, when you're testing a heatsink/fan that is made to be especially quiet, or for example, fanless video cards, you SHOULD test with a fanless power supply.
I know most of the reviewers here think shooting space aliens is what everyone does, and they need 600 watt power supplies, but it's just not true. Most people in fact don't need anything that large, so try to think within the market of the product instead of personal preferences. I'm not knocking video games, by the way, they are a much better escape than drugs, or other bad things people do, or even TV. I'm just saying that you guys need to stop thinking everyone does this and needs equipment to handle these foul machines, especially when reviewing items that would never be put in one.
customcoms - Wednesday, April 25, 2007 - link
I agree that in order to get more accurate noise ratings a more quiet system based on a fanless psu would achieve higher accuracy. However, anandtech tests have generally catered to enthusiasts and overclockers, and imo, these tests do that well. For starters, they compare cooling performance with noise as a secondary consideration (mainly to see if the cooler advertised is quiet, but as it sates in the article, they are more curious about its cooling/overclocking ability than the noise). Yes, anandtech is using what could be considered a "noisy" test bed, but X6800's and 7900GTX's don't exactly come to mind when I think "silent" pc. Nor do the power, hungry, hot Nvidia 680i based boards. I suggest looking elsewhere for reviews on components that make up silent pc's, such as http://www.silentpcreview.com">http://www.silentpcreview.com. I'll stick with anandtech's review because I could care less about noise if it lets me gain an extra 300mhz out of my processor.TA152H - Wednesday, April 25, 2007 - link
Then why review a heatsink that is focused on being quiet? You completely missed the point. I don't have a problem with them reviewing noisy items, but you don't review a heatsink/fan that is made to be especially quiet, with a noisy power supply or video card. If the heatsink were a cooling beast that didn't pay much mind to noise problems, absolutely go with appropriate stuff. People that want it will not care about noise with the other components. But when someone is considering getting a unit because it is quiet, you don't use a noisy baseline because that same person is likely to look for that same quality in their other components.Ajax9000 - Wednesday, April 25, 2007 - link
Agreed.The "proper" (but time consuming :-) thing to do would be to have a "performance" testbed (which is also investigated for noise as a secondary test), and a "silent" testbed (which is also investigated for overclockability as a secondary test). I.e. people who want "quiet" systems don't automatically excude overclocking, they are just less concerned about it (and vice versa).
Paradox999 - Wednesday, April 25, 2007 - link
Great review and comparison.As an owner of a Scythe Ninja equipped with a silent fan, I can attest to it's effectiveness.....but your batch of reviewed HSF's is missing my personal favorite, the Thermaltake Big Typhoon. It's one of the best at cooling nearby capacitors since the fan blows DOWNWARDS onto the motherboard. I've replaced the original fans for some slower and silent Silenx fans since the core2duo isn't as hot as my old overclocked 820D.
Works awesome good.
Do us all a favor and please include the Big Typhoon (and not it's weaker cousin, the Mini Typhoon) in your review
Spanki - Wednesday, April 25, 2007 - link
I couldn't get my comments posted in here, so I added them as http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid...">a new thread in the forums.Deusfaux - Wednesday, April 25, 2007 - link
"We also ran brief test results comparing the cooling efficiency and noise of the Scythe SFLEX SFF21F 64cfm/28 dB-A fan that was used in Thermalright reviews and the SilenX fan used in several of the most recent reviews. Cooling results were similar with either fan on the Noctua heatsink, with the SilenX providing better cooling on some overclocks. Both fans were quiet and came in below the noise floor of our test system, but the SilenX was subjectively quieter than the SFLEX. "REALLY. I have trouble believing this, but I guess we'll find out for sure in the upcoming roundup.