Noctua Chromax Coolers Review – No More Brown!

Noctua NH-U12S chromax.black

The Noctua NH-U12S is another model we’ve reviewed here at eTeknix. Heck, it’s been a whopping 7 years since we put it on the test bench. Yet even after all those years, we’ve still using U12’s in the office, on a few smaller test benches, and even in many case reviews. Check out the original review here, honestly, it’s the same cooler you know and love. I’ll skill over the accessories this time, as they’re identical to the NH-D15 on the previous page.

Features

• Proven premium heatsink (more than 200 awards and recommendations from international hardware websites), now available in an all-black design that goes great with many colour schemes and RGB LEDs
• Slim 120mm size for excellent case, RAM and PCIe compatibility: Fits most tower cases (158mm height), doesn’t overhang the RAM slots, doesn’t block the PCIe on most ATX and Micro-ATX motherboards
• Renowned, award-winning NF-F12 120mm FocusedFlowTM fan with Low-Noise Adaptor and PWM for automatic speed control: Full cooling performance under load, whisper quiet at idle!
• Includes high-end NT-H1 thermal paste and SecuFirm2 mounting system for easy installation on Intel LGA1150, LGA1151, LGA1155, LGA1156, LGA2011, LGA2066 and AMD AM4, AM3(+), AM2(+), FM1, FM2(+)
• Renowned Noctua quality backed up by 6-year manufacturer’s warranty, deluxe choice for Intel Core i9, i7, i5, i3 (e.g. 9900K, 9700K, 8700K, 9980XE) and AMD Ryzen (e.g. 3900X, 3700X, 2700X, 2600X)

The fan comes pre-fitted to the cooler out of the box. However, you will need to remove it to actually screw it to the mounting kit.

Just like we saw on the D15 model, you get a completely blacked out fan design, black cables, black mounting clips and black anti-vibration pads on all four corners and both sides of the fan.

The finish on the heat pipes looks stunning though, as I said, I don’t know what coating they’re using, but it looks better than anything else I’ve seen on the market. Even little details like the shrink-wrap on the cable sleeving, it’s ridiculously neat.