Noctua NH-U12S CPU Cooler Review

At stock we weren’t very adventurous. We simply used the default PWM profile and let the test run its course. As you can see results were very impressive and the Noctua NH-U12S was a hair under one degree better than the Thermalright Archon SB-E X2 which is a fantastic air cooler.

Those excellent results came with no noise penalty either. The Noctua NH-U12S was very quiet and the NF-F12 fan it uses is showing its true strength here.

We went to town a bit with the overclocked results, running quite a few more tests than we normally would. We tested the Noctua NH-U12S at stock (PWM) fan speeds with the single included NF-F12 and then we tested it with the single NF-F12 at 100% fan speed. Then, for those die-hard enthusiasts who really need to know this, we added a second Noctua NF-F12 for push-pull. We then tested again at stock (PWM) and 100% fan speeds. This leaves us with the graph below where you can see all four entries. Note that the second NF-F12 we used is NOT included, you must purchase it separately if you are looking to push-pull.

Out of the box PWM performance with one fan was surprisingly good, matching the Thermalright Archon SB-E X2. Ramping that up to maximum speed we saw an extra 2 degrees of performance. Adding a second fan shaved some more heat off and at maximum fan speed even more heat was removed bringing the Noctua NH-U12S within touching distance of the 240mm AIO units from Asetek and Cooler Master.

As expected acoustic performance with PWM profiles was excellent. Maximum fan speed with a single fan was actually pretty quiet too, the Noctua NH-U12S with a maximum speed NF-F12 was actually quieter than a lot of 240mm AIOs. The second fan bumped noise up quite a bit more so we wouldn’t recommend doing that for 24/7 use, but that said the amount of noise produced for the amount of (air) performance produced is very impressive indeed.