Noctua NH-D12L, Low-Height Dual-Tower CPU Cooler (120mm, Brown)

Product Information

We also noticed the fan is lower than the pipe tips, which is where Noctua measures, getting the 145mm height from the bottom of the base to the top of those tips. Though, we’d recommend using it as it comes out of the box without adding a second fan as the cooling performance wasn’t all that more with an additional NH-A12x25r fan attached, especially when the load/thermal output was increased. Once that was done, we set the gray spacers in place, put the brackets on top of them above and below the socket, and carefully screwed them into place, tightening until we ran out of threads.

With a few years of abusing computer parts, he decided to take his chances and try to get a review job.The hole is due to needing access for the soldering process, while others simply press the fins on and hope for good thermal transfer. The NH-D12L has a shorter stature of just 145mm and bridges the gap between the 120mm and 92mm models on offer from Noctua. At first glance, it’s clear that the NH-D12L is similar to Noctua’s common NH-D15/NH-D15S dual-tower design. In the performance rating, the compact air cooler only loses just under one percent to the significantly more powerful Noctua NH-D15.

In addition to the heatsink, Noctua also graciously sent us a separate Noctua NF-A12x25r fan used to mount onto the NH-D12L. Undoubtedly, there are exotic models that are not so easy to find, but this segment is definitely not mass-market. It should also be mentioned here that Prime95 is an extreme scenario, which hardly ever occurs in practice. The round-frame type utilized on the NH-D12L delivers the same famous silent cooling performance while reducing the total cooler height without compromising compatibility with tall motherboard heatsinks or shrouds.Noctua’s SecuFirm2™ mounting systems have become synonymous with quality, safety and easy installation. During operation the Noctua NF-A12x25r fans were certainly quiet in their PWN mode and nothing to raise complaints about -- even at full-speed they weren't too noisy either and still below normal for most 2U/4U cooling setups for high performance desktops/servers. With all of these accessories, you can mount the Noctua NH-D12L on Intel LGA1700, LGA1200, LGA115x, LGA2011, and LGA2066 sockets, as well as AMD AM5 and AM4 sockets. If you require an upgrade kit for a future socket and the cooler supports it, Noctua will almost always get you one for free.

To be fair, that is a bit of a niche market, but having a top-tier offering for those in need means it should still prove quite popular. The NH-D12L is 145mm tall – 13mm shorter than typical Noctua models – and uses a custom-built NF-A12x25r fan with rounded edges that can be lowered between the fin stacks without tainting neighboring components. However, we realize there are server uses where you cannot change the chassis, and there are those that love to keep a mid-tower for space-saving reasons, which is a solution many of the big boys won't solve. All things considered, in the realm of performance, Noctua held its own, and for a one-fan, dual-tower CPU cooler, we admire what Noctua could do with the limitations they imposed. The limitations in case compatibility can be countered somewhat with the Noctua NH-D12L because, with a height of 145 millimeters, the model fits into far more cases than the exorbitantly large Noctua NH-D15.While many companies attempt to eliminate the machining marks, Noctua employs them as more surface area. Not only are the renderings color coded to ease installation visually, but there are also text descriptions that help guide you through. First, the front tower is much thinner than the back one, helping with RAM clearance while not offsetting the pipes. It is literally a work of art, and one of the goals was to make sure that the cooling performance was not degraded in any way after this intervention. I think this really reinforces the brand identity that Noctua is clearly very proud of and ensures users easily recognize the company behind the coolers and fans.

The sides are at the tallest point, allowing the fan to rest while disturbing airflow with the sawteeth and using the valley in the center to enable the fan to build pressure before entering the array. When you login first time using a Social Login button, we collect your account public profile information shared by Social Login provider, based on your privacy settings. Due to its asymmetric design, the NH-D12L does not overhang the RAM slots on Intel LGA1700 (LGA17xx family)/LGA1200/LGA115x and AMD AM4/AM5 based motherboards, which ensures easy access to the modules and 100% compatibility with DIMMs that feature tall heat-spreaders or RGB lighting. The fins, thirty-eight in each stack, are aluminum, left that way, are soldered to the heat pipes, and speaking of them, five 6mm diameter pipes are used in this design. In addition to supporting our site through advertisements, you can help by subscribing to Phoronix Premium.Topped off with the renowned SecuFirm2™ mounting system, Noctua’s award-winning NT-H1 thermal compound and a 6-year manufacturer’s warranty, the NH-D12L is the perfect choice for applications that require serious cooling performance but cannot fit the larger NH-U12A. As it’s shorter, Noctua has opted for 38 aluminium fins per tower, which is a fair few less than normal. We have seen quite a few 120mm air coolers, including the NH-U12A and NH-U12S, so it was a bit of a surprise to see yet another one from this Austrian brand.