Test of the Noctua NH-L12 – Config Council : Specs | CPU | Hashrate | Review | Config

Hi all !

After the test of 3 Noctua coolers in tower format, I am going to offer you today the test of the NH-L12 which is a “Low profile” cooler specially designed for HTPCs or small boxes. With a height of 9.3cm including the 2 fans delivered, it is limited to processors with a maximum TDP of 95Watts and will be severely tested on my Intel Core i7 875K (TDP 95Watts and a little overclocked), will it be able to keep it all cool? The answer in this test!

As usual with Noctua, the box is sober and has the main characteristics of the cooler.

The cooler is well protected between several layers of cardboard, no risk of it being damaged, a good point!

The 2 fixing kits for Sockets AMD & Intel

The accessories are:

• 4 anti-vibration mountings for fan
• 4 fixing screws for fan
• 1 Phillips screwdriver
• 2 adaptateurs Low Noise Adaptator
• 1 Y adapter 2 x 4pins to 1 x 4pins
• 1 extension cable 4 pins for fan
• 1 tube of thermal paste NT-H1
• 1 Noctua metal sticker

As we can see, Noctua as usual provides a very complete bundle and nothing will be missing when buying the cooler!

And of course, the cooler itself! Composed of a 12cm fan on the top and a 9cm one below, it is very compact!

The radiator

The NH-F12 is light and of a size studied to fit in boxes where the height is reduced.

Fans

The 2 fans are in PWM, which is a good point for people who do not have a rheobus and who want to let the motherboard manage all these beautiful people.

First of all, if you install it on a socket 1150/1155/1156/1366 you have to remove the black overlay on the back plate:

Put it under the motherboard and put the screws there:

On the other hand, you have to pay attention to the location where you put the screws, each socket having different dimensions so you must not be mistaken, for example there are 3 ABC locations which correspond to 3 dimensions:

A : Socket 1366

B : Socket 1150 / 1155 / 1156

C: Socket 775

We place the black plastic spacers on the 4 screws.

You must then put the 2 metal plates, be careful to respect the same location for the screws as the black plate under the card (A, B or C).

Secure the plates using the 4 hand screws.

Then we put a little thermal paste, be careful not to put too much on pain of lower temperatures.

We gently place the cooler on the processor (taking care to remove the 2 fans), then you have to screw through the 2 holes of the cooler!

Then we replace the fan 9.2cm below the cooler, being careful not to force the RAM bars which are very close.

And to finish (it was about time! 🙂) you have to place and fix the 12cm fan on top, here is your cooler is placed!

The test platform

The NH-L12 has been tested on the configuration below:

• Processor: Intel Core i7 875K @ 3,2 Ghz
• Motherboard: Asus P7P55D
• Memory: Kingston HyperX 4 x 2 Go 1600Mhz
• Hard disk: WD Raptor 150 Go
• Graphic card: Sapphire Toxic 5850
• Food: Seasonic X650

The test protocol

The core i7 875K has been slightly overclocked to 3.2Ghz. The temperatures under load are an average of all the cores for 3 tests of 30 minutes on OCCT, the temperatures at rest were taken after 15mins on the desk (still an average of the 4 cores).

The cooler has been tested against Noctua NH-U12s, NH-U14S, NH-D14 and Thermalright HR01 (equipped with a Nexus real silent 120 fan)

The temperatures

Well we can say that the bet is successful! The NH-L12 despite its size manages to cool an overclocked Core i7 875K to 3.2Ghz without any problem, although I would advise against using it with the 2 fans at 5v because the airflow is insufficient.
Keep in mind that the cooler is being compared to coolers which don’t play in the same category at all and would be impossible to install where the NH-F12 is supposed to be used.

Noise pollution

Attention : Part to be taken with a grain of salt, unfortunately not having access to the appropriate equipment and using an android application to take the readings the measurements below are only indicative! The readings were taken 15cm from the cooler.

The NH-F12 remains relatively silent when it is managed in PWM by the motherboard, in 12v the fans are widely heard and may disturb lovers of silence, without being the noise of a turbine. Do not forget that if the NH-L12 is used on a less greedy processor (such as a core i3 for example) then there will be no problem and it will then remain perfectly silent.

I was a little dubious at the start about the cooling capacity of the NH-L12 coupled with a processor with a TDP of 95Watts, and quite as much to say that I was very surprised with the result! The NH-L12 achieves this without difficulty and all this with very contained noise pollution compared to its size, it will be the ideal companion of a processor (even powerful) in an HTPC or in a box with a limited height and that falls. good because that’s exactly what it was designed for.

The +

• Excellent performance for its size
• Bundle complet
• Contained noise pollution
• It exudes quality
• Noctua after-sales service during the evolution of sockets

The –

A big thank you to Jakob from Noctua who allowed me to do this test.

Where can I find the Noctua NH-L12?

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