- Review -

11.03.2012 HiTechLegion.com

First off, you need to understand what the Noctua NH-L12 is….and isn’t. The NH-L12 is a low profile, dual fan cooler made specifically for small case applications, most notably HTPC. It has the ability to run in a single fan mode that drops the height of the installed NH-L12 to a miniscule 66mm. It is not a behemoth made for overclocking. It is specifically meant to sit on lower wattage CPU/APUs in tight spaces and cool them effectively and efficiently in near silence, and do so in even the smallest and tightest of HTPC cases with a simple installation. This is what the NH-L12 was made to do, and it does it to perfection with room to spare. Looking at the cooling characteristics, they are absolutely outstanding. In dual fan mode the NH-L12 actually manages easily outperform its much larger sibling the NH-C12P and is in a whole different (and much better) cooling class than the other low profile coolers we have tested. At stock CPU speeds the NH-L12 cooling results look like they came from a similarly priced full sized tower, and a good one at that. Taking off the top fan and running the NH-L12 at 66mm in height, the cooling naturally took a hit, but remained impressive. Even under full load for extended periods, the CPU remained 14 degrees from its thermal danger zone at a cool 41 degrees.

"Put it all together, and we have what I feel is the finest low profile cooler to hit the market to date in the Noctua NH-L12. It is a stellar performer, beautifully built and engineered and simple to install. The NH-L12 stays dead quiet at all fan speeds, and even offers an LNA for those situations where even the minutest noise would be too much. Plus, it fits everywhere. In the world of HTPC/Low Profile cooling, the Noctua NH-L12 is king, and in my mind, it’s not even close." (George Cella, HiTechLegion.com)