- Review -

14.06.2012 Bigbruin.com

With the system all warmed up, I am now annoyed that I left the stock AMD cooler installed for so long seeing that it can let the processor get close to 80 degrees Celsius. The NH-U12P wound up being the top performer, but the NH-L12 did very well, too. Considering the design differences, I expected the NH-U12P to actually have a wider margin of victory. For a low profile cooler, you definitely get great performance out of the NH-L12. [...] Whether the cooler was configured to use the low noise adapter or not, the noise level produced was minimal when inspecting the case with the side panel open. Now that the only moving parts in the case are two Noctua 120 fans and the PSU's 120mm fan, the system is silent when all closed up and observed from more than about two feet away. The multimedia experience provided by this system just got a big upgrade since the only sounds we will hear are from the content being enjoyed.

"The Noctua NH-L12 heatpipe CPU cooler is an excellent choice for an HTPC or desktop system where space is at a premium. With the 120mm fan installed on top of the cooler it stands just 93mm (@3.7") tall, and if you can manage to run with just the lower 92mm fan installed you can get the overall height down to 66mm (@2.6"). This will fit a large number of cases, including some of the slimmer low profile units available. And considering its strong cooling performance, you may just want to use it in a full size system - even if you have room for a much larger tower style cooler." (Jason Kohrs, Bigbruin.com)