- Review -

30.04.2013 ChipLoco.com

The NH-L12 is my first encounter with a Noctua cooler and I have to say that I am deeply impressed. Whenever you try a new product, its performance is probably the last thing you’ll get to see, initially you’ll only see its presentation and quality and this is where the NH-L12 makes the first pleasant impression. Coming to the performance of the cooler, before I give my verdict I would like to mention here that according to Noctua, this cooler is only made for HTPC and small form factor systems and it is not recommended be used for overclocking. However, I was surprised to see that it easily handled the 4.5 GHz overclock on our processor. And for 24/7 usages, 4.5 GHz is usually the upper limit for Ivy Bridge processors which implies that the NH-L12 can be used for everyday overclocking too. Though if used with higher TDP chips like AMD FX-series or Intel Sandy Bridge-E, it might not be able to provide sufficient cooling to keep the processor cool enough at high overclocks for everyday usage. The overall height of the cooler with both fans is rather low at 3.7 inches. Removing the upper 120mm fan further lowers it to 2.5 inches. Ultimately, the HTPC and SFF crowd stands to benefit the most from the NH-L12. However, it can also be a part of a beasty gaming rig. Coupling an NH-L12 cooled Core i7-3770K with an ASUS GTX 670 DirectCU Mini in a small case can make up for a system which can play all the modern games at full HD resolutions without any issue.

"Bearing a price tag of $69.99, the NH-L12 is an expensive cooler but at that price you are getting a unique, yet cost effective proposition. For this premium price tag, you get a premium CPU cooler that is compact enough to fit into smallest of the systems and which is also capable of cooling down a high-end desktop processor with a fairly high overclock. All in all, the compact size, good performance and premium build quality makes the NH-L12 an easy recommend to anyone looking to make a small yet powerful system." (Afaq Shahid, ChipLoco.com)