- Review -

17.11.2017 PureOverclock.com

I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised with the performance of both these coolers. Even though the NH-L9a-AM4 was unable to tame a 3.7 GHz overclock, I did not expect it to be able to hold it at all. The fact that it didn’t immediately throttle – it took over three minutes – was pretty epic. The NH-L12S did fare a lot better, and was able to keep the chip cool in both the stock and OC circumstances. Both coolers represent Noctua at their finest. I’ve never known a fan or cooler from Noctua to be underwhelming in terms of performance or their overall design. As we all know, their color scheme is one which you’ll either love or you’ll hate, but I do value them as a company for sticking to their roots and letting the performance speak for itself. Anyhow, both coolers are perfectly capable of styling up your rig whilst making minimal noise. Both the NH-L12S and NH-L9a-AM4 remained next to whisper quiet throughout the testing that I put them through, even under 100% load.

"As always, Noctua offers an excellent option for cooling, especially in the SFF market." (Brendan van Varik, PureOverclock.com)