Product on Review: Noctua NT-U12A
Manufacturer: Noctua
Street Price: GBP £89.95 / USD $99.90
Noctua, now in their 14th year of business, set about designing and constructing some of the world’s quietest and best-performing cooling solutions for consumers and businesses in the computing sector. Noctua’s NH-U12A is now the 5th generation of the NH-U12 family of 120mm CPU coolers. The NH-U12A packs many new features designed to remove as much heat as possible from your CPU without impacting on noise levels.
The NH-U12A utilises Noctua’s epic NF-A12x25 120mm cooling fans, one either side of the heatsink; our review of the fan proved it to be the best fan we’d ever tested, and almost a year on, we’re yet to see anything better. We’ve not seen these fans attached to a Noctua cooler yet so we’ll be interested to see how these get on.
The heatsink features 7 heat pipes with a soldered interface instead of the more traditional press-fitting and boasts a 100% RAM compatibility with Intel LGA115x and AMD AM4 socket types. We also get Noctua’s well-regarded SecuFirm2 mounting system that can be adapted for all socket types with promised future-proofing, a full-size syringe of Noctua NT-H1 thermal paste and a 6-year manufacturers warranty on all components.
Considering all of that, the Noctua NH-U12A appears to offer the entire package, but at £89.95 in the UK, and the equivalent elsewhere, it certainly doesn’t tick the “cheap” box. However, solid performance in our tests may justify that asking price. Let’s find out.
Noctua on the NH-U12A:
The NH-U12A is the latest, 5th generation of Noctua’s award-winning NH-U12 series of 120mm size premium-quality quiet CPU coolers. Conceived to push the envelope of the 120mm form factor, it combines two of Noctua’s flagship model NF-A12x25 PWM 120mm fans with a completely redesigned heatsink featuring 7 heatpipes and an increased fin surface area for superior heat dissipation. This way, the NH-U12A can rival the performance of many 140mm size coolers while offering 120mm class case and PCIe compatibility. Topped off with the trusted, pro-grade SecuFirm2™ multi-socket mounting system, Noctua’s proven NT-H1 thermal compound and a full 6-year manufacturer’s warranty, the NH-U12A is a deluxe choice that combines top-tier performance with excellent compatibility and outstanding quietness of operation.
