Hello everyone.
Just wanted to give a brief "review" of my newest upgrade to my rig, Noctua's NH-U12F fan/heatsink combo. I had been waiting to address my stock Intel cooler, but really wasn't having too much of an issue with it...I had gotten a very easy 3.0 GHz oout of 6600 and the stability was there for more than 5 months now. The temps were high according to Intel's TAT (49 at idle going up to 63 at full load), but were more than acceptable that I didn't feel the need to rush right out and buy something.
Well, upgraditis hit last week and the easiest thing I could think of was to ditch that stock cooler and get something nice. Usual suspects were the Arctic Freezer Pro, Tuniq Tower and Zalman 9700. I ended up picking the Noctua NH-12F. It's gotten great reviews all over the net, seems to be state-of-the-art right now in terms of what it brings to the table and is still on the rare side...always a plus! Searched for the best price I could get, ordered it Tuesday and installed it this morning! Nice...
First things first, Noctua is first rate all the way as a company! The box, packaging and materials included are top notch. The manual is completely in English, well written and is broken up for each type of socket installation...you only need to read the section that applies to your socket. You get all the parts you need to go Intel 775 or AMD K8 or AM2. No other adapters are needed. The heatsink itself is MASSIVE! It doesn't weight as much as it looks, but it does weigh in at 790g with the fan. The mounting plate for the 775 option is an aluminum X-brace that you secure first (gotta' remove the MB) with braces that sit aside the CPU socket. You have to orient these braces correctly, as you can face the cooler side-to-side or up-and-down. But to change the direction, you must remount the braces.
Once the braces are mounted, securing the backplate, you attach the heatsink atop the CPU by screwing a set of spring-loaded screws to the socket braces. The springs allow the whole cooler to "float" should some shocks or bumps be encountered. In fact, Noctua does NOT reccomend removing the cooler at all during transport of the PC...it feels so strongly about the security and integrity of their mounting solution that they simply don't think it's neccessary. More about that in a bit...
So, I assambled the backplate, braces, attach the heatsink, attach the fan (which uses a cool clip-type assembly that really makes vibration a moot point) and mount my MB back onto my MB tray all outside my tower. When I go and slide my tray back into my case (Lian Li PC-65), the freakin' thing won't clear the side brace of my case! So, I have to take the fan off, unscrew the heat sink, lide the MB tray into my case, lay the whole thing onto its side, screw the heatsink back on and then attach the fan! Needless to say, this made for really tight confines since the heatsink takes up a ton of room. Beware this step, friends...the cooler may fit, but you may have to do the final assembly inside your case!
Next, I tidied up my cables, attached everything and closed her up. When I picked up my case, it was noticably heavier. I carried it up a flight of stairs, maneuvered it onto its perch and found the mounting system and heatsink to be quite stable. Plugged everything in, turned her on...and everything was quiet! The Noctua NF-S12 fan is rated for 1200 RPMs max...at 17dB! This thing is super hush. The loudest thing in my case is my ATI...the difference between this and the stock Intel cooler noise-wise is really shocking.
I opened the Intel TAT to get some initial readings...37 degrees at idle on both cores, more than 10 degrees better than stock! Punching it up under full load and I got a max temp of 52 and 51 on each Core respectively and stayed that way for a full 10+ minutes! As soon as I took the load back down to idle, it took less than 20 seconds to achieve 40 degrees on each core. The cooling performance is incredible! I put on a fresh application of Arctic Silver's Alumina compound, so I expect the performance to increase slightly as the compound sets over time.
So, in all...a terrific addition to my, or anyone's rig. While I wouldn't say it's difficult to install, it can be tricky since it'll probably involve in-case installation on anything but the biggest towers out there. The documentation, materials and quality of the unit are first rate. The real star of the deal is the Noctua NF-S12 Fan, though. It has a lot of innovation going on and it's performance in both cooling and quietness have to experienced to be believed. Believe the hype...the Noctua is that nice!
Cheers all! :beer:
Twitch
My Rig
Close-up with stock Intel cooler
Now, with Noctua NH-U12F
Close up of Noctua cooler...takes up some space, eh?
Just wanted to give a brief "review" of my newest upgrade to my rig, Noctua's NH-U12F fan/heatsink combo. I had been waiting to address my stock Intel cooler, but really wasn't having too much of an issue with it...I had gotten a very easy 3.0 GHz oout of 6600 and the stability was there for more than 5 months now. The temps were high according to Intel's TAT (49 at idle going up to 63 at full load), but were more than acceptable that I didn't feel the need to rush right out and buy something.
Well, upgraditis hit last week and the easiest thing I could think of was to ditch that stock cooler and get something nice. Usual suspects were the Arctic Freezer Pro, Tuniq Tower and Zalman 9700. I ended up picking the Noctua NH-12F. It's gotten great reviews all over the net, seems to be state-of-the-art right now in terms of what it brings to the table and is still on the rare side...always a plus! Searched for the best price I could get, ordered it Tuesday and installed it this morning! Nice...
First things first, Noctua is first rate all the way as a company! The box, packaging and materials included are top notch. The manual is completely in English, well written and is broken up for each type of socket installation...you only need to read the section that applies to your socket. You get all the parts you need to go Intel 775 or AMD K8 or AM2. No other adapters are needed. The heatsink itself is MASSIVE! It doesn't weight as much as it looks, but it does weigh in at 790g with the fan. The mounting plate for the 775 option is an aluminum X-brace that you secure first (gotta' remove the MB) with braces that sit aside the CPU socket. You have to orient these braces correctly, as you can face the cooler side-to-side or up-and-down. But to change the direction, you must remount the braces.
Once the braces are mounted, securing the backplate, you attach the heatsink atop the CPU by screwing a set of spring-loaded screws to the socket braces. The springs allow the whole cooler to "float" should some shocks or bumps be encountered. In fact, Noctua does NOT reccomend removing the cooler at all during transport of the PC...it feels so strongly about the security and integrity of their mounting solution that they simply don't think it's neccessary. More about that in a bit...
So, I assambled the backplate, braces, attach the heatsink, attach the fan (which uses a cool clip-type assembly that really makes vibration a moot point) and mount my MB back onto my MB tray all outside my tower. When I go and slide my tray back into my case (Lian Li PC-65), the freakin' thing won't clear the side brace of my case! So, I have to take the fan off, unscrew the heat sink, lide the MB tray into my case, lay the whole thing onto its side, screw the heatsink back on and then attach the fan! Needless to say, this made for really tight confines since the heatsink takes up a ton of room. Beware this step, friends...the cooler may fit, but you may have to do the final assembly inside your case!
Next, I tidied up my cables, attached everything and closed her up. When I picked up my case, it was noticably heavier. I carried it up a flight of stairs, maneuvered it onto its perch and found the mounting system and heatsink to be quite stable. Plugged everything in, turned her on...and everything was quiet! The Noctua NF-S12 fan is rated for 1200 RPMs max...at 17dB! This thing is super hush. The loudest thing in my case is my ATI...the difference between this and the stock Intel cooler noise-wise is really shocking.
I opened the Intel TAT to get some initial readings...37 degrees at idle on both cores, more than 10 degrees better than stock! Punching it up under full load and I got a max temp of 52 and 51 on each Core respectively and stayed that way for a full 10+ minutes! As soon as I took the load back down to idle, it took less than 20 seconds to achieve 40 degrees on each core. The cooling performance is incredible! I put on a fresh application of Arctic Silver's Alumina compound, so I expect the performance to increase slightly as the compound sets over time.
So, in all...a terrific addition to my, or anyone's rig. While I wouldn't say it's difficult to install, it can be tricky since it'll probably involve in-case installation on anything but the biggest towers out there. The documentation, materials and quality of the unit are first rate. The real star of the deal is the Noctua NF-S12 Fan, though. It has a lot of innovation going on and it's performance in both cooling and quietness have to experienced to be believed. Believe the hype...the Noctua is that nice!
Cheers all! :beer:
Twitch
My Rig
Close-up with stock Intel cooler
Now, with Noctua NH-U12F
Close up of Noctua cooler...takes up some space, eh?