Noctua NH-U12A, Premium CPU Cooler with High-Performance Quiet NF-A12x25 PWM Fans (120mm, Brown)
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John
> 3 dayI just removed my NZXT kraken 360 AIO becuase I really wanted reliability and simplicity. I put this Noctua NH-U12A Air cooler on my intel i9 9900k. Let me tell you it is amazing, ram clearance is perfect, cooling ability is great with 100% load at 4.7ghz on all cores. Everything they say about these fans are true they are very quiet compared to other fans I’ve owned. Highly recommend.
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Karol
Greater than one weekBought for new PC 2 years ago. Easy to install and of good quality, although I expected the fans to be quieter than they are. I honestly expected NOCTUA to be next to silent. The size is just right for my small-ish PC case. Not a very good cooler for Ryzen 5800x though. You better get yourself Noctua NH-D15 instead.
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William Mellen
> 3 dayAMD SOCKET AM4
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Flacco
> 3 dayBeware that this cooler will not fit on an Asus Strix-E Z490 ATX board with its 80mm ZRM fan installed and both cpu fans installed at the same time.
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Limftw
> 3 dayBin zufrieden, auch die Farbe finde ich gut. Nutze Noctua Lüfter bereits seit meiner Kindheit und habe die Farbe irgendwie lieb gewonnen :P Genutzt wird der Kühler für einen 5900x. Temps sind stabil.
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MaKa
Greater than one weekNachdem mein Brocken 3 es vorher in meinem alten Cooler Master Masterbox 5 Mesh Case nicht geschafft hatte einen Ryzen 7 5800x3d unter 90 Grad Maximaltemperatur zu halten im Cinebench, habe ich auf den Noctua U12A umgerüstet und was soll ich sagen? Das Teil hält wirklich was es verspricht!
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Lea Grant
Greater than one weekGreat cooler, works very well with my I7 4790k. Awesome product from Noctua as always.
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clau.p
Greater than one weekGood temps on my i9-9900k. Absolutely recommend. The cooler is half as wide than the NDH-14/15 but its quite tall. If youre thinking to build a mATX / ITX system dont forget to take the measurements.
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J. Wong
Greater than one weekAlthough this CPU cooler isnt as pretty as some AIO or other water coolers, its cooling performance and silent operation surpasses just about all of them. Just search for videos online comparing CPU coolers and youll find good information before you commit to a CPU cooler. For me personally, the aesthetics of a CPU cooler wasnt a big factor. More important to me are the cooling performance and loudness factors. The Noctua NH-U12A is the best of the top CPU coolers for these two factors. Before I watched the videos, I always thought water based CPU coolers were the most quiet and was very surprised to learn that Noctua NH-U12A outperformed some of them in quietness. The only thing that bothered me a bit about the Noctua NH-U12A was that the clips that holds the fans to the heat sinks are not very effective. They dont hold the fans very tightly. I had to use some twist ties to tie the two fans clips together to make sure the clips didnt pop off accidentally. Despite this small annoyance, I still highly recommend the Noctua NH-U12A CPU cooler for those who want great cooling performance along with low noise.
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Jamie Bennett
> 3 dayPhenomenal performance for its size and has a great mounting system (as all Noctua coolers do). The only downside is the price.
The NH-U12A is the latest, 5th generation of Noctua’s 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 and Noctua’s proven NT-H1 thermal compound, the NH-U12A is a deluxe choice that combines top-tier performance with excellent compatibility and outstanding quietness of operation.
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Classic 120mm tower size for excellent overall compatibilityStanding 158mm tall, the NH-U12A is short enough to fit most modern mid- or high-end tower cases. Measuring 125mm wide (including fan and fan clips), the cooler stays clear of the top PCIe slot on most standard ATX or Micro-ATX motherboards, ensuring optimum compatibility with multi-GPU setups. |
100% RAM compatibility on LGA1700/1200 and AM4/AM5Due to its asymmetric design, the NH-U12A does not overhang the RAM slots on Intel LGA1700 (LGA17xx family)/LGA1200/LGA115x and AMD AM4/AM5 based motherboards, which ensures easy access to the modules and 100% compatibility with tall heat-spreaders. On LGA2066, the rear fan will overhang the RAM slots on the left-hand side of the socket, so RAM modules should not exceed 42mm in height.* |
Dual NF-A12 120mm fansThe NF-A12x25 is a highly optimised next-generation 120mm fan that integrates Noctua’s latest innovations in aerodynamic engineering in order to achieve an unprecedented level of quiet cooling performance. Using this elite-class fan in a push/pull dual fan configuration is one of the cornerstones of the NH-U12A’s commanding performance and acoustic efficiency. |
NT-H1 thermal compoundNoctua’s much-acclaimed NT-H1 is a pro-grade TIM solution that provides minimum thermal resistance, excellent ease of use and outstanding reliability. Chosen again and again by overclockers and enthusiast users worldwide, it has established itself as a benchmark for premium-quality thermal compounds. |
Measurements
- Height (without fan): 158 mm
- Width (without fan): 125 mm
- Depth (without fan): 58 mm
- Height (with fan): 158 mm
- Width (with fan): 125 mm
- Depth (with fan): 112 mm
- Weight (without fan): 760 g
- Weight (with fan): 1220 g
Materials
Copper (base and heat-pipes), aluminium (cooling fins), soldered joints & nickel plating
Cooler Specifications
Scope of delivery
- 2x NF-A12x25 PWM premium fan
- 2x NA-RC14 Low-Noise Adaptor (L.N.A)
- NA-YC1 4-pin PWM y-cable
- SecuFirm2 mounting kit
- NT-H1 high-grade thermal compound
- Noctua Metal Case-Badge
* In cases with more than 158mm CPU cooler clearance, the rear fan can be moved upwards to make room for memory modules taller than 42mm.
140mm performance in 120mm size
Thanks to its completely revised 7 heatpipe layout, 37% more fin surface area and a dual fan push/pull configuration that uses the new, state-of-the-art NF-A12x25 fans, the NH-U12A can actually match or even outperform many 140mm sized coolers.
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| NH-U12S | NH-U12S TR4-SP3 | NH-U12S redux | NH-U12S chromax.black | NH-U12A | NH-U12A chromax.black | |
| LGA2066, LGA2011-0 & LGA2011-3 | ✓ | X | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| LGA1700 | ✓ | X | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| LGA1200, LGA115x (LGA1150, LGA1151, LGA1155, LGA1156) | ✓ | X | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| LGA775 & LGA1366 | with NM-I3 | X | with NM-I3 | with NM-I3 | with NM-I3 | with NM-I3 |
| Xeon LGA2011 Narrow ILM / Xeon LGA1366 & LGA1356 | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| Xeon LGA3647 | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| Xeon LGA4189 | X | with NM-i4189 | X | X | X | X |
| AM5 | ✓ | X | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| AM4 | ✓ | X | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| sTRx4, sWRX8, TR4, SP3 | X | ✓ | X | X | X | X |
