Noctua NH-D12L, Low-Height Dual-Tower CPU Cooler (120mm, Brown)

I normally have built systems from every aspect, including case and cooling solution. However, with desperation of wanting an upgrade to a 6 year old system, and some scarcity of sourcing parts, I opted for a prebuilt solution, that had a stock intel cooler on the i7-11700KF, on a ASUS B560-G board, within a ASUS ROG G15CE designed prebuilt/case. I am literally writing this after installing this cooling upgrade. I was doing research for possible solutions to my current situation. I saw some other user's ways of possibly adding a taller cooling tower, which one version meant cutting a hole in the side of the metal side panel case they had. However, my side panel is of the glass version, and that was not an option. I saw this week that this came out via an online article and writeup of this being released this week. Thankfully Amazon had stock and I immediately placed the order. I was not disappointed. It fits, and it cools much more efficiently than I had even expected. I ran some loads that I normally ran the device under, which were most likely thermal throttling the system as the system was spiking in the 90C/212F areas according to HWMonitor. I believe I am now not thermal throttling as we speak, with the temperature under same load now reading 84C/183F at max readings. This is a mind easing solution that I was weary of working at first for the height limitation of the cooling tower I thought I might run into. However, Noctua has hit this out of the park and has provided the prebuilt narrow cases breathing room and doubled the cooling thermal area, if not tripled the surface area as the stock cooler on a visual analysis of heatsink surfaces. My case currently, without spending money on another case or even considering AIO or liquid cooling, is small as it is. Much smaller than I imagined it when I purchased it initially. The cooling tower has enough gap, albeit small if by millimeters, between the top of the thermal heat pipe ends and the glass side panel, that there is no contact whatsoever. And finally, the second main reason, aside from thermal control as the primary, was to reduce the noise created by the constant needing to cool the smaller stock heatsink. For those coming along behind me, the stock cooler is smaller than 92mm of even the rear exhaust case fan. Having the cooling fans that are larger and quieter from this is so much better than ever before. Even at load, there was barely any noticeable fan noise, you might literally have to get down next to the case to hear it if you have it below your desktop surface. My older AIO system is now even louder than this now. I am very happy with this and very thankful for this new release. I didn't have to spend excess money on a new case or a new liquid cooling solution that this was able to help fulfill. As far as installation, the instructions were very detailed and the parts were very easy to identify. While I can see someone not experienced possibly being a bit overwhelmed by such a task of a swap that might cause worry, from my other experiences, this was such a breeze and easy to accomplish, that I feel that my son could do the swap.

I've typically used cheaper coolers, and for anyone seriously looking to budget price/performance, no shame in it. Some models out there might also have similar conveniences further widening the effective price gap. But I had some special circumstances. First,I am somewhat regularly changing out equipment. Set-it and forget-it year long systems this is not, so Noctua's braindead easy mounting designs are a godsend. Again, other brands may have similar mounting that allows coolers to sit even while screws are tightened without mashing out all the TIM. Second, I needed a cooler no taller than 120mm to fit into a 4U rackmount case. Options were grossly limited. If you're with me so far on requirements, honorable mentions to Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 Mini. Similar mounting hardware. ~1/3rd the price, fits in 4U chassis. If you're on a budget, strongly consider that model. Consider it outright if you are NOT intending on running your CPU at 100% near 24/7. See the following. Last, I am going to be running my hardware into the ground. While the price difference here isn't going to translate much into longevity - modern chips do a good job of throttling themselves right up to the thermal limits safely - it will translate into either better performance or lower power consumption. Lower temperatures (or else more efficient cooling) means higher clocks at lower voltages. Faster number crunching, or else more EFFICIENT number crunching. Higher clocks, or same clocks with lower voltage. The price difference in my use case will be over years in the electric bills or returns. Possibly both.

Ive used these things for a while now. I have them in 2 hyper-v servers (one intel and one AMD) and my latest dev box with a 14th gen intel chip in it. They come with a massive radiator and can be installed blowing front to back or from bottom to top. They have a super quiet fan in them that just nestles in between the radiators and there is an option to have another fan as well if you get paranoid about heat. As far as cooling goes, these quiet fans keep my processors cool. I found liquid cooling to be overly complicated and very invasive to the computer case, plus it seemed to be very picky about where certain things had to go. With this fan unit, you just use the adapters (the instructions seem intimidating but are fairly straight forward) and the fan is pretty forgiving. I will continue to use these fans. Plus, it looks neat with all the LED lighting already in your case

Fits great in my 4U case. Extremely quiet. A bit pricey but I believe the quality is excellent. Install is pretty easy. Fewer loose parts to align while trying to get the screws in compared to some others. There are a few very close screw holes to align for different sockets so just pay attention and look closely. I had no issues getting things right the first time. Uses a backplate so you'll need the board out of the case. Plan accordingly. I'm only using this on an i5-13400 which is very low power, so this cooler is overkill but I wanted something slightly better than the stock cooler in my potentially hot rack, and the fan can be aligned to blow front to back in concert with the rest of your case fans.

It’s big and EXTREMELY quiet. I have it paired on an older AMD Black Edition 4Gighz cpu. My temps are 50% cooler with this thing and using the Noctua paste. I’ve always used the Article silver paste but thought i’de try their paste. I checked it a year later and the paste was not dried. Great product. I replaced the original fans in my case with Noctua fans and the case is incredibly quiet. Great company.

The NH-D12L honestly might be the best air cooler to date for the HAF XB EVO. Let me clarify that. While this case is fairly large and can be very accommodating for large air coolers with 180mm clearance (So even the mighty NH-D15 can fit in this case with some room to spare), it can only do that if you don't mount a 200mm fan. With most 200mm fans being 30mm thick, That 180mm clearance drops down to 150mm. Excluding many great air coolers as most of them are above that 150mm height limit. So in the past with this case, you could have a less capable air cooler or you could have a great air cooler but have to contend with any possible heat from the gpu affecting the cpu. With this new cooler and it's 145mm height, you can now have a great air cooler that a couple of stone's throws away from the legendary NH-D15 performance while having a top 200mm fan to remove any heat buildup that might be present in the case. Basically, we can now have our cake and eat it to. There's certainly not a lot of room to spare between the NH-D12L and the spinning blades of the NF-A20 fan (5mm clearance at most) right above it but it just clears it (As you can see in the photo's). Making this a great choice for those wanting High AirFlow in the HAF XB EVO case (the main point in the HAF name) and sticking with Air cooling (only water cooling would be better while keeping the 200mm fan, but if I was wanting water cooling... I wouldn't of got the NH-D12L). Other pro's of the cooler: Easy mounting for the AM4 platform (just like all the other Noctua coolers) Quiet Performs well Has the option of mounting a 2nd NF-A12x25r fan (clips for a 2nd fan is already included but the 2nd fan itself is a separate purchase.) Really my one major Con about this cooler is it's price. While it's cooling capabilities are close to the NH-D15 (along with the U12A, the other D15 variants, and older D14), it's not close enough IMO to warrant a $10 difference between the 2 coolers (at time of purchase and writing, the D15 cost $100 while the D12L cost $90). With the D15, your getting a much larger cooler with "two" 140mm fans while the D12L is smaller and only comes with "one" 120mm fan. From a purely performance perspective, I think it should be about $75 where this should fit (would still be more expensive than the D12L closest competitor that i'm aware of, Thermalright Silver Soul 135 at $50-$55). Oh well, this is the price you pay for highest performance in the most compact package. (Basically, if you have the room or "willing to sacrifice" something else to make room for, grab the NH-D15 (or equivalent tier cooler) over the NH-D12L. It is the better buy of the 2 coolers). 2nd (minor) con that I alluded to with my previous con and even in my pro, the single fan. Dont get me wrong, the NF-A12x25r is a great fan and is perfectly adequate for the D12L, but when the cooler is $90 VS $100 for the D15, I think for the price, the D12L could of came with 2 of these fans. Especially since the cooler doesn't support standard 120mm fans (meaning your limited to fans with hole spacing of 93x83 mm like the NF-A12x25r) and you have to spend an additional $30 to get one of these non-standard fans. I think noctua could of made it easier on it's user to include it for the price. (They probably did it this way as most people wouldn't use a 2nd fan due to space issues but like said, for the price, I rather have the 2nd fan and keep it as a backup for down the road if i couldn't use it right away)

I built my new PC in January 2024 with an AMD Ryzen 7700 CPU. I'm not a big gamer but do plan to get Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 when it comes out this year. Based on my research, this CPU will work fine for me. I like that it runs at 65W rather than higher watts that might require liquid cooling. I did my usual tons of research on deciding which cooling fan to buy. Noctua is always listed as one of the best and quietest fans. Noctua has a great website where they tell you which of their fans to buy based on your CPU and PC case. The Noctua NH-D12L fan was my only choice to use with my CPU and my Corsair Crystal 280X case. This fan fits my case and cools my CPU perfectly. It is super quiet. The cooler fan that came with my AMD Ryzen 7700 looked nice and had RGB. But reviewers didn't consider it very quiet and my own testing of it corroborated the point. This Noctua fan only comes with their brown fan. Considering that it's sandwiched between cooling radiators, it's no big deal seeing it amongst the black components in my PC case. Actually, I kind of like having the 'official' Noctua fan color.

had to go to home depot for rubber seal to use for a spacer on the screw with springs. the spring didn't give enough tension. however with the slight hiccup it worked out great. looks great. packaging did a good job keeping the fins from being bent. most likely running it in my pc for a long time.

Uso esta marca con frecuencia, siempre es sinónimo de calidad y rendimiento. Este disipador cabe en casi todas las cajas estándares del mercado (a diferencia de su hermano mayor). El montaje no es tan fácil como otras marcas, pero tampoco es muy difícil. Como ventaja de su tipo de montaje, es que el disipador queda mucho más fijo con la placa base, por lo que ayuda a que el rendimiento de disipación sea mejor con otros sistemas más rápidos y sencillos.

Es la refrigeración que merece tu pc, enfría que da miedo, la competencia se queda muy corta, realmente uno no entiende como puede enfriar tan bien, vale cada centavo.

J'ai monté ce Ventirad sur une carte mère MSI B550 Gaming Plus équipée d'un processeur AMD Ryzen 7 5800XT. Produit de très bon qualité, facile à installer en dépit de la taille de la bête et offrant un excellent refroidissement tout en restant silencieux (sur des jeux ou des applications de rendus 3D notamment). Ce ventirad offre l'avantage d'être compact donc compatible avec la plupart des boitiers. Livraison impeccable.

5600Xの基本クーラーで９０度以上だったが、これ付けた後は６５になった。 設置も基本のやつより１００万倍しやすかった。 NR500に余裕で使えますよ。

I've been a fan of Noctua for over a decade, and I've had an NH-D14, an NH-D9L and now an NH-D12L. I've also got NF-P12 case fans that I've had for over a decade and they're still going strong. I was a bit dubious about this one because when my NF-P12's are running at 100% I can just about hear them, and that's at 1300 RPM. So when I looked at this and found out it ran at 2000 RPM when under load, I thought it might be a bit noisy and I may have to adjust the fan curve in the BIOS, because having a silent or near silent PC is very important to me. I should have known really, it's Noctua. This cooler runs silent at 2000 RPM and keeps my 5900X well in check. I have my 5900X undervolted using the curve optimizer with a setting of -17. I also set the thermal throttle limit to 74C, because I'm not having it that 90C for this CPU is fine, no matter what AMD say. For core heavy workloads I get around 4.3GHz all core which is what a 5900X should do, and in gaming where only a few cores are used, it fluctuates somewhere between 4.8GHz and 4.95GHz, which again is what a 5900X should do. All this with the CPU not exceeding 75C and the PC being silent. The only downside is cost, you pay for Noctua, but you are paying for quality engineering that applies to both the heatsink and the fan. It's just like buying an Aston Martin, you know you are going to pay for it, but you also know you are getting a top quality product. I don't mind paying for Noctua products, but Noctua prices aren't everybody's cup of tea. Noctua customer service is top notch as well. For example, in 2021 I'd had my NH-D14 for a decade and wanted to use it on my 5900X. Noctua sent me the AM4 mounting kit for free. So I could use my NH-D14 on my new rig, which I have done until now. The NH-D14 is quite cumbersome though and I'm glad I replaced it with this. I can now access the first M.2 slot without removing the cooler, and my GPU is now a lot easier to remove when I want to clean it. This NH-D12L also outperforms the NH-D14 and is silent under load, whereas the NH-D14 is quiet under load but not silent.