Review: Noctua NH-L12 Low Profile CPU Cooler

Posted by Dexter K.

Sunday, 15 April 2012 23:23

Article Index
Review: Noctua NH-L12 Low Profile CPU Cooler
Specifications and Features
A Closer Look, Photos and Pictures
Testing and Results
Verdict and Conclusion

Page 5 of 5

Verdict and Conclusion

The NH-L12 is a mixed bag for me. You get a tiny compact size with huge amounts of cooling potential for its size. But it also failed horribly with the heatload of a Hex core processor while overclocked. If you intend on sticking with a low power processor you should have no problems at all though.

The mounting on the NH-L12 is not too bad if you install it before mounting it in a case. Once it is mounted though it can become a pain in the butt. You must also watch out for your memory being too tall.

It does have a decent amount of height for taller memory, but some sticks are just too tall for the NH-L12 to work properly.

The price on the NH-L12 is around the $70-USD mark depending where you find it. Honestly, that price is a bit high and it would be much better around the $50 mark. It does include a couple of fans that are normally $20 each so that is a large chunk of the price there.

I really think that if you run a quad-core chip the NH-L12 might be fine for you, but a hex-core processor is just way too much heat for this poor little heatsink to dissipate.

Pros:

Very compact size
Great fans
Comes with two fans
Well packaged
Universal mounting

Cons:

Price a bit high
Failed at overclocked speeds
Taller memory does not fit

If you need a good performing heatsink for an HTPC the NH-L12 is a great choice. However, if you plan on trying to cool a big hot hex core processor anything over stock clocks will lead to skyrocketing temperatures. But for its size, it is quite an impressive heatsink.

SCORE
7.5/10