Noctua NH-L12S

[testman78]

Introduction

The cooler we are reviewing today is the Noctua NH-L12S, which is very small in comparison to most of the coolers in our charts, and is even more compact than the NH-L12. Successor to the award-winning NH-L12, the new NH-L12S models now support the AM4 socket of AMD's Ryzen processors. The NH-L12S measures 70mm tall with an updraft blowing fan. Its quad heatpipe design can handle 95W CPUs. It uses the NF-A12x15 PWM 120mm fan, but it is also slimmer than the standard 25mm. It operates at 450 to 1850 RPM, but can be capped at 1400 RPM with the low-noise adapter. The NH-L12S is also compatible with Intel LGA115x and LGA20xx systems, as well as the older AMD AM3+/FM2+ mounting standard. I'm eager to see how this little cooler performs!



Specifications.




Packaging & Contents

The Noctua packaging was very glossy and high quality. On the left is the NH-L12S naming of the cooler and above a mobile-tag to get more information on this cooler at the point of purchase. Over in the brown section there is the Noctua name at the bottom and six features listed at the top. They focus on the low profile nature of the cooler. You can also clearly see the focus on HTPCs and Small Form Factor systems.



Spinning the box around we land on this panel next that delivers four charts. These charts cover the full specifications of fan and the cooler body, but also covers the scope of delivery. On the right side you can even see two renderings of the cooler with dimensions to be sure you are seeing it right.



The back shows the name of the cooler on the left along with the compliance to ISO9001 and ISO14001 standards and the six year warranty. On the right it shows the features that were listed on the front, but this time with images and a description of what it is. The key features are listed here. Many are trademark features of all Noctua CPU coolers like the Noctua SecFirm2 mounting system, low noise adaptor and NT-H1 thermal paste.



The other side lists a description of the cooler in multiple languages.



The top of the packaging looks much like the front did with one major difference.



After opening the box, I found the Noctua NH-L12S securely inside an enclosure made up of smaller, tight-fitting and sturdy cardboard inserts. They protect the cooler and all included materials well, which keeps the possibility of damage done during transport at a minimum.



Instead of a single manual that is vague and does not really address the intricacies of installing the NH-L12S onto the motherboard and CPU, Noctua has provided three very detailed multi-color manuals for each processor type, so you can get each step correct.



Meanwhile, all the mounting hardware was labeled and placed in re-sealable plastic bags.



You can find a tube of Noctua's excellent thermal interface material, one L.N.A (low noise adapter) and a metal case badge to show your support.



If all of that is not enough, Noctua includes a screwdriver to install the brackets and SecuFirm2 mounting assembly. Looks like you get everything and the kitchen sink!





A Closer Look

The Noctua NH-L12S is a low profile cooler that just stands 92 mm high in single-fan configuration. With the fan installed underneath the fins, the total height of the cooler is only 70mm, making it suitable for use in many HTPC and Small Form Factor cases.



Unclipping the fan from the NH-L12S brings the meat and potatoes of this cooler into view. Everything is nickel plated and screams of high quality. The fins are aluminum and ridged to improve turbulence. There are removed sections of fins to allow for an easier installation.



Noctua has used metal clips for the fan, to hold it in place on the NH-L12S. However, the 120 mm fan has built-in vibration absorption pads to lower noise levels.



The nickel-plated heatpipes are of course soldered directly to the aluminum cooling fins.



It should also be noted that the Noctua NH-L12S does not use HDT. Instead, the heatpipes travel all the way through the base.



We can see that the heatpipes are kept fairly close to the cooling fins and base, which will keep them from interfering with components on the motherboard.



You can see part of the mounting mechanism is already affixed which is great as it saves time. The four heatpipes extend quite a bit out the side of the cooler so think carefully about which way around you want to mount it.



The base of the Noctua NH-L12S is fairly smooth and somewhat polished. It's no mirror shine.



The fan is designed with a square and entirely in light pink frame with dimensions of 120 x 120 x 15 mm(105 x 105mm screw hole pattern) with integrated Anti-Vibration Pads made from extra-soft silicone designed to minimize the transmission of minute vibrations.



The frame feature the very well known AAO Frame technology as well the Noctua's proprietary Stepped Inlet Design and Inner Surface Microstructures, both of which designed and added to improve the fan's performance and the noise efficiency.



On the other hand,the fan is equipped with identical propellers entirely in brown with 7 pretty narrow and at the same time not very sharply angled blades, which are optimized to deliver the best possible performance and noise level balance. Of course, the propellers themselves are designed with the very well know flow acceleration channels which speed up the airflow at the crucial outer blade regions. This measure reduces suction side flow separation and thus leads to better efficiency and lower vortex noises when the air passes through the blades. The next interesting thing regarding the NF-A12x15 PWM model is actually the integrated metal-reinforced motor hub, designed as a measure typically found in high-speed industrial fans, in order to guarantee Noctua's signature stability and longevity. A feature required because of the shorter axis and bearing, which lead to a reduced running stability and lifespan.



The fan is equipped with the typical SSO2 Bearing, which includes optimized second generation of Noctua's renowned, time-tested SSO bearing, combined with custom-designed NE-FD1 PWM IC that integrates Smooth Commutation Drive (SCD) technology. By providing smoother torque impulses, SCD suppresses PWM switching noises and thus makes the fan quieter at low speeds, made to support fully automatic PWM speed control.With this hardware the fan is capable to operate of up to 150 000 hours.




Installation Process

Installation of the NH-L12S is extremely straightforward. The back plate has various positions for the bolts to fit multiple socket sizes and includes rubber bumpers that both protect the motherboard as well as hold the bolts in place so they don't fall out during installation.



Once the back plate is in place, the spacers and mounting brackets can be secured to the board. Noctua has included their standard thumb-screw and Phillips combination nuts here that do their job simply and easily.



If there are residual traces of thermal paste or thermal pads on your CPU, clean them off first.Then press a small drop (4-5mm diameter) of NT-H1 onto the centre of the heatspreader.



To secure the heatsink you need to use the included screwdriver since to access the mounting screws you must pass thru the heatsink.



The two available mounting options - with the mounting bars set horizontally to the expansion slots. Either option will work just fine and does not have an impact on cooling performance.




Installed - Memory Clearance


You can see that the cooler covers the majority of the CPU socket area and encroaches over DIMM slots #1 and #2.



As can be seen in the image, the cooler does hang over the DIMM slots, so users should install their memory modules first. That said, there is clearance for most of today's memory, but sticks like Corsair's Dominator Platinums will not fit. The NH-L12S is highly versatile: with the fan installed on top of the fins, the cooler is compatible with RAM modules of up to 45mm in height.


Test System & Methology

Test System:

Cpu: Intel Core i7-4770K
Motherboard: ASUS Maximus VI Gene Z87
Memory: 16GB Mushkin
Graphics Card: Sapphire HD 6970
Power Supply: Antec HCG 750W
Boot Drive: Ocz Vector
Storage Drive: 3TB Seagate Barracuda
Boot Drive: Ocz Vector
Chassis: Dimastech Bench Table Easy V2.5





Software:

AIDA64
CPUID HW Monitor 1.23
CPUID CPU-Z 1.65
Prime95-FPU

I am testing the performance as follows:

AIDA64 is run for 10 minutes and then the average maximum temperatures as recorded by CPUID HWMonitor are noted. The average temperature across the four cores is taken on our quad core processor. FPU-only load average is used to simulate worst case scenario load levels similar to Intel Burn Test or OCCT. Please keep in mind that this test is brutal and not even close to real-world load (especially not that constant for that amount of time), so not many CPU coolers are expected to pass this test but the ones that do are exceptional. Delta temperatures are always used (Observed temperature minus ambient temperature) and i keep the ambient at 22 (+/- 1) degrees for all testing. Delta temperatures should correct for any marginal ambient differences between 21-23 degrees.Acoustic measurements are taken 10cm horizontally away from the CPU cooler with the VGA fan disabled,hard drive in idle and power supply isolated. These are taken at desktop idle and AIDA64 load. The cooling performance tests are run at overclocked 4.2GHz (1.2v) settings. Voltages are fixed to prevent inaccuracy between comparisons. All other coolers in the graphs have been tested under identical settings so are fully comparable. Each test is repeated 3 times with 3 remounts for consistency of results



Temperature

With the stock Intel i7-4770K cooler as the reference, all the other aftermarket coolers understandably fare a lot better. The Noctua NH-L12S beats the Raijintek Pallas(which consist's of 6 heat-pipes) by 1C and manages to run quieter as well.




Noise Level

As can been seen by the fan noise and speed charts, the Noctua NH-L12S is the quietest cooler I have tested to date. This, coupled with its size, makes its performance truly outstanding.




Conclusion

I can honestly say I am thoroughly impressed with the Noctua NH-L12S. I’ll start off by revealing to you the price, if you don’t already know. The Noctua NH-L12S costs EUR 49.90 / USD 49.00 broadly from retailers. Thus you can safely say this Noctua CPU cooler occupies a high end part segment of the market, priced similarly to other high performance CPU coolers. Being a Noctua product, it is widely available across Europe and North America as Noctua are a big brand in the world of computer cooling. At that price you are getting a unique , yet cost effective proposition. On the one hand you have a CPU cooler that is compact enough to fit into the smallest of systems of mini-ITX, micro-ATX and ATX form factors, and on the other you have a CPU cooler that is capable of light OC without breaking into a sweat. We agree if you consider other cooling solutions for the same price or even lower, the performance is below-par however this is a foolish way of looking at it since this cooler is specifically designed for small form factor systems where the height of your CPU cooler is an important consideration. You wouldn’t spend $6000 on an Nvidia Quadro GPU and complain it sucks at running games, so why make a similar mistake here? Acoustic performance was excellent, and we really can’t rave enough about how good it was. The Noctua NH-L12S was probably the quietest CPU cooler we have ever tested.



As much as I sit here and try to find fault with the NH-L12S, I really can't come up with anything. Awarding the Noctua NH-L12S is a tough one.For a cooler so small, the NH-L12S just seems to be able to not only convert and shape shift to accommodate smaller spaces, but it also allows me to have a small cooler that can take my light overclock. It could have our innovation award for being such a unique product in the HTPC/SFF market. It could snatch the Bang For Buck award for being one of the best performing and best value HTPC cooling solutions on the market we have ever seen. Yet the Noctua NH-L12S ticks so many boxes that we feel it is deserving of our Special Achievement award.

[Revv23]

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