Noctua NH-U12P SE2 120mm SSO CPU Cooler

Pros: Very Quiet
Very Efficient
East to install

Excellent

Cons: Could block the first memory slot for memory with very tall head spreaders. All I had to do was move the fan up just a bit and clears the spreaders on my memory:
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 32GB (4 x 8GB)

Had to turn the SSD's backwards in the 3.5 to 2.5 adapter because the pusher fan is almost butted up against the HD cage in this case so the connectors will not fit: So no 3.5" drives with this case and cooler; but since that is not a concern in this build I don't really care.

Other Thoughts: SilverStone Temjin Series TJ08B-E MicroATX Mini Tower
ASRock Z77 Professional-M
Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 32GB (4 x 8GB)
SAMSUNG 830 Series 128GB SATA III MLC (SSD)
SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 7850 OC 2GB 256-bit GDDR5
Noctua NH-U12P SE2 120mm SSO CPU Cooler
Nexus BASIC D12SL-12 120mm Case cooler
Nippon Labs Delux 3.5" Internal All In One Card
SANS DIGITAL TowerRAID TR4UTBNC w/4 WD-RE 1TB Drives

Pros: Quiet, Excellent Cooling, Superb Mounting Hardware and Instructions

Cons: None

Other Thoughts: This is my second Noctua cooler, and I am just amazed at how good they are (the other is a NH-C12P SE14). It is very quiet, and it reduced temps on my i7 3770k at 3.5 GHz at full load from low 70's C to high 50's C OCed to 4.2 GHz!

Note that it is pretty big, so make sure you have a case that is big enough to support it. I have G. Skill RipJaws RAM modules on my MSI G77A-GD65 mobo, and it looks like I would have to move the fan up on the heatsink slightly in order to clear them if I had one in DIMM slot 1 (which I don't). I don't think that would be much of a problem if it came to it. It's not really a con because these things have to be big to be effective.

By the way, I don't understand why people are complaining about the mounting clips for the fan(s). I thought it was pretty easy to install, and it makes the fan very secure. The whole unit in general is just very sturdy and mounts exceptionally well. I will gladly spend a few extra dollars in the future and buy another Noctua heatsink.

Pros: This isn't the biggest cooler available, but for my case Antec P182 and i7-950 this works well. I have owned it 2009. I noticed that the heatsink seemed to have suffered corrosion, white rough areas. I emailed photos to Noctua, and will receive a new NH-U12S. Tech support responds often within 24 hours, a 6 year warranty and very good quality product. Quiet, too.

Cons: NONE. A Great company to buy from.

Other Thoughts: Some of the best tech support I have ever encountered. Excellent products, too. They stand behind their products and act quickly to remedy problems.

Pros: At first I was going to get a cheaper after market cooler and replace the included fan with a noctua fan but after I factored in the price of the cheaper cooler, the price of the noctua fan and the price of thermal paste I realized I'd come out pretty much the same if I just got a noctua cooler which I did. This product cools my i5 well and while it comes with two fans I only needed 1.

My CPU idle's in the mid 30's and runs in the mid 50's on load during Prime 95 torture tests.

Cons: Installation of the fan was a bit tricky which is why I docked an egg. It's also why I'm only using one of the fans.

I'm like "ok. . .this cools fine with one fan and the second fan will only drop the temps by another 1-3 degrees and it will be a bit of a pain to install so. . . one fan it is then"

Other Thoughts: Comes with it's own brand of thermal paste so no need to buy any extra.

Pros: Dual fans. Plenty of mounting hardware. Nice low temps. Easy install on ASrock Mobo and AMD cpu. Typical Noctua quality hardware.

Cons: Ok, it's a big ole thing that blocks my first memory slot.

Pros: Great fan with 0 noise

a must have for overclocking and quiet performance

Cons: a little too heavy

but be careful what you ask for

Pros: I am still loving this cooler.

I leave both my fans for Push/Pull config on the max 1300 RPM. The only thing you hear is the air it pushes, but the fans itself are silent.

Due to the quality of this product I just purchased two 140MM Noctua fans for my Intake, and one 120MM Noctua fan for my exhaust.

I was able to overclock my 2500K to 4.5GHz. Here are some before and after results.

2500k Stock Clock w/ Stock Intel Heatsink

Ambient Temp: 21 c

CPU Idle Temp: 34 c

Prime95 Burn Temp after 5 minutes: 72c



2500k 4.5 GHz w/ NH-U12P SE2 Push/Pull Config

Ambient Temp: 22 c

CPU Idle Temp: 30 c

Prime95 Burn Temp after 5 minutes: 60 c

Cons: None

Pros: 2500k Stock Clock w/ Stock Intel Heatsink

Ambient Temp: 21 c

CPU Idle Temp: 34 c

Prime95 Burn Temp after 5 minutes: 72c



2500k Stock Clock w/ NH-U12P SE2 Push/Pull Config

Ambient Temp: 21 c

CPU Idle Temp: 28 c

Prime95 Burn Temp after 10 minutes: 46 c

Installation was simple.

Thermal paste included is quality.

This cooler will be able to fit most Mid-Tower cases.

I am running at max RPM, because its silent in any RPM.

Cons: None

Pros: Fantastic cooler. Purchased this for my Q6600 some 2 or 3 years ago. Beat everything else on the market back then. Upgraded it with the new mounting kit for my i7 930, and still fantastic! Now I have a 3770k, and would not use anything but this.

I used two of the stock fans, with the included resistor and a y-adapter and it worked forever. I finally upgraded to noctua's 120mm PWM fans with my 3770 as well as lapped the heatsink to lose another couple degrees. The heatsink is a good size with fans on either side, clears all of my hardware.

I LOVE the mounting system. Very simple and effective. The screws bottom out on the springs so you know you are properly tightened. I had a Tuniq Tower at one point which had no stopping point. You could snap the board tightening it down.

Cons: None really. The fan attachment could be a little more user friendly, but once you figure it out they are pretty simple and non-invasive.

On the original version you could strip out the head of the screws on the backplate. They are thin hexagonal heads that are held from spinning by the design of the backplate. They were barely large enough, so with enough re-installs you could eventually round the heads. With the secure-firm 2 they used larger heads and the problem is gone.

Other Thoughts: Some people complain about it not passing over RAM slots. If your ram has some massive i-look-cool heatspreader and fins on it, you might run into issues. My corsair dominators will fit under it just fine.

As other uses have stated, you can move the fans a few millimeters up and down (since the fans and their adapters are pressure-fit and not installed using screws) on the heatsink, allowing you to cool under the heatsink and other parts of the mobo, or raise it up to clear low-profile ram.

Watch the backplate. As with most backplate-installed heatsinks, there are small notches that have to be aligned properly on i7's to clear the metal backing.

Pros: *Nice air cooling.
*Smaller than a DH14 or a Zamlan CNPS12X
*Quite! :-)
*Moveable fans allow for taller dimms. My dimms don't have huge heatsinks on them but they are taller than standard, I was able to bump the fan up the heatsink a few millimeters up to accommodate rear exhaust instead of out-the-top and still have more than adquate airflow.

Cons: *Doesn't cool as well as a DH14 or Zalman CNPS12X

Other Thoughts: Had to pull my whole mobo out to get the new backing plate on (a HAF 932 mobo/cpu cutout doesn't give full access to a Gigabyte X58A-UD7 cpu/backplate mount). I expected to do this but was hoping that I didn't have to. This coolor replaced the stock Intel 980X cooler.
Overall plenty of room height-wise and misses my first dimm by a couple of mm's, fits well.