News - Noctua launches NH-L12 low-profile CPU cooler

[HEXUS]

Designed with Small Form Factor and Home Theatre PCs in mind.

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[Major_Trouble]

Nice looking product. When are you going to test it. I would like to compare it to my Scythe Shuriken Rev.B Quiet Low Profile CPU Cooler in my HTPC in a Lian-Li PC-C36 Muse for noise. It's only used as a HTPC so cooling performance is not top priority (i3 CPU not stressed that hard) but noise is important.

How do you run the fan? Blowing or sucking through the cooler? Does it depend on your case orientation and vents? I think a test is called for.

[GaryRW]

I'd be interested in whether this is big enough to be left fanless (assuming there's some airflow from a case fan...)

[cjs150]

testing needed.

Obvious issue is that if used with bottom fan only will it foul RAM and if so what types. Could see it working with low profile ram but large heatsinks could be a problem

[crossy]

Exactly how good is it? According to Noctua, it provides "first rate performance in its class," but the NH-L12 "is not suitable for overclocking and should be used with care on CPUs with more than 95W TDP." In other words, it's great for your stock-clocked HTPC

TDP of 95W covers a lot of reasonable processors, so it's maybe okay for a mainstream user as well as the HTPC enthusiast.

It also might allow me to reuse that old Coolermaster ATC210VX case that I've got lying around. Problem with that is that it's got no 120mm fan mounts and motherboard-to-side clearance of about 140mm, so it's too narrow for a lot of the coolers out there. I certainly would have zero chance of fitting the hulking great NH-D14 that I'm using at the moment... So maybe also quite a useful piece of kit if - like me - you want to use a narrow tower case.

[UseItNow]

I like this but the only thing I don't like is the price but meh, Noctua coolers cost, can't complain have had a fair few in the past!

[1pnoe]

One problem I have with this, is the colour of the fans. Nobody really has a pc with internals which would match that.