Noctua NH-L12 Low Profile Heatsink Review

High performance cooling has come a long way over the years and while most people associate aftermarket cooling options with overclocking that isn't always the case.  In fact some coolers are best suited as high capacity alternatives to the cheap and unattractive OEM designs.  

NH-L12 installation went incredibly smooth and features one of the best mounting systems we have used.  There are two screws that hold the heatsink in place and much to our surprise they are actually quite sturdy.  This is likely due to the mounts actually being attached to the heatsink instead of just floating on top.

The NH-L12 is designed as a low profile cooler and measures in at 66mm tall when you remove the top 120mm fan.  This leaves the single 92mm fan in place to handle cooling duties.  We didn't test single fan cooling but would expect considerably higher load temperatures as a result.  Of course under these conditions we would expect that chassis cooling would help keep things moving.  

Overall performance was very good.  Our heat tests showed that the Noctua NH-L12 could handle a typical overclock despite the rise in our C/W results and did keep up with the Hyper 212 reference cooler despite the obvious size difference.  Cooling performance can be enhanced by installing a more powerful fan though will detract from the overall design and versatility of the NF-F12 Focused Flow Fan. 

Low Profile Design
NF-F12 Focus Flow Fan Included
Dual Fan Cooler
66mm Heatsink Height
LGA2011 Mounting Hardware

Four heatpipes limit cooling performance
Not intended for overclocking