Review Noctua NH-U12A Cooler Review: Expensive Excellence

[Admin]

Noctua’s latest dual-fan tower delivers great thermal performance, quiet operation, and the signature look of the company’s beige-and-brown aesthetics, at a premium price.

Noctua NH-U12A Cooler Review: Expensive Excellence : Read more

 

[hannibal]

The Ferrari of air coolers!

 

[JQB45]

The Ferrari of air coolers!

Perhaps but not the best. The Be Quiet! seemed to win this competition.

 

[drivinfast247]

The Ferrari of air coolers!

If they produced Ferraris in hideous colors.

 

[RodroX]

Having identical performance (almost between the marging of error) and similar noise levels, the great winner heres is the Artctic Freezer 34 Sport Duo, with at cost of almost 1/3 of Noctuas and 1/2 of Be Quiet! one.

 

[JQB45]

Having identical performance (almost between the marging of error) and similar noise levels, the great winner heres is the Artctic Freezer 34 Sport Duo, with at cost of almost 1/3 of Noctuas and 1/2 of Be Quiet! one.

While I see your point I have both Arctic and Noctua products and I can say 100% hands down the quality difference is staggering. Noctua is in a class of its own in build quality, reliability and noise output. You pay more for Noctua but Noctua makes better products. In this case my comparison is limited to 120mm fans.

I would still pay the Noctua tax because I would end up with a better product. In fact I am seriously considering the Noctua NH-C14S as my next CPU cooler. I would get a larger unit but my Corsair 100r is a little to thin to handle the larger tower coolers discussed in this article.

 

[RodroX]

While I see your point I have both Arctic and Noctua products and I can say 100% hands down the quality difference is staggering. Noctua is in a class of its own in build quality, reliability and noise output. You pay more for Noctua but Noctua makes better products. In this case my comparison is limited to 120mm fans.

I would still pay the Noctua tax because I would end up with a better product. In fact I am seriously considering the Noctua NH-C14S as my next CPU cooler. I would get a larger unit but my Corsair 100r is a little to thin to handle the larger tower coolers discussed in this article.

Got your point, and if I could spend any money on a CPU cooler of course I would go with Noctua and on second place Be Quiet! (Well also if I could get those cooler where I live, which is not the case /sob).

Then again yeah, if budget is low or tight I think is great that there are others options that, despite the somehow "simple" craftmanship can deliver almost identical performance for 1/3 of the money.

But yeah for someone with no budget limits, considering the beautiful craftmanship and the big warranty Noctua gives to their cooler, is basically an amazing product to get. (Some of those coolers can have better performance than all 120mm AIO and even some 240mm and 360mm AIO).

 

[DaveTea]

Perhaps but not the best. The Be Quiet! seemed to win this competition.

'The BeQuiet seemed to win'??? You need to go to the optician - The BeQuiet was clearly the worst in this group, apart from noise, due only to it using a single fan! The absolute clear winner here is the Arctic, which is very similar to the Noctua, cooling wise, which is what this is about, but at just over 1/3 of the price. How can Noctua justify the price with competition like that? Similar cooling, similar quietness, but almost three times the price.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Much respect to Garret, because I know he does thorough testing and I have great respect for him as a very knowledgeable cooling enthusiast, but some other reviews show the NH-U12A being within one degree of the Cryorig R1 and the same temperature as the Noctua NH-D15S so I feel like something is skewed in the test results or playing field. No way those other three coolers should even be in the same conversation with this cooler or the other two I mentioned.

 

[JQB45]

'The BeQuiet seemed to win'??? You need to go to the optician - The BeQuiet was the worst in this group, apart from noise, due only to it using a single fan!

Can you point to the chart you are referencing with your statement? I maybe looking at a different chart then you are...

 

[JoBalz]

If they produced Ferraris in hideous colors.

Depending on the Noctua model, this is not necessarily the case, since Noctua is now producing black coolers and fans (Chromax). I imagine if they sell well, Noctua will extend black to more of their cooler line as well as the individual fans.

 

[Darkbreeze]

If they produced Ferraris in hideous colors.

Yes, that IS a Ferrari.

.

 

[JoBalz]

Much respect to Garret, because I know he does thorough testing and I have great respect for him as a very knowledgeable cooling enthusiast, but some other reviews show the NH-U12A being within one degree of the Cryorig R1 and the same temperature as the Noctua NH-D15S so I feel like something is skewed in the test results or playing field. No way those other three coolers should even be in the same conversation with this cooler or the other two I mentioned.

Question: Are these other reviews testing with the same hardware, as any differences could slightly skew the thermal results? I'm not going to claim that Noctua is going to beat the competition 100% of the time as they help keep the competition innovating to improve their products. The reason I buy Noctua, when the other competition is close in cooling performance, is the quality of Noctua products. For my latest build, I even decided to risk buying a used Noctua cooler. The prior owner reported using it about 1.5 years. It ended up looking like it was fresh off the production line and it saved nearly $35 over the cost of a brand new one. Should lightning strike and the fan actually fail, I'd have no problem replacing it with a Noctua Redux or Chromax series fan.

 

[Darkbreeze]

No idea.

 

[mchldpy]

If they produced Ferraris in hideous colors.

==========================================
"If they produced ... "
Have you seen some of the Testosterone colors?[/QUOTE]

 

[drivinfast247]

==========================================
"If they produced ... "
Have you seen some of the Testosterone colors?

[/QUOTE]
Never heard of it.

 

[mchldpy]

Wait, Testosterosa. It had like a tan wrinkly paint job. Made in Dangler, Italy. Maybe.

 

[mchldpy]

Yes, that IS a Ferrari.

.

That's what happens when a Dodge Daytona and a Vega Hatchback don't practice safe sex.

 

[DaveTea]

Much respect to Garret, because I know he does thorough testing and I have great respect for him as a very knowledgeable cooling enthusiast, but some other reviews show the NH-U12A being within one degree of the Cryorig R1 and the same temperature as the Noctua NH-D15S so I feel like something is skewed in the test results or playing field. No way those other three coolers should even be in the same conversation with this cooler or the other two I mentioned.

The Arctic, particulary, deserves to be in this comparison as it's the same size and offers almost identical performance, but MUCH cheaper. The NH-U12A is overpriced, even by Noctua's own pricing structure.

 

[DaveTea]

Can you point to the chart you are referencing with your statement? I maybe looking at a different chart then you are...

The chart that shows the temperatures - Dark Pro = 78.9° - the HIGHEST in the group, by 3°.