Noctua NH-U12A, Premium CPU Cooler with High-Performance Quiet NF-A12x25 PWM Fans (120mm, Brown)

Can't say enough good things about this cooler, with the one draw back being that it is very pricey. However, it does come with 2 of Noctua's new NF-12Ax25 fans which by themselves are $30 each. So the actual heatsink is only 1/3 the total price and is a consideration when looking at the cost/value proposition.Heatsink: The heatsink itself is very good. Has 7 heatpipes which is the most I've seen in a 120mm tower cooler. It also doesn't cover/block any of my ram slots (even on my mini-ITX board) with the fans mounted. My Coolermaster Hyper 212 EVO with the fan mounted would still cover the first ram slot, so I'm not sure how Noctua managed to pull this off as according to the specs the Noctua bare heatsink is 7-8mm wider than the Coolermaster. Mounting system is typical Noctua SecureFirm and fantastic.Fans: The 2 included fans are Noctua's new fans that took them 3 years to develop. There's never been so much hype on a fan than these, and you should read up on why it took so long to develop, it's an interesting article. What I can say after using them is that they are much quieter at a given RPM than my other high performance fans. I have to put my ear with in an inch or two to hear them under normal operation (about 50%-60% speed is where they normally running at) and they are barely audible at 100% when they spin up to full speed when I first turn on my PC. Note that the fans have pretty short power cables, and the heatsink does not include extension cables like you get if you purchase the fans separately.Performance: I am using one fan on the heatsink in a push configuration and the other fan as a case exhaust fan about one inch away from the heatsink. So it's similar to the intended push/pull configuration, but with a small gap between. Under 100% synthetic load my delidded i7 7700k runs in the high 50s low 60s degrees Celsius at ~1.3v vCore and ambient temp of 24C (75F). Under real word gaming load, the CPU was running at an average 48C with occasional short spikes into the 50s. All this in a very small, but well ventilated ~13L mini-itx case. This is fantastic performance and rivals bigger coolers like the Noctua D15 but is so much easier to fit in a small mini-itx case.Overall: I think the performance of this cooler is the best you can get at this size point. Compared to my Hyper 212 EVO, it performs better, is quieter under load, doesn't cover my RAM, and has a MUCH better mounting system. All this comes at a price, it's considerably more expensive than a Hyper 212 EVO. But in my opinion it's worth it if you aren't on an extremely tight budget. Noctua products are premium products, the best of the best, and the quality shows both in performance and ease of installation.

I recently upgraded my CPU from a Ryzen 5 2600X to a Ryzen 7 3800X. I knew I was moving up to a 105C processor but I thought I could get away with my Prism Spire Cooler because I am not gaming. This is a CAD workstation part time, otherwise general office use. The original AMD Spire cooler was keeping the machine between 60-80C most of the time but it did bump the 90C max limit a few times which was a little discouraging. I might have lived with it except for the fact that the fan was howling all day long and nearly driving me out of my mind.I began my search and decided upon the Noctua NH-U12A because of the low noise specifications. Let me be clear, I really didn't want to pay the high price for this cooler. In hindsight, I wish I had just stayed back with a 65W CPU, but I was already past that point and needed to deal with it. The Noctua cooler performs as well as the specifications indicated and it keeps my processor in the 29C Min - 33C Average - 60C Max temp range (according to HWiNFO64) after a full day of use under my toughest loads. This is a high quality cooler, I won't deny that. It does a great job cooling and it does it quietly averaging < 22dBA (barely audible) in my use with the case closed up. It will probably run louder for gamers who keep a constant load on their CPU's. The title to my review stands, it is expensive for a cooler but I would recommend this to anyone trying to cut down the office noise by a LOT! Make sure you have the space for it. I have a full size tower and it almost touches the side panel when I put it back on. It is large as you can see in my picture looking through the clear side panel of my PC.

Straightforward installation and contained everything I needed to do it. Been working great for a few months now and is pretty quiet, which I was concerned about after replacing my liquid cooling bit that had ceased working

My stock cooler supplied with my Ryzen 7 2700x just wasn't cutting it anymore. I got fed up with the noise and limited it to 40% fan speed. That made my processor run a bit warm... but totally manageable (4.0ghz all core, approx 65-70C in gaming). This cooler dropped my cpu temps by a considerable margin. My idle temp dropped almost 12C and my gaming temps dropped around 10C. Again, my stock cooler was limited to the noise I found tolerable.The noctua fans are inaudible in comparison. Even at 100% fan speed, they are quiet enough to where I can hear my air purifier (on low) running in a different room 20 feet away. I started playing with OC settings after the install of the new cooler. I went from a 4.0ghz all core (8c/16t) to 4.225ghz (at 1.31 volt) all core. That is a 225mhz lift from my stock cooler and an overall 525mhz OC. For a 2700X.... that's impressive!!!!Wish I had purchased this cooler when I first built my pc. But, after using the stock cooler for 2 years, it makes me all the more appreciative of this cooler.Great quality. Install was a breeze (watched some youtube vids). OC potential is fantastic. Noise level is absolutely fantastic - my HDD makes more noise.Totally overkill for most users. You can fight me on this but I'm telling you - if you are not an extreme user, the cheaper NH-U12S single fan is more than enough. Even the 95mm cooler is good enough for most users. But, you get what you pay for. Quality parts. 6 year warranty. Color scheme screams "I care more about performance than looks."