Hands On Noctua NH-L12 Cooler

[rrplay]

Got my hands on the Noctua NH-L12 Low Profile CPU Cooler last week and installed it on my SB rig, it previously had a single fan NZXT 140mm single fan to cool an Intel 2400S on a GB P67A-UD4 -B3 mainbaord with 8 GB G.Skill Ripjaws CL8 1600 memory.

Excellent HTL Editors Choice award in Cella's review at Noctua NH-L12 Low Profile CPU Cooler Review

Had originally thought that the Noctua NH-L12 cooler would work in my mini-atx rig on an older i7 870 with a GB GA-H55N-USB3 mainboard but it will block the only single PCI slot available on that particular board, inside a Silerstone SG-07 chassis. Here is a link for the NH-L12 Mainboard Compatablity chart for others

...inside the NZXT Phantom rig

[bob2701]

Nice.

[slugbug]

Looking good, How does it compare to the Havik 140?

[rrplay]

Looking good, How does it compare to the Havik 140?

Well the Noctua NH-L12 has no problem clearing the ram slots on that GB mobo with the G.Skill [ RipjawsX ] F3-12800CL8D-4GBXM. Easy to put a side 200mm fan in the NZXT Phantom now the the Noctua cooler installed, you can not do that with the NZXT Havik 140 in the Phantom chassis.
It is noticeably quieter and will likely check out some the options to optimize its performance for cool n' quiet.So I may experiment with some of the additional cables in the kit and maybe reverse a case fan and see.