Introduction

The Noctua NH-U12P SE2 CPU cooler has a tower heatsink, four heatpipes, and two 120 mm fans. We tested the first version of the NH-U12P almost three years ago. The main differences between the NH-U12P and the NH-U12P SE2 (Special Edition 2) are that the SE2 has the SecuFirm2 mounting mechanism and comes with two fans.

The brown and blue box has a transparent window that allows the customer to see part of the cooler, as illustrated in Figure 1.

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Figure 1: Package

Figure 2 shows the contents of the box: heatsink, fans, a syringe of thermal compound, manuals, adapter cables, and installation hardware.

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Figure 2: Accessories

Figure 3 displays the heatsink of the NH-U12P SE2.

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Figure 3: The NH-U12P SE2

This cooler is discussed in detail in the following pages.

The Noctua NH-U12P SE2

Figure 4 shows the front of the cooler. The fins are well-spaced, and the heatpipes are nickel-plated for a nice appearance.

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Figure 4: Front view

Figure 5 reveals the side of the cooler. The fins are folded in the center area, creating a partially closed panel.

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Figure 5: Side view

Figure 6 shows the top of the cooler, where you can see the shape of the fins and the tips of the heatpipes.

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Figure 6: Top view

The Noctua NH-U12P SE2 (Cont’d)

In Figure 7, you can see how the heatpipes are connected to the base. There is a nickel-plated copper plate at the base of the cooler. Figure 8 shows the near-mirrored surface of the base plate.

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Figure 7: Base

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Figure 8: Base

Figure 9 reveals the twin 120 mm fans. They have three-pin connectors, which means they don’t support PWM speed control.

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Figure 9: Fans

Figure 10 shows the NH-U12P SE2 with the fans installed. Notice the white silicon strips at the sides of the fans; they help to absorb vibrations from the fans.

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Figure 10: Fans installed

Installation

Figure 11 shows the backplate for installing the NH-U12P SE2 on Intel CPUs with the screws inserted. The thick rubber pads on the tips provide excellent electrical insulating while avoiding damage to any SMD component on the solder side of the motherboard.

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Figure 11: Backplate

You must screw two “tabs” on the base of the heatsink, as shown in Figure 12.

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Figure 12: Tabs with inner thread screws

Put the backplate on the solder side of the motherboard, and then install the metal bars shown in Figure 13.

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Figure 13: Metal frame

Then put the cooler in place and secure it, fastening the screws on the base tabs.

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Figure 14: Heatsink installed

The last step is to install the fans, as shown in Figure 15.

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Figure 15: Installation finished

How We Tested

We tested the cooler with a Core i5-2500K CPU (quad-core, 3.3 GHz), which is a socket LGA1155 processor with a 95 W TDP (Thermal Design Power). In order to get higher thermal dissipation, we overclocked it to 4.0 GHz (100 MHz base clock and x40 multiplier), with 1.3 V core voltage (Vcore). This CPU was able to reach 4.8 GHz with its default core voltage, but at this setting, the processor enters thermal throttling when using mainstream coolers, reducing the clock and thus the thermal dissipation. This could interfere with the temperature readings, so we chose to maintain a moderate overclocking.

We measured noise and temperature with the CPU under full load. In order to get 100% CPU usage in all cores, we ran Prime 95 25.11 with the “In-place Large FFTs” option. (In this version, the software uses all available threads.)

We compared the tested cooler to other coolers we already tested, and to the stock cooler that comes with the Core i5-2500K CPU. Note that the results cannot be compared to measures taken on a different hardware configuration, so we retested some “old” coolers with this new methodology. This means you can find different values in older reviews than the values you will read on the next page. Every cooler was tested with the thermal compound that comes with it.

Room temperature measurements were taken with a digital thermometer. The core temperature was read with the SpeedFan program (available from the CPU thermal sensors), using an arithmetic average of the core temperature readings.

During the tests, the panels of the computer case were closed. The front and rear case fans were spinning at minimum speed in order to simulate the “normal” cooler use on a well-ventilated case. We assume that is the common setup used by a cooling enthusiast or overclocker.

The sound pressure level (SPL) was measured with a digital noise meter, with its sensor placed near the top opening of the case. This measurement is only for comparison purposes, because a precise SPL measurement needs to be made inside an acoustically insulated room with no other noise sources, which is not the case here.

Hardware Configuration

• Processor: Core i5-2500K
• Motherboard: ASUS Maximus IV Extreme-Z
• Memory: 6 GB OCZ (DDR3-1600/PC3-12800), configured at 1,600 MHz and 8-8-8-18 timings
• Hard disk: Seagate Barracuda XT 2 TB
• Video card: Point of View GeForce GTX 460 1 GB
• Video resolution: 1920x1080
• Video monitor: Samsung SyncMaster P2470HN
• Power supply: Seventeam ST-550P-AM
• Case:  Cooler Master HAF 922

Operating System Configuration

• Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit SP1

Software Used

• Prime95
• SpeedFan

Error Margin

We adopted a 2°C error margin, meaning temperature differences below 2°C are considered irrelevant.

Our Tests

The table below presents the results of our measurements. We repeated the same test on all coolers listed below. Each measurement was taken with the CPU at full load. In the models with a fan supporting PWM, the motherboard controlled the fan speed according to core load and temperature. On coolers with an integrated fan controller, the fan was set at the full speed.

Cooler	Room Temp.	Noise	Speed	Core Temp.	Temp. Diff.
Cooler Master Hyper TX3	18 °C	50 dBA	2850 rpm	69 °C	51 °C
Corsair A70	23 °C	51 dBA	2000 rpm	66 °C	43 °C
Corsair H100	26 °C	62 dBA	2000 rpm	64 °C	38 °C
EVGA Superclock	26 °C	57 dBA	2550 rpm	67 °C	41 °C
NZXT HAVIK 140	20 °C	46 dBA	1250 rpm	65 °C	45 °C
Thermalright True Spirit 120	26 °C	42 dBA	1500 rpm	82 °C	56 °C
Zalman CNPS12X	26 °C	43 dBA	1200 rpm	71 °C	45 °C
Zalman CNPS9900 Max	20 °C	51 dBA	1700 rpm	62 °C	42 °C
Titan Fenrir Siberia Edition	22 °C	50 dBA	2400 rpm	65 °C	43 °C
SilenX EFZ-120HA5	18 °C	44 dBA	1500 rpm	70 °C	52 °C
Noctua NH-L12	20 °C	44 dBA	1450 rpm	70 °C	50 °C
Zalman CNPS8900 Extreme	21 °C	53 dBA	2550 rpm	71 °C	50 °C
Gamer Storm Assassin	15 °C	48 dBA	1450 rpm	58 °C	43 °C
Deepcool Gammaxx 400	15 °C	44 dBA	1500 rpm	60 °C	45 °C
Cooler Master TPC 812	23 °C	51 dBA	2350 rpm	66 °C	43 °C
Deepcool Gammaxx 300	18 °C	43 dBA	1650 rpm	74 °C	56 °C
Intel stock cooler	18 °C	41 dBA	2000 rpm	97 °C	79 °C
Xigmatek Praeton	19 °C	52 dBA	2900 rpm	83 °C	64 °C
Noctua NH-U12P SE2	18 °C	42 dBA	1300 rpm	69 °C	51 °C

In the graph below, you can see how many degrees Celsius hotter the CPU core is than the air outside the case. The lower this difference, the better is the performance of the cooler.

In the graph below, you can see how many decibels of noise each cooler makes.

Main Specifications

The main specifications for the Noctua NH-U12P SE2 CPU cooler include:

• Application: Sockets 775, 1155, 1156, 1366, 2011, AM2, AM2+, AM3, AM3+, and FM1 processors
• Heatsink dimensions: 5.0 x 4.7 x 6.2 inches (126 x 120 x 158 mm) (W x L x H)
• Fins: Aluminum
• Base: Nickel-plated copper
• Heat-pipes: Four 6-mm copper heatpipes
• Fan: Two, 120 mm
• Nominal fan speed: 1,300 rpm
• Fan air flow: 54.33 cfm
• Maximum power consumption: 2 x 1.08 W
• Nominal noise level: 19.8 dBA
• Weight: 2.07 lb (940 g)
• More information: http://www.noctua.at
• Average price in the U.S.*: USD 76.00

* Researched at Newegg.com on the day we published this review.

Conclusions

Our tests proved that the Noctua NH-U12P SE2 was designed to be quiet. It is one of the quietest CPU coolers we tested so far, even with two powerful fans. The overall quality is outstanding and the cooling performance was reasonable.

The cooling performance actually disappointed us a bit. The NH-U12P SE2 is so well-made that we thought it would show exceptional performance. But there are no miracles. As true as the “no pain, no gain” saying is, we can say “no noise, no chill,” or something like that, about CPU coolers.

If you are looking for a very quiet CPU cooler with great construction quality and reasonable cooling performance, the Noctua NH-U12P SE2 is a good choice.