Noctua NH-C12P CPU Cooler

Conclusion

Overall I am more impressed with the Noctua cooler than I had expected. When I received the cooler I was fully aware of the performance levels achieved with previous Noctua products that have passed through Overclock3D. In the back of my head I feared that the industry may be reaching the limits of what is possible with basic air cooled heatsinks. In some way this may still be true, but in this case development has been made not in reducing temperatures further, but reducing the size of the heatsink needed to get top end performance.

On the whole, the heatsink is everything it needs to be. Well built, good looking, performs well and mounts securely. Obviously, however, there is a limit to what a heatsink can do without the right airflow. It is lucky then that the heatsink comes packaged with such a fantastic fan. As seen in separate reviews, the NF-P12 fan delivers outstanding airflow for such low operating noise, and does so with great levels of static pressure – making it perfect for application in this situation.

 

Now for the painful part. The price. We are informed that when the cooler hits the market, prospective buyers will be looking at shelling out around 45-50 GBP in order to obtain one. Whether the coolers ability to fit in HTPC cases while maintaining near the performance of the tall NH-U12P justifies this, I shall leave up to you. I have always maintained that something is only worth what someone will pay for it and I expect people will indeed pay the large amount for it. Although it’s certainly not for everyone.

Installation of the cooler was slightly fiddly, but by no means a hardship. The removal of the motherboard, while an inconvenience, has to be taken as a necessary step to provide a quality, high pressure mounting with the use of a backplate. So if you’re buying for a new build or plain don’t mind the extra work and you have very deep pockets, the NH-C12P is definitely a top contender.

The Good
– Fantastic build quality
– Brilliant performance
– Comes with fantastic NF-P12 fan
– Effective mounting system
– Very clear and well illustrated instruction booklet

– Low profile for a cooler of this performance

The Mediocre
– Involved removing the motherboard for installation

The Bad
– The price

 

A big thank you to Noctua for providing the NH-C12P. The cooler will be available for purchase in the UK imminently, details of which will be added as soon as possible.

 

As usual feel free to pop into the forums to discuss