Noctua NH-U12P CPU Cooler Review
Introduction (Cont’d)
Contents
Looking the heatsink from above we can have an idea of the shape of the fins and we can see the tips from the four U-shaped heatpipes. An amazing detail about this cooler is the fact it supports two fans, one at each side. Even though it comes with only one fan it comes with two extra clips and you can easily install another 120 mm fan on it.
Figure 6: Top view.
The base of the cooler is very smooth, but it doesn’t have a mirror finishing.
Figure 7: Base.
The fan that comes with the reviewed cooler is different from the ones we are used to see, first by the use of two shades of brown, and second by the shape of the blades, with two "teeth" on the air release edge, as you can see in Figure 8. According to the manufacturer, these recesses spread the turbulence caused by the blades, reducing noise level.
Figure 8: Fan.This fan uses a miniature three-pin connector, with no PWM control. Noctua included two adapters that you can see in Figure 9, named "Low Noise Adaptor" (L.N.A.) and "Ultra Low Noise Adaptor" (U.L.N.A.). These adapters are simply resistors connected in series with the fan positive wire, so the fan receives a lower voltage and spins at a lower speed. We can’t say it’s an advanced noise reduction technology, can we?
Figure 9: Fan speed reducers.