Noctua NHU-12 And NHU-9 CPU Coolers Review (Page 1 of 4)
Noctua Heatpipe CPU Coolers
Buy these coolers at QuietPC.com for under £35.00
If you think of Austria, what’s the first thing that comes into your mind? The Lipizzaner Stallions? Mozart? Arnold Schwarzenegger? I can almost guarantee it’s not CPU heat sinks! However, you may not have heard about Noctua. It’s Noctua’s new range of heat sinks we will be reviewing in this article.
About Noctua
Noctua is a cooperation between Austrian company Rascom Computer Distribution and Taiwanese company Kolink International Corporation. They have set up a development partnership with the Austrian Institute of Heat Transmission and Fan Technology, who are also known as the OIWV. Noctua say the partnership with the OIWV permits the application of scientific measurement instrumentation, methods of calculation and simulation technology in their Research and Development process. Rascom’s customer-oriented experience in developing and distributing sound-optimised, high-end products ensures a clear focus on the users needs. The use of Kolink’s advanced manufacturing technology and ultra-modern production plants allows Noctua to efficiently implement their technical expertise and provide solutions of the highest standard in quality and performance, at a fair price.
Noctua currently have two different heat sinks, the NH-U12 and its slightly smaller brother the NH-U9. Both heat sinks are designed to fit Intel Socket 478 and LGA775 processors as well as AMD Socket 939 and Socket 940. Each heat sink is supplied with a complete set of fixings so you can attach them to any of the processors just mentioned. Noctua have demonstrated versions of their coolers for the new AMD AM2 socket at Computex 2006, and hope to have the coolers available in the next few weeks. The coolers are supplied with fan mounts, but no fans are supplied. A small booklet is included which gives generic pictures and instructions for fitting the coolers. However, considering that you need to remove the existing CPU cooler hold down ring, providing generic instructions is a little confusing.
The pictures below show the NH-U12 (on the left), the NH-U9 (the smaller heat sink to the right) and the fixings that are supplied in the box.
» Read the next page, ‘About The Coolers’.