Noctua NH-D12L, Low-Height Dual-Tower CPU Cooler (120mm, Brown)

I normally have built systems from every aspect, including case and cooling solution. However, with desperation of wanting an upgrade to a 6 year old system, and some scarcity of sourcing parts, I opted for a prebuilt solution, that had a stock intel cooler on the i7-11700KF, on a ASUS B560-G board, within a ASUS ROG G15CE designed prebuilt/case. I am literally writing this after installing this cooling upgrade.I was doing research for possible solutions to my current situation. I saw some other user's ways of possibly adding a taller cooling tower, which one version meant cutting a hole in the side of the metal side panel case they had. However, my side panel is of the glass version, and that was not an option. I saw this week that this came out via an online article and writeup of this being released this week. Thankfully Amazon had stock and I immediately placed the order. I was not disappointed.It fits, and it cools much more efficiently than I had even expected. I ran some loads that I normally ran the device under, which were most likely thermal throttling the system as the system was spiking in the 90C/212F areas according to HWMonitor. I believe I am now not thermal throttling as we speak, with the temperature under same load now reading 84C/183F at max readings.This is a mind easing solution that I was weary of working at first for the height limitation of the cooling tower I thought I might run into. However, Noctua has hit this out of the park and has provided the prebuilt narrow cases breathing room and doubled the cooling thermal area, if not tripled the surface area as the stock cooler on a visual analysis of heatsink surfaces. My case currently, without spending money on another case or even considering AIO or liquid cooling, is small as it is. Much smaller than I imagined it when I purchased it initially. The cooling tower has enough gap, albeit small if by millimeters, between the top of the thermal heat pipe ends and the glass side panel, that there is no contact whatsoever.And finally, the second main reason, aside from thermal control as the primary, was to reduce the noise created by the constant needing to cool the smaller stock heatsink. For those coming along behind me, the stock cooler is smaller than 92mm of even the rear exhaust case fan. Having the cooling fans that are larger and quieter from this is so much better than ever before. Even at load, there was barely any noticeable fan noise, you might literally have to get down next to the case to hear it if you have it below your desktop surface. My older AIO system is now even louder than this now. I am very happy with this and very thankful for this new release. I didn't have to spend excess money on a new case or a new liquid cooling solution that this was able to help fulfill.As far as installation, the instructions were very detailed and the parts were very easy to identify. While I can see someone not experienced possibly being a bit overwhelmed by such a task of a swap that might cause worry, from my other experiences, this was such a breeze and easy to accomplish, that I feel that my son could do the swap.

This heat sink is giant! It barely fit in the case but it works amazingly! It dropped my CPU temp by 10 degrees C! The fan is very very quiet.

It takes a little bit of work to install but Noctua has probably the best fitting, most secure method for attaching the CPU cooler. The fit and finish is top notch. I replaced a Corsair AIO cooler with this Noctua NH-D12L. During gaming my i7-10700k runs ~20 degrees Celsius cooler with a single fan running silently. It is a bit expense but I believe it is worth the money.

Ive used these things for a while now. I have them in 2 hyper-v servers (one intel and one AMD) and my latest dev box with a 14th gen intel chip in it. They come with a massive radiator and can be installed blowing front to back or from bottom to top. They have a super quiet fan in them that just nestles in between the radiators and there is an option to have another fan as well if you get paranoid about heat. As far as cooling goes, these quiet fans keep my processors cool. I found liquid cooling to be overly complicated and very invasive to the computer case, plus it seemed to be very picky about where certain things had to go. With this fan unit, you just use the adapters (the instructions seem intimidating but are fairly straight forward) and the fan is pretty forgiving. I will continue to use these fans. Plus, it looks neat with all the LED lighting already in your case

So far so good. Just built a new PC with a i7-12700k and its keep it cool no problem. I don't game but it has been completely silent. Very complete kit and the instructions were clear. Easy install.

An outstanding CPU cooler. Reduced my CPU temp under stress by 30 degrees.

The NH-D12L honestly might be the best air cooler to date for the HAF XB EVO. Let me clarify that.While this case is fairly large and can be very accommodating for large air coolers with 180mm clearance (So even the mighty NH-D15 can fit in this case with some room to spare), it can only do that if you don't mount a 200mm fan.With most 200mm fans being 30mm thick, That 180mm clearance drops down to 150mm. Excluding many great air coolers as most of them are above that 150mm height limit.So in the past with this case, you could have a less capable air cooler or you could have a great air cooler but have to contend with any possible heat from the gpu affecting the cpu.With this new cooler and it's 145mm height, you can now have a great air cooler that a couple of stone's throws away from the legendary NH-D15 performance while having a top 200mm fan to remove any heat buildup that might be present in the case. Basically, we can now have our cake and eat it to.There's certainly not a lot of room to spare between the NH-D12L and the spinning blades of the NF-A20 fan (5mm clearance at most) right above it but it just clears it (As you can see in the photo's). Making this a great choice for those wanting High AirFlow in the HAF XB EVO case (the main point in the HAF name) and sticking with Air cooling (only water cooling would be better while keeping the 200mm fan, but if I was wanting water cooling... I wouldn't of got the NH-D12L).Other pro's of the cooler:Easy mounting for the AM4 platform (just like all the other Noctua coolers)QuietPerforms wellHas the option of mounting a 2nd NF-A12x25r fan (clips for a 2nd fan is already included but the 2nd fan itself is a separate purchase.)Really my one major Con about this cooler is it's price.While it's cooling capabilities are close to the NH-D15 (along with the U12A, the other D15 variants, and older D14), it's not close enough IMO to warrant a $10 difference between the 2 coolers (at time of purchase and writing, the D15 cost $100 while the D12L cost $90).With the D15, your getting a much larger cooler with "two" 140mm fans while the D12L is smaller and only comes with "one" 120mm fan. From a purely performance perspective, I think it should be about $75 where this should fit (would still be more expensive than the D12L closest competitor that i'm aware of, Thermalright Silver Soul 135 at $50-$55).Oh well, this is the price you pay for highest performance in the most compact package. (Basically, if you have the room or "willing to sacrifice" something else to make room for, grab the NH-D15 (or equivalent tier cooler) over the NH-D12L. It is the better buy of the 2 coolers).2nd (minor) con that I alluded to with my previous con and even in my pro, the single fan.Dont get me wrong, the NF-A12x25r is a great fan and is perfectly adequate for the D12L, but when the cooler is $90 VS $100 for the D15, I think for the price, the D12L could of came with 2 of these fans.Especially since the cooler doesn't support standard 120mm fans (meaning your limited to fans with hole spacing of 93x83 mm like the NF-A12x25r) and you have to spend an additional $30 to get one of these non-standard fans. I think noctua could of made it easier on it's user to include it for the price.(They probably did it this way as most people wouldn't use a 2nd fan due to space issues but like said, for the price, I rather have the 2nd fan and keep it as a backup for down the road if i couldn't use it right away)