Second opinion on the Noctua NH-U12P

[Buddy J]

Benchmark Reviews didn't come away as impressed (http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=146&Itemid=1) with the Noctua NH-U12P as we did (http://icrontic.com/articles/heatsink_analysis2/page2).

[_k_]

It was because of that article that I decided to use the Vendetta2.

[Buddy J]

I'm usually impressed with Benchmark Reviews' test methods, but this time, I'm not so sure. Regarding that article, it seems to read that the Noctua was tested with only a 92mm fan instead of the 120mm fan it's designed for and comes with. Using reference fans is cool (we do it here) but I can't find the numbers showing the difference between the 92mm and 120mm fans. Most users don't buy a heatsink and then replace its existing fan with one that's smaller...

[_k_]

yeah i hear you, what should be done though is people doing reviews is always have one fan they always use as a common ref as well as the packaged fan to show comparison as well as the original fans power or lack there of. Like the Vendettas fan maxs around 87CFM and it seems to have some pretty good torque to it so it pulls through the mess in front of it.
"All coolers had their original manufacturer-supplied fan removed and replaced with our specified common test fan" is why it had that fan....</editComment>.....
"


We will test coolers using a common fan so that air speed and volume between products do not have an impact on our results.
We will test coolers in both a horizontal and vertical position, since heat-pipes are effected by product orientation."

" Max. Air flow: 54.3 CFM" a little low for a 120 max "NF-B9 fan" was the test fan; Air Flow: 24 - 38 CFM

The top coolers were generally 120mm cooler designs and thats why some of them did so poorly. This is the other reason I used this review for my choice.

[Buddy J]

http://www.rbmods.com/Articles/Noctua/Nh_u12p/1.php

More reviews of the NH-U12P. The list "no fan LEDs" as a bad point. LOL.

[Buddy J]

TweakNews likes it:
http://www.tweaknews.net/reviews/noctua_nh-u12p_cpu_cooler/