Noctua NH-U12P: Top Performance AND Silence
by Wesley Fink on March 20, 2008 8:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Conclusion
Past test results with Noctua coolers taught us to respect Noctua's claims. Like Thermalright, Noctua has a track record of delivering what they promise. However, the two companies really come to cooling with different areas of expertise. Thermalright has a long history of top-performing coolers. Thermalright doesn't ship coolers with fans, so Thermalrights require top-performing fans to end up as top performers. You can also control noise by selecting a fan that exhibits ultra low noise. Fans than can provide good performance with low noise tend to shine on Thermalright heatsinks.
Noctua on the other hand has a sterling reputation for developing the lowest noise coolers around. Their fans are masters of low noise, with respectable performance that is always near the top but rarely challenging for first place performance. For this reason, we were a bit skeptical when Noctua claimed top performance with incredibly low published noise levels. Noctua is capable of some brilliant engineering so we did not dismiss the claim, but we really didn't expect to fully validate their claims in our testing.
We are happy to report that our skepticism was not justified in this case. Noctua really has produced a top-performing cooler with incredibly low noise in the NH-U12P. The combination of staggered Vortex Control notches, SC Drive, and SSO bearings in a nine-blade design does the trick as promised. Paired with the venerable and continually refined Noctua heatsink, performance of the stock Noctua NH-U12P mirrors the top Thermalright all the way to 3.91GHz. Noise remains below our system noise floor throughout the entire range of testing.
The Thermalright goes on to 3.94GHz with a single fan, indicating the design may be slightly more efficient. However, add a second NF-P12 to the Noctua and it also reaches 3.94GHZ and sets new records for cooling temperatures along the way. Even with two fans, noise remains below the noise floor - and you can reduce it even further with shunts if you choose. We saw no reason to do this as two fans at full speed were still as silent as we could measure in our system - with noise levels below a quiet suburban bedroom at night.
For those who don't care about overclocking, the Noctua NH-U12P is still a great choice. It cools as well as the best so far with one fan - at idle and under load at stock speeds. Add a second fan and the stock temperatures are all new records. We haven't tested a cooler that does a better job of cooling at stock speeds. However, the Noctua cooler with two fans at $90 is not cheap, and the Alpine coolers we recently tested do almost as well at about 1/6 the price. For most who won't overclock the Alpines are fine, but if you want the best stock air-cooling you can buy the Noctua NH-U12P with an extra NF-P12 fan is the ultimate.
These test results for the Noctua are truly impressive, but they do not dethrone the Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme - at least not yet. The superb component here is the Noctua NF-P12 fan, which is a brilliant piece of engineering. We doubt our Thermalright or any air-cooler will top the 3.94GHz that seems to be the limit of our test bed Core 2 Duo. However, we suspect the Thermalright combined with the NF-P12 could match or even exceed the results with the Noctua heatsink. Having said that the practical reality is it is not easy to mount two NF-P12 fans on a Thermalright, whereas the Noctua heatsink is designed for push-pull and even comes with the extra wires to make it easy.
There is no doubt the Noctua NH-U12P has joined the ranks of the best performing coolers ever tested at AnandTech. With two NF-12P fans in push-pull, it turns in the best cooling results at the highest overclocks we have ever seen. We can also recommend the Noctua NF-P12 fan for performance plus silence on the Thermalright. If you want a complete cooling kit balanced for performance with silence, the NH-U12P is an excellent choice.
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7Enigma - Wednesday, April 9, 2008 - link
ZEROtherm Nirvana NV120 120mm 2-ball UFO Bearing / Transparent CPU Cooler - Retail ($36.00 after rebate)With the $10 rebate its the same price as the Arctic Cooler Freezer 7 Pro
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...
coolsmith - Thursday, March 27, 2008 - link
Just to complement my previous post on this fanI should have mentioned that I found leaving the speed setting to
medium gave the best result for noise verse speed.
This fan does cost a little bit more than the others but it should
last a lot longer.
coolsmith - Thursday, March 27, 2008 - link
I installed one as a rear case fan and I'd have to say they are indeedquiet and do a good job.
But I'd have to agree with most the color is a bit of a turn off, but
since mine is inside the case a really don't mind.
A well built fan but crappy color .
If they were to change the color they would probably sell alot
more of them, for sure.
7Enigma - Tuesday, March 25, 2008 - link
I have a bit of a problem with the review and conclusion. This heatsink/fan looks to be good, the problem is it seems to be just as good as the:Nirvana, Ultra 120, Infinity, Ninja, Ultima90, Tuniq Tower
all of which are less expensive. By using these "real world results" the test fails to really tell us what is different about the new design of the fan!
I want to know that at 1/4, 1/2, or full voltage this fan either:
a. is quieter (better design/aerodynamics)
b. pushes more air (more efficient/ better design)
It's great to show in your testbed that it works !great!, the problem is its not really that helpful to a potential buyer wondering WHY its so great.
During video card reviews this site constantly takes heat from the H-site (we'll remain nameless :) ), on your reviews not being "real-world", and I've always sided with you guys because you are scientifically limiting your variables to give a good indictation of which card is better. But now I feel these heatsink/fan reviews are somewhat falling into the same trap of that other site in providing data points that are not accurate; just rather you can say that the Noctua, Alpine, Freezer 7, Nirvana, Ultra 120 Extreme, Ultima90, and Kama Cross are all below your artificial noise floor. It's the equivalent of testing all of the new video cards at 1024X768 resolution with a 60fps framerate cap in Quake3, they are all going to look like winners!
What a competent review needs to aim for is removing all variable outside of what is being tested. When your testing video cards, make sure the cpu isn't the bottleneck, when your measuring hard drives, make sure you don't have a mobo/driver issue, and when your measuring heatsinks and fans, make sure that if your not actually checking their stated cfm's for accuracy, at least you are measuring the noise level of the fan.
My case sits under my desk doing its thing out of sight. If I'm going to throw down $20 for a FAN, a freaking FAN man!, I want to know those pretty shaped blades are actually doing something measurably different and beneficial than a $5-10 one.
Wesley Fink - Tuesday, March 25, 2008 - link
Our noise floor is limited by the Power Supply, which was selected because it is one of the quietest variable fan speed models we could find. That noise level is equivalent to a suburban bedroom at night as pointed out in every recent review. Real world is NOT running a power supply in one room so you can measure noise levels lower than you will ever see in a real system limited by power supply noise. If you want those measurements there are websites devoted to those esoteric numbers and you can find what you seek.For our part we did measure the single fan at high speed and the cululative two fans at highest speed in a system with a quiet variable speed power supply and a fanless video card. Both measurements were below our noise floor. All lower speeds with the shunts will be below that and are not measurable in our system.
The sad fact about the current low noise obsession is that readers see so many low numbers they have lost perspective on what the numbers actually mean. Those screaming for measurements of 10 to 20 dbA should Google a few articles on noise measurement to see what those numbers actually measure and the laboratory needed to accurately measure those low noise levels.
130 dBA Loud hand clapping at 1 m distance (maximum level)
120 dBA Whistle at 1 m distance, test run of a jet at 15 m distance
Threshold of pain, above this fast-acting hearing damage in short action is possible
115 dBA Take-off sound of planes at 10 m distance
110 dBA Siren at 10 m distance, frequent sound level in discotheques and close
to loudspeakers at rock concerts, violin close to the ear of an orchestra
musicians (maximum level)
105 dBA Chain saw at 1 m distance, banging car door at 1 m distance (maximum level),
racing car at 40 m distance, possible level with music head phones
100 dBA Frequent level with music via head phones, jack hammer at 10 m distance
95 dBA Loud crying, hand circular saw at 1 m distance
90 dBA Angle grinder outside at 1 m distance
Over a duration of 40 hours a week hearing damage is possible
85 dBA 2-stroke chain-saw at 10 m distance, loud WC flush at 1 m distance
80 dBA Very loud traffic noise of passing lorries at 7.5 m distance,
high traffic on an expressway at 25 m distance
75 dBA Passing car at 7.5 m distance, un-silenced wood shredder at 10 m distance
70 Small car at 30 mph; 3 meters from a vacuum cleaner.
65 1 meter from normal conversation. Busy office. About half the people in a large sample will have difficulty sleeping.
55 Recommended upper limit for large open offices, restaurants, gymnasiums, swimming pools.
45 Recommended upper limit for homes, hotels, laboratories, libraries, private offices, court rooms.
40 Quiet office. Recommended upper limit for classrooms, churches, motion picture theaters (without the film soundtrack).
35 Quiet bedroom.
25 Countryside on windless day, away from traffic. Sound of breathing at 1m distance.
7Enigma - Wednesday, April 9, 2008 - link
So then please tell me how this fan is better than any $5 fan? If it doesn't matter if its below the noise floor, I don't know how you can come to the conclusion that its a good product? To me if it performs the same as a $5 fan its overpriced right?marine73 - Tuesday, March 25, 2008 - link
For those howling for readings in the 10-20dB range the world must be an incredibly noisy place. Ants on the sidewalk sounding like stormtroopers, ducks on a pond sounding like top fuel hydros...not sure how they can even enter a room with a PC running.vajm1234 - Sunday, March 23, 2008 - link
is there ny possibility of reviewin the new scythe zipang n all.Thorsson - Saturday, March 22, 2008 - link
The fan shown in the picture on the Installation page doesn't look like the new one to me...Wesley Fink - Sunday, March 23, 2008 - link
They are both the new fans. Due to the curvature and sweep of the blades it is more difficult to distinguish the notches from the front view. That is why all the "notch" pictures are from the rear of the fan.