Noctua NH-U12S REDUX CPU Cooler (and Upgrade Kit) Review

Mike Sanders / 3 years ago

Performance

As this is quite a small profile air cooler, we clearly did not expect it to come anything close to topping our charts and, as you can see below, with the standard model (more on the upgrade kit performance shortly) the temperature control, while at the top of the list (which by proxy means bottom) is actually still more than respectable. Remember, this has been tested and compared against some of the biggest (in terms of size) or most potent CPU cooler models around, and the fact that it does legitimate keep pace with them (despite its incredibly smaller stature) is remarkably impressive.

Without a doubt, however, the key highlight has to go to the acoustic performance. Put simply, the Noctua NH-U12S REDUX is supremely quiet and if you value low noise output, this is definitely one of the best examples around. And remember, we didn’t even use the low-noise adaptors for this test!

Stock Temperatures

Stock Acoustics

Overclocked Temperatures

Overclocked Acoustics

Second Fan Upgrade Kit

So, I suppose at this point you are curious how much better the upgrade kit makes the Noctua NH-U12S REDUX? Well, the short answer is, a lot more than we were honestly expecting! – While the second fan does, of course, add a little to the acoustic output, without any modifications to the fan speed from the BIOS, you can clearly see below that in general operation, the upgrade kit does manage to shave off around 2-4C at maximum load. A massive margin? No, but CPU cooler performance does often come down to just degrees from separating the decent from the great!

So, would we recommend the upgrade kit? Well, given how much it costs and the extra (and measurable) performance it clearly provides, we think you’d be somewhat foolish to not at least consider it!