Page 2 - Physical Look - Hardware; Installation
Unsurprisingly, the Noctua NH-U12A chromax.black is designed exactly the same as the original NH-U12A and shares the same build quality. It utilizes a single large stack of fins with several heatpipes going through it. Now that the NH-U12A is embracing the chromax.black design, everything is black, from the fin stacks to the fans and heatpipes. This makes the whole air cooler blend better in with any case or build, since it is more likely to fit with typical builds compared to the traditional Noctua tan and burgundy color scheme.
As this utilizes the same design, you can see Noctua has used the same leading-edge approach for the fin stack. There is a slight V-shaped slope towards the middle on one side and the other has a semi-circle cut out, so users can reach the mounting screw at the bottom. There are zigzagged teeth on both sides of the metal fin edges. These small design elements optimize the ability to permit airflow in between the fins while reducing resistance and noise, all while only negligibly decreasing the heatsink surface area. There is a total of 50 fins on the radiator. The spacing in between each fin is approximately 2.0mm. From my calculations, this makes the total surface area of the cooling fins combined close to 0.67 square meters, which is the same as the original NH-U12A. At a total mass of 760g without a fan and 1220g with both fans installed, the Noctua NH-U12A chromax.black is still a weighty cooler. For some perspective, the NH-U12S weighs in at 580g with no fans installed, while a typical AMD Wraith Prism stock cooler weighs 582g. Noctua heatsinks are heavy in general and most of the weight can be attributed to the material choices of the heatsink itself, as you will also find out later.
As for its dimensions, the Noctua NH-U12A chromax.black is pretty typical at 158mm in height, 125mm in width, and 58mm in depth. With the two included fans installed, the depth increases to 112mm. You probably will not run into any issues with installing this cooler into a typical mid-tower ATX case. Furthermore, the NH-U12A chromax.black uses an asymmetrical design on its cooler, as the heatsink fin stack is centered further away from the memory slots. This means, even with the Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM chromax.black fan installed near the memory, the fan does not hang over any memory slot. In addition, the heatsink is placed away from the top PCI Express expansion slot, so it will not interfere there either. There is still a clearance between the base of the heatsink and the bottom fin stack of 4.2cm, but Noctua has clearly designed this cooler to avoid as much interference with other components as possible.
From the base where the metal makes contact with the processor, seven continuous U-shaped heatpipes lead away from the CPU contact and splits into the two sides of the single stack of fins. This effectively makes fourteen heatpipes in total. The heatpipes are supposed to efficiently lead the heat away from its source due to the low heat of vaporization, or phase change energy, of the fluid inside. The heatpipes are aligned in manner to spread out the heat in the array of radiating fins. The 0.67 square meters of surface area, combined with the two 120mm NF-A12x25 PWM chromax.black fans, should be able to deliver very good heat dissipation performance, but we will see if this statement is true on the next page.
The fans on the NH-U12A are held on using two wire clips that are easy to remove. It utilizes the same system found in previous Noctua coolers, and they are very sturdy when mounted on the heatsink. It clips on the outside of the fan and goes around the sides of the heatsink fins. Raised edges are integrated into the fin to secure the clips. The wire clip retention length is also reduced to a balanced level, so attachment stability is not compromised. Thus, the fans are easier to remove with these tabs and the clips can be removed uniformly. The wire clips also have an advantage by allowing users to be a bit more flexible in terms of the height the fan is mounted at. The fans themselves should not need to be removed except for during installation, as they will block the mounting screws.
As for the fans in question, we have two 120mm Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM chromax.blacks. These utilize Noctua's SSO2 bearings, which are hydraulic bearings, for a longer lifespan and generally quiet operation. These 120mm fans have a specified rotational speed range of 450 to 2000 RPM, airflow rating of 102.1 cubic meters/hour, and static pressure of 2.34 mmH2O. It also comes with a low noise adapter, which reduces all of the numbers I have stated above in order to keep the output noise low. Rated mean time before failure is approximately 150,000 hours, which is just over seventeen years. While you could find different fans to place on the heatsink, I would not recommend swapping them out, as these are some of the best options available at this size.
The photo above shows a shot of the bottom of the Noctua NH-U12A chromax.black CPU heatsink and the configuration of the heatpipes more clearly in relation to the base leading into the fin array. You can see the base is very flat, which means practically the entire base should rest evenly on top of the processor. A quick inspection also reveals there are no abnormalities here, though on closer inspection, some of the circular milling marks are visible when they finished the surface. As we have seen from past Noctua heatsinks, this heatsink is composed of copper, nickel, and aluminum. The base and heatpipes are built using copper for best heat transfer ability with a thermal conductivity of 401 W/mK. The heatsink fins utilize aluminum as it is quite a bit lighter in comparison to copper. This compromise allows the NH-U12A chromax.black to reduce its weight and thus reducing the stress on the motherboard. Aluminum has a thermal conductivity of 237 W/mK, which is not as optimal for heat transfer, but the trade-off is understandable.
Visually speaking, the Noctua NH-U12A chromax.black conceals the natural color of its aluminum fins and copper heatpipes with a black coating. The base is also electroplated with nickel for a silver finish. The electroplating of the base with nickel on top of copper has a thermal conductivity of only 90.9 W/mK. While nickel has a lower thermal conductivity than copper, the electroplated layer is very thin and should not directly affect performance to a significant degree. Instead, nickel and nickel-base alloys are used here because of its properties in withstanding corrosive environments and high temperatures, which is especially beneficial for a heat dissipation device. The reason why nickel has these properties is because of its ductility and toughness all the way up to the melting point of 1455c, measured at non-standard pressure. Nickel's face-centered cube crystal structure is highly resistant to corrosion, so corroded material will not build up on the surface in the long run. As a result, the Noctua NH-U12A chromax.black will be less prone to losing its cooling performance over time as juxtaposed to a corroded copper surface.
Additionally, all the joints are cleanly soldered at the base while the heatpipes are soldered to the fins. While soldered fans can cost more and pressed fins are typical for most heatsinks, pressed fins can lead to degradation over time as contact between metals decreases due to thermal expansion and contraption. As per usual, the Noctua NH-U12A chromax.black appears to be built very solidly. Reliability should also be excellent as Noctua offers a six-year warranty.
As you saw on the first page, Noctua sent us three additional heatsink covers to dress up your NH-U12A, regardless if it is on the vanilla or chromax.black variants. Since the two heatsinks are physically the same dimensions, it is no surprise the three heatsink covers they sent us fit both models. From the above photo, you can see Noctua has included the metal bracket that sits on top of the heatsink as well as a plastic bracket underneath that also sits on top. For all of their models, users can place the plastic frame on top and use a metal clip to mount it on the top of your NH-U12A. The plastic bracket has two magnets integrated into its side so that when users slide the larger metal shell on top, it will stick and stay in place. The two NA-HC8 come in chromax.black and chromax.white editions, while the NA-HC7 chromax.black.swap has some cut out areas that lets you change the accent color on your cover. Noctua has included several different plastic color sheets to go behind this area so that users can match the rest of their build. It may not be as customizable as RGB, but I actually appreciate the simple implementation of this customization, especially if you are trying to match colors that do not change often, such as heatsinks on your memory or your motherboard. Either way, these are simple but effective solutions to make the NH-U12A chromax.black the way you want it. You could also probably print out your own designs to place behind the metal frame.
As you have read in our other Noctua reviews, installation is straightforward and easy. The same system used with practically all of Noctua's heatsinks is found here, which they call the SecuFirm2 system. Therefore, if you have another recent Noctua cooler, you can exchange parts between the two. If you are installing into an Intel system, you can use the included metal backplate with part number NM-IBP4, which supports both newer LGA1700 and older LGA1200 and LGA115x mounting positions. As such, the bolts on the backplate are adjustable to the location of the holes on the motherboard. However, if you are installing the Noctua heatsink onto a recent AM4 AMD motherboard, you can use the integrated plate that you should have received with your motherboard.
On the other side, two mounting bars are included to attach the heatsink to the motherboard. Once the backplate is mounted, the plastic spacers can be installed to space out the mounting bars. With an Intel system, the two mounting bars can be placed in a horizontal or vertical configuration, depending on what the user chooses for their installation orientation. The bars included here are the NM-IMB3, which are the same mounting bars found with other U-series heatsinks. With an AMD system, like the one I have above, the bars included here are the NM-AMB11. These are screwed into the backplate with the plastic spacers in between, and only fit in one orientation. Once you tighten the thumb bolts on the bars, you can install the heatsink.
Before doing so, be sure to place a bit of thermal paste between the processor and the heatsink. On an AMD processor, like the recent Ryzen CPUs, Noctua advises to put a small dot measuring in 4 to 5mm in diameter with a square pattern of four dots surrounding the middle one. Next, remove the attached fan from the NH-U12A chromax.black and place the heatsink over the two protruding screws on the mounting bars. At this point, I would recommend you to use the screwdriver provided, as accessibility to the screw can be limited. With this tool, tighten the screws, alternating between each screw to evenly attach the heatsink to the motherboard. Finally, reattach the NF-A12x25 PWM chromax.black fan to the heatsink. As I have noted before, the NH-U12A chromax.black does not interfere with my RAM, as the heatsink is offset in a way to avoid any part from hanging over other areas. With the physical inspection, we can see Noctua is consistent in both its build quality and aesthetics as it has been with past products, and the installation process is among the best.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Hardware; Installation
3. Test Results
4. Conclusion
