Date: November 6th, 2008
Article by: Joe Anderson (Hardware Reviewer)
Edited by: Nathan Glentworth (Owner / Head Editor)
Product was submitted by: Noctua
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PRODUCT PICTORIAL AND WALKTHROUGH
I mentioned earlier that the mounting solutions were sorted according to application and now we're going to take a closer look at the mounting systems. First of all, let's check out the common parts.
In the zip bag are the bracket mounting screws and the pressure springs. Next we have the L.N.A. (Low Noise Adapter, black connector) and the U.L.N.A. (Ultra Low Noise Adapter, blue connector) followed by a syringe of Noctua's NT-H1 thermal compound, two sets of fan clips and four silicone anti-vibration strips. As you may have already surmised, two fans can be used on the NH-U12B, but only one is included.
This is the AMD mounting solution and…
…here's the Intel hardware. Both have nicely padded and insulated backplates and the Intel solution even comes with a screwdriver. The installation manual is quite clear and complete and while the mobo will have to be removed from the case to install this cooler, installation should be pretty easy from that point on, so let's get to it.
PRODUCT INSTALLATION AND TESTING
Our testbed for this review consists of the following hardware:
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Intel Q6600 Kentsfield Core2Quad CPU (active)
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Intel E6600 Conroe Core2Duo CPU (passive)
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Western Digital WD800 hard drive
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Western Digital WD6400 hard drive
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Samsung SH-S203N DVD writer
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Buffalo Firestix DDR2 RAM (2 X 1GB)
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EVGA 8800 GTS 640MB graphics card
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Thermaltake Toughpower 750W PSU
All coolers were tested in the open case pictured above. Keep in mind that temps inside your case will be different, depending on the chassis and airflow.
The detailed instructions will get you through the installation without any trouble. The manual is clear, concise and well illustrated. With the backplate and brackets installed on the motherboard…
