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Noctua NH-U12S SE-AM4, Premium CPU Cooler - $76.99 (Including GST) + Delivery ($9 for ACT) - Total $86.89 Shipped @ Newegg

170

Great CPU Cooler to use with the new AMD CPU. I got one to go with a 3700x. Perfect balance of quiet and performance.

Some reviews mention they got the wrong version from Newegg (not AM4) but from looking into this it is likely as they didn't buy from the seller "Noctua Cooling Solutions" which is the manufacturer. None of the recent reviews in last 6 months mention issues.

Ships with "International Expedited Shipping(3-5 business days)"

Cheapest price from local online stores i could find is $99 + shipping. Total cost to my ANZ Travel Credit Card was $86.89.

Award-winning NH-U12S cooler: more than 200 awards and recommendations from international hardware websites and magazines

Dedicated special edition for the AMD AM4 socket

Quiet, premium-grade NF-F12 120mm fan with PWM for automatic speed control

Includes Low-Noise Adaptor and renowned NT-H1 thermal compound

6-year manufacturer’s warranty

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closed Comments

  • +2

    Great cooler, but I personally won't buy from Newegg due to bad experiences with them in the past.

    • +3

      I have also avoided Newegg but this is shipped direct from the manufacturer and they seem to have good reviews. See how it goes :)

      • +1

        Last time I ordered my NH-D15, it's sent from Taiwan, and arrived pretty quick.

  • tempting, i do need a cooler for my r5 2600 & 3900x in the future. stock amd one does the job well though.

  • What builds would rather have this instead of D15?

    • As i understand it D15 is larger and more expensive. Different class of CPU cooler. Depends if you want to do some extreme overclocking and if your case can fit it.

    • All quad cores or less builds should be fine. Most non over clocked high core builds should be fine.

      D12 is slightly shorter, which may help in some cases. It is also better if you want to air cool a LAN box as it is less force on the mother board.

  • +1

    will this work/fit with the corsair ram posted today. https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/469563

    • it should, my old pc had a noctua d14 and ram a bit taller than the corsair stuff i have now (same kit as that) fit fine. worse case you take the heatsinks off but it should fit.

    • Lpx works with almost every cooler. It works with this one.

  • +3

    A quick reminder Noctua still provide free AM4 mounting kits for their older coolers if you want to reuse one:

    https://noctua.at/en/nm-am4-mounting-kit

    Can buy locally for $9 or so if you don't want to wait for postage.

    Reused the Noctua cooler from my 2600K this way.

  • +1

    Can get a AIO watercooler for less why would you get this?

    • +1

      Got a Cooler Master 240L AIO for $95 and my cpu is at 25-32 deg when gaming. Plus luv the rgb lighting.

      • Yep exactly what I have and yep going really great on my 5820k, I am just genuinely curious to find any reason to not go with the water cooler.

        • +1

          Last time I dabbled with AIO coolers was 7 years ago with the Antec Kuhler (forgot which exact model) and the pump made annoying bubbly noises like a fish tank pump.

          Newer models may be quieter and better now but I personally still prefer air as fans are less likely to fail and if they do, are easily replaced and there's still a big HSF block providing adequate cooling. Also less risk of the piping somehow failing and spilling water all over the expensive equipment.

        • +4

          There are a few reason why people buy air coolers vs AIO

          AIO cons
          1) Reliability/maintenance (pump failure, leakage over time)
          2) Performance vs Price
          3) Noise

          Air coolers Cons
          1) Aesthetics/size (Obstruction of motherboard and RGB)
          2) Transportation (Moving can put stress on non reinforced motherboards)

        • +1

          Yep noise and I swap gear/cases constantly. Air coolers are generally easier to pull on and off. I have an old PC with a customer loop but it's just such a pain if you plan to do anything more often than once ever 1-2yrs

          • @pin4e: Custom loops are a bit different from an AIO in regards to maintenance/servicing your PC.

        • I am just genuinely curious to find any reason to not go with the water cooler.

          Water cooling is severely overrated.

          You'll get the same amount of cooling performance from entry-level CPU water coolers as you do from entry-level CPU HSFs; the only difference being the water coolers are more complicated, take up more space inside the case on average, are noisier on average, more likely to fail and more likely to damage the rest of your system when they do.

          Water cooling is only worth it with custom loops for both CPU and GPU, with the proviso that you need to invest at least $600-800 upfront to get a water cooling solution that is going to be far superior to any CPU/GPU air cooler (i.e. at least 15C degrees better at load), with relatively low noise output (that's something quite hard to do with larger radiators).

          Hell, there are high-end CPU HSFs that absolutely blow entry-level CPU water coolers away by 5-10C.

          • +1

            @Gnostikos: Going from air cooling to water cooling I dropped about 20C on old AMD 8150 that was from the Cooler Master V8 to Coole Master (Master Liquid then I think) 120. Then going from 120 to 240 AIO with current 5820k again gave aroun 10C on that. I really disagree that you'd get the same numbers on this cooler in the deal as on an equivalent priced AIO.

            I don't see how an AIO is more complicated. Air cooler spins a fan with a small motor, water cooler spins a pump with a small motor. The moving parts are bascally the same.

            The only extra space really is the pipes going to the radiator which just sits where the case fans would be anyway. But then most of these decent air coolers take up a huge amount of space and (at least previously) blocked easy access to RAM and such.

            And my own experience is I haven't seen any AIO water cooling fail or heard of it in my group of friends, mostly gamers or IT people who would probably all be running AIO CPU watercooling. Myself about 5 years AIO and I wouldn't even think this is an issue.

            • +1

              @deelaroo: Imo aio (not clc) is a convenience / aesthetic thing. You should be getting very similar performance between any 120mm aio and most hyper evo 212 sized coolers, with air having an advantage at lower speeds due to pump noise. Water after all is just an inefficient heat pipe - it can also store more heat but once it's saturated performance is the same. Cooling performance is directly related to surface area of the fins/radiator and airflow. Hence due to size, 120mm aio and Evo ish coolers should be in the same ballpark (+-3c)

              240/280mm straight up win against every air cooler except the nh d15… the nh d15 is good if you are after silence at the expense of covering literally your whole mobo

      • I think you missed a word mate. Normally you need exotic cooling to be at or below room temperature.

    • +5

      temps are worse, pump fails. air lasts longer and noctua fans are dead quiet.

      • Rubbish, I would say temperatures are similar, and fans can fail too.

        • Yeah but when fans fail, they don't have the potential spill coolant all over the motherboard.

          • @Gnostikos: Assuming the radiator is even installed above the motherboard.

            • @magic8ballgag: Most AIO CPU coolers I have seen use a water block that sits on the CPU, in the middle of the motherboard.

              But I guess you could attach a water block to an upside down U shaped heat pipe so if it leaks it will fall straight on the back of your GPU, assuming a standard motherboard orientation.

        • +3

          fans hardly fail with the use of whatever tech they have now. they can spin for 150,000-200,000 hours before failing. a pump will fail in a quarter of that time.

          • @HKS: Are you saying I'd get nearly six years out of an AIO before it fails? I'd say that's pretty fair.

            • +1

              @magic8ballgag: if you are at stock speeds and never putting the pump on load + if you don't have it directly plugged into molex or the cpu fan header it could drop power and kill the pump. pumps i've had generally last 2 years before they tick and become a risk of failure.

    • +3

      Dislike CPU watercoolers. All the ones iv played with or seen create more "noise" and require more case customization. Just my own opinion though of course.

    • http://www.relaxedtech.com/reviews/noctua/nh-d15-versus-clos…

      I don't know about this one in particular but the Noctua D15 is a similar price to AIO Watercoolers, is quieter and has similar cooling performance. Less chance of a pump dying and less chance of a leak.

    • Got Deepcool 240L AIO and love it. Avg 25 deg when idle, about 40~50 when playing PUBG. Bought from JW Computers for $89

      • Your CPU will start at 25 degrees when you turn your PC on, but it increase as you water cooler gradually heats up. Your water cooler has a large heat mass, so heat soak takes some time.

        Your AIO cooler should be idling ~30 at equilibrium. My air cooler performs almost the same (25 degrees on a cold boot), but hits equilibrium far quicker as it has less thermal mass.

    • Maintenance and having no worries about any leaks or fan problem. Is up to the person to have a loud and heavy sound inside of you tower. But both of them are good options.

    • +1

      Big air coolers

      Fail non critically
      Are generally quieter with good fans as they don't have a pump
      Have less thermal mass, so in a well ventilated case they reduce temperatures far quicker
      Consistently perform as well or better than most AIO's
      Helps cool VRM's around the CPU

      A good AIO

      Reduces load on your motherboard (good for LAN boxes)
      Can reduce the number of case fans needed if used as an intake
      Is slightly better performing than a good big air cooler (a few degrees)
      Has high thermal mass, meaning you can push your CPU above your radiators limits for a short time (although you should hit power limits before thermals with a good AIO/big air)
      Is often easier to remove when switching CPU's
      Often looks neater

      Most people use air cooling for low noise and to avoid critical failures.
      Most people who use AIO's believe water cooling is better, don't understand the difference between AIO and open loop and don't see the down sides of a water cooler with a cheap pump.

  • Is the cooler that comes with 3700x not sufficient enough?

    • Reviews suggest its "sufficient" but it depends what your needs are. The included cooler wont keep it as low temp and it is noisier. As i rarely build PCs i prefer to get a good CPU cooler now to put in while assembling then have to tear it apart later to put a better one in. I am trying to create as low as possible noise wise computer this time (while keeping the budget reasonable).

      • -1

        Buy a water cooling.

        • Water cooling is better sometimes, but for this budget range, a good noctua cooler will be silent at idle (no pump noise)

          From experience, definitely air coolers for sub $100, air or water for $100-150 (240mm aio+ vs noctua d15), and then definitely custom water cooling or fanless heatpipe tech past $300-400 range.

    • Sufficient yes… but if all people wanted was sufficient we’d all be driving Lada cars :)

  • Off topic but Those rubber plugs that comes with the Noctua case fans become really stiff and crack after 2-3 years. So weird.. it’s not like My case sits in direct sunlight

  • I ordered the NH-D15S and a bunch of fans from them in 2017. Arrived in less than 1 week from Taiwan, and they also responded to couple of my questions prior very quickly. Totally recommend this, this is direct from Noctua factory in Taiwan (or China, since they opened a year or two ago there) so faster than US.

  • Just make sure you get the measurements right. I bought a Noctua a couple of years ago and it was huge. Ended up having to buy a new case though as it was about 1cm too high. Good excuse for a rebuild at the time. Fan still going strong and is silent.

  • +1

    Just an update to anyone interested. Ordered Friday, arrived Monday. Was correct version. Set up in PC and working perfectly.

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