Noctua NH-U12 vs. CNPS9500LED, Overclock.net exclusive - Overclock.net

Thumper · 08-22-06

I have had the Zalman 9500LED for about 6-7 months now. I bought it because it got good reviews and looked pretty sweet. I didn't know how average it was until I moved back in April and found that I had to drop the overclock on my CPU due to temps. That made me start to look deeper into it's performance. I thought about the Big Typhoon, but everyone has them and I wanted to test something new. I knew I wanted something in a block form that mounted a 120MM fan onto it, pushing air through it....this is a tried and tested design for maximum cooling.

I found and settled on the Noctua NH-U12 while researching the Ninja and Tuniq Tower 120. I found my test subject.

Now, before we start with the install, I have to make a clarification. I had some trouble installing the fan onto the heatsink, but it was due entirley to my unique case setup. If you would like to read my review of my case, here is the link. Also, my review of the case explains my ugly wiring, so no comments about my wire management.

My AeroCool Spiral Galaxies Review

For those that don't feel like it

, but sufice to say, you will notice my case is different from the photos.

Let's get started.

Here is the Noctua NH-U12 out of the box and bare, just the way it comes. The tube of AS5 gives a good comparison of it's size.

See attachment #1

The base was very nice, near smooth finish. However, there was one long scratch in the copper, so I will have to lap it later.

See attachment #2

But for now, I didn't want to give the NH-U12 any unfair advantage over the 9500LED.

Speaking of unfair advantage, the surface area on the NH-U12 is enormous compared to the 9500. Not only is the NH-U12 taller, but it is a solid block of fins, where the 9500 is a hollow cylinder of thin fins.

Here we see the 9500 mounted in my case.....

See attachment #3

...and for comparison, the NH-U12 mounted up, bare.....

See attachment #4

...and the NH-U12 mounted with a single 120mm fan, a red LED Thunderblade to be exact.

See attachment #5

You can see how much taller the NH-U12 is than the 9500, it just barely fits inside.

Now for the testing. I took a reading of the temperatures right before taking the Zalman 9500LED off, and they were the same as I have been experiencing recently. With my CPU clocked at 3.5Ghz and 1.3v, folding with 2 consoles set to use 85% of the idle cycles (anymore and it would go over 60c during the day) I was getting 58c temps. this was with 34c ambient case temps reported by the NVIDIA control panel.

Now I was curious, and if i was going to test this cooler for us here at Overclock.net, I wanted to test it. So I fired up my system with the NH-U12 mounted, and no fan.

That's right, I tested the NH-U12 as a passive cooler. Here's what I found out.

At the same ambient case temperatue, at the same clock setting and vCore setting, the Noctua NH-U12 with no fan on it all was only 2-3c hotter than the Zalman9500LED was with it's fan running at 2500 RPM.

Onlt 2-3c hotter as a passive cooler versus the 9500LED as an active cooler. And keep in mind, the Zalman 9500LED baseline temps were taken with fully cured AS5. The NH-U12 had fresh AS5.

I let it run for about 20-30 minutes to be sure the temps wouldn't climb, but they stayed right at 60-61c, even going up and down several times, once it dropped to 59c for a full minute, a mere 1c increase over the 9500LED with fan!!

Impressive, but not how I wanted to run my system. Shut everything down and install the fan on the NH-U12. Here is where I had trouble. With the CPU positioned at the bottom of the case, I could not get the lower fan clip to attach, and there is no way to screw down the heatsink after the fan is attached. Luckily, the fan fit fairly snuggly into the notches on the NH-U12 and it appears very secure with just the top clip.

Ok, so now I have the Thunderblade mounted and ready to go. I reconnect everything and turn it on. I wait for Windows to finish all it's wake up stretches and for the CPU to settle to idle speeds and for the temps to drop and settle. Then it's back into test mode. I fire up the folding consoles, verify they are set at 85% useage each and sit back to watch.....

Same clock and vCore settings, same CPU usage, and same ambient case temp based on the NVIDIA control panel.....

51c

51C!!!!!!!

After about 20-30 more minutes, it still reads an average of 51c, it hit 52c a few times for less than a minute, but it also hit 50c a few times as well. That's a 7c drop, and the AS5 hasn't even cured yet. To be really fair, I should measure temps in 2 weeks, but this is already quite impressive.

For further testing, I restarted both folding consoles and set them to use 100% of the CPU idle cycles. After 15 minutes, the temperature climbed to 53c, before dropping back to 52c, and hovering in that area for 5 more minutes....spending more time at 52c than at 53c. A mere 1c increase for the extra load where the Zalman gave up 3-5c with the same change.

Now, another test I did was I took off the case side panel when the Zalman 9500 was in there, mostly to see if I could drop the temps I was getting before, but I realized it would be a good test for the NH-U12, since I knew those figures for the 9500LED. The Zalman 9500 did not drop any degrees in this case with the side panel removed. This tells us 2 things, case airflow is pretty darn good, and that the Zalman was working at peak efficency, it could not disapate anymore heat no matter how much air it got.

When removing the side panel with the NH-U12, I saw a drop of 1-2c. This heatsink still has room left to cool more with more air. Which is a possibility, as the NH-U12 comes with mounting hardware for two(2) 120MM fans.

With the single Thunderblade, the NH-U12 is also quieter than the 9500. Of course, this is more of a subjective observation, as I did not use any measuring equipment to verify this.

The final comparison comes in price.

The Zalman 9500LED currently retails for between $59.95-$64.99.

The Noctua NH-U12 currently retails for bewteen $54.95-$59.99, but does not come with a fan, my Thunderblade cost an additional $10.99. Factoring this in, the NH-U12 is the same price or slightly more. Almost equal footing.

IMy final conclusions leave me extremely happy with my purchase, and I give the Noctua NH-U12 five flames out of five.....this cooler is awesome.

JacKz5o · 08-22-06

All the photo links shows up some .txt file

-Jeppe- · 08-22-06

Quote:

Originally Posted by JacKz5o

All the photo links shows up some .txt file

:withstupi

Wankerfx · 08-22-06

Good review! Can I get a hold of one in Canada?

**BrinNutz** · 08-23-06

links are some crazy ass txt file..=)

I don't even know how you would find a site like that one..but its pretty funny

Great review as well..

EDIT :
Check your links for the pics, you are missing a colon in them..=)

Sweet pics by the way!

**BrinNutz** · 08-23-06

HEre's one of the pics of his rig, for y'all who can't get them to work.

http://img175.imageshack.us/my.php?i...sc00073uj8.jpg

Thumper · 08-23-06

Yes, there appears to be some problem with imageshack last night. Once I get home this afternoon I will cut down the pics and place them as attachments in the first post.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wankerfx

Good review! Can I get a hold of one in Canada?

I ordered mine for $54.95 from Performance-pcs.com which is based out of Florida, but ships internationally with some restrictions.

xoxide.com has it as well, for $59.99 and they ship to Canada.

Kopi · 08-23-06

Great review, I give YOU 5 flames outta five

Noctua eh. Cool. I heard good things about this baby if anyone has actually had experience with it? It lacks a heatpipe though

SLK-948U

sam95ta · 08-23-06

I posted a while back regarding your post about your dissapointment with the 9500.Well i just finished removing my 9500 replaced it also with Noctua NH-U12 .Wow amazing cooler.Havent pushed it hard yet however my idle temps have droped 4 degrees.