Noctua, a well-known, CPU cooler manufacturer, keeps releasing "new" versions of old products. The recently released NH-D12L chromax.black is a medium-sized CPU cooler that comes to fulfill specific needs. Taking this chance we also included in this mini Noctua roundup, three more Noctua CPU coolers, the NH-D15S, the NH-U14S, and the NH-U12S that have differences in size and overall performance. But first let's start with the star of the show, the NH-D12L chromax.black.

The NH-D12L chromax.black is the black version of the already tested NH-D12L. The NH-D12L chromax.black is a dual tower CPU cooler that has a low height and the NF-A12x25r round-frame 120mm fan. At a height of only 145mm (13mm lower than Noctua’s regular 120mm models), it fits many 4U enclosures as well as narrower tower cases that have been previously limited to solutions with 92mm fans. At the same time, its five heatpipe dual-tower design and NF-A12x25r 120mm fan allow it to achieve a level of efficiency that surpasses many full-height 120mm models. While Noctua’s regular 120mm CPU coolers stand 158mm tall, the NH-D12L measures only 145mm. This allows it to fit not only a wide range of 4U rackmount server cases and many tower-style enclosures that are not wide enough for 158mm units but also some larger Small Form Factor (SFF) and Mini-ITX chassis. Despite its reduced height, the NH-D12L easily outperforms 92mm coolers. It can even surpass renowned 120mm units such as the NH-U12S and often comes close to Noctua’s award-winning 120mm flagship model NH-U12A. Due to its asymmetric design, the NH-D12L chromax.black does not overhang the RAM slots on Intel LGA1700/LGA1200/LGA115x and AMD AM4/AM5-based motherboards, which ensures easy access to the modules and 100% compatibility with DIMMs that feature tall heat-spreaders or RGB lighting.

The used 120mm fan is the NF-A12x25r PWM chromax.black which while introduced back in 2018, is a strong performer for the 120x25mm fan on the market. The round-frame variant was used on the NH-D12L chromax.black provides the same renowned quiet cooling performance yet makes it possible to reduce overall cooler height without risking compatibility issues with tall motherboard heatsinks or shrouds. The NH-D12L chromax.black also ships with an extra pair of fan clips that can be used to install a second of this NF-A12x25r PWM fan, either on the front or on the rear fin stack. However, it must be noted that the second fan will usually sit on top of either the RAM or I/O panel and thereby increase the total height beyond 145mm.

Topped off with Noctua’s NT-H1 thermal compound, a 6-year manufacturer’s warranty, and the renowned SecuFirm2 multi-socket mounting system that already supports Intel’s latest LGA1700 socket as well as AMD’s upcoming AM5 platform, the NH-D12L is the perfect choice for applications that require serious cooling performance but cannot fit the larger NH-U12A.

The Noctua NH-D12 chromax.black can be found online at various Amazon web stores and retails for around EUR 109.90 / USD 99.90, making it rather expensive for this category of CPU cooler. The chromax.black version comes with included updated brackets and supports Intel LGA1851, LGA1700, LGA1200, LGA1156, LGA1155, LGA1151, LGA1150 and AMD AM5, AM4 sockets, while can be made compatible with the older LGA1366 and LGA775 sockets using the optional NM-I3 mounting kit, and also can use the NM-i20xx Mounting-Kit, that supports LGA2011 and LGA2066 sockets. If technically possible, Noctua will also provide upgrade kits for future sockets, which makes the NH-D12L chromax.black a safe long-term investment. Especially for the AM5 socket, Noctua offers their updated brackets that support offset placing, 0mm and -7mm that are supposed to improve cooling performance with AM5 CPUs.

Before buying this CPU cooler it's best to visit the CPU compatibility list for the best possible information. The AMD Ryzen 7950X is rated as having "medium turbo/overclocking headroom". The next area users should look at the motherboard compatibility. The last step for users should be checking their case compatibility. This product shouldn't have many problems even with medium-sized cases since it has a lower height of 145mm from the CPU cooler base up to the top of the fan.

Before buying this CPU cooler its best to visit the CPU compatibility list for the best possible information. The AMD Ryzen 7950X is rated as "medium turbo/overclocking headroom". The next area users should look is the motherboard compatibility. The last step for users should be checking their case compatibility. This product shouldn't have much problems even with medium sized cases since it has lower height of 145mm from the CPU cooler base up to the top of the fan.

Passing to the retail box, it’s a medium sized box.

Opening the box unveils the contents, the CPU cooler is in the middle, and accessories and everything are well organized and protected

Users will get inside the retail box:

• Black NH-D12L heatsink
• NF-A12x25r PWM chromax.black premium fan
• NA-RC14 Low-Noise Adaptor (L.N.A)
• NT-H1 high-grade thermal compound
• Black SecuFirm2™ mounting kit
• Noctua metal case-badge

The Noctua NH-D12L chromax.black is a medium-sized CPU cooler. Its height (without a fan) is 145mm, its Width (without a fan) is 125 mm, and its Depth (without fan) is 113mm. The weight of the CPU cooler reaches (without fans) 700gr, while with fan installed reaches 890gr. The building material is Copper (base and heat pipes), aluminum (cooling fins), soldered joints & nickel plating, while the color..as expected is black with a great finish. The product comes with 6 years of warranty.

The base includes 5 heat pipes and everything is made out of copper (base and heat-pipes).

Noctua has included with this product the NF-A12x25r PWM chromax.black fan. It has bearing SSO2 technology with Max. rotation speed (+/- 10%) 2000 RPM and with the included adapters (L.N.A.) (+/- 10%) 1700 RPM, while the minimum rotational speed (PWM, +/-20%) is 450 RPM. The acoustical noise is 22.6 dB (A) while the L.N.A. adapter goes down to 18.8 dB (A).

Installing the CPU cooler isn't very hard and may require you to take a look at the printed manual. Depending on your Intel or AMD CPU you will install the needed brackets and secure the CPU cooler. Nothing difficult here. With the AMD AM5 socket, we used both the 0mm and the -7mm bracket options to see if we would have any major performance differences.

The included NF-A12x25r PWM chromax.black fan has the following rpm performance curve

while for all tests, we used the default curve as the motherboard chooses.