Noctua NH-L12

The Noctua NH-L12 is a high-end cooler with a low-profile design. It's built for small cases, including small-form-factor (SFF) systems and micro-ATX towers, and supports mini-ITX motherboards.

Not all Intel mini-ITX motherboards actually allow for installation of a separate backplate, so the chip also includes a mini-ITX mount kit that allows users to mount the NH-L12 to a heatsink without use of a backplate.

You may run into a bit of clearance trouble with this cooler, but standard DIMMs will fit. If your RAM has heatsinks that look more like tailfins (meaning the DIMM is taller than 45mm), the NH-L12 may not fit your CPU properly.

Installing the Noctua NH-L12 is easy. There are holes cut through the top of the heatsink to accommodate the screwdriver, and the two fans clip on to the bottom and top of the heatsink.

The best way to think about the Noctua NH-L12 is as a cooler with a specific focus (smaller systems) that delivers great performance and fits into smaller form factors than many of the larger coolers on the market.

Noctua ships the NH-L12 with exhaustive, step-by-step instructions and all the hardware necessary to complete an installation, including screwdrivers.