Noctua NH-U12S and NH-U14S review - Core i7 3770K Baseline test

Testing The Coolers

Time to test. Today's tested cooler will work absolutely great with any processor from low to high-end (Core i3/Core i5/Core i7 quad-core and even six-core included up-to 130W) at default operating frequencies, of course there's room left for overclocking as well. 

Core i7 3770K Baseline IDLE Temperatures

Let's have a look at the results for the system in its default non-overclocked state. Below, the IDLE temperatures, thus your processor is doing barely anything to nothing. Just sitting and waiting in your system.

None of the coolers obviously have any issue whatsoever in IDLE with the Core i7 3770K not overclocked. But you can already see a pattern though. 

Core i7 3770K Baseline LOAD Temperatures

Now let's have a look at the processor's LOAD temperatures (in the non-overclocked state). We measure in a 21 Degrees C ambient room temperature. Ambient temperatures do effect the cooling performance, albeit a little bit.

Mind you that we included Liquid Cooling solutions as well, not 100% fair in a heatpipe comparison, but since these LCS kits have become so popular we do want to show you the numbers in a complete picture.

Guru3D's Rule Of Thumb On CPU Load VS Cooling Temps:

• Anything at roughly 50 Degrees C or lower we consider enthusiast class cooling
• Anything in-between 51 to 60 Degrees C we consider performance cooling
• Anything in-between 61 to 70 Degrees C we consider mainstream cooling
• Anything above 71 Degrees C we consider average cooling

Overall fine results. Let's immediately deal with sound and noise levels shall we, next page please.