Noctua NH-U9, U12S, U14S TR4-SP3 Threadripper cooler review - Product Showcase Noctua NH-U12S

Product Gallery Noctua NH-U12S

Cooler number two, the U12S. We'll look at all tested coolers individually first in a photo-shoot. Everything is packaged and bundled safely in the carton, the boxes clearly indicate the contents. 

 Included in the NH-U12S TR4-SP3 package are:

• Cooler + fan
• Thermal Grease
• User Manual
• Extended screwdriver
• Everything else needed

Once unboxed you'll spot the cooling unit consisting of the complete heatsink assembly including the fan. A little thermal paste is included as well. Also included is a special screwdriver to mount the unit, we'll show you why later on in the article.
 

Above the cooler placed on its side, we can see the base plate, it uses five copper based (nickel plated) heatpipes arranged in a C-shape design. The pure copper fins (nickel plated) effectively disperse heat away from the CPU via composite heatpipes, while the 120mm fan quickly cools the fins for stable operation of high-performance CPUs.

The U12S TR4-SP3 cooler is a little bigger, yet not at all too big at dimensions of 158(H) x 125(W) x 45(D)mm without the fan included. It weighs 755g with the fan. The fan can be used in PWM mode controlled by your motherboard. Overall you should be able to easily fit the cooler without blocking anything related to the motherboard including DIMM modules. When we flip the unit it around we see the heatpipes a little more up-close. Five of them making this product nice and efficient. The base doesn't have a 100% mirror flat finish, though it's very flat and by far good enough. 

Once installed this is what your setup would look like. Optionally you can install a second fan in a push-pull design. 
 

 
Four DIMMs full height will fit, but if you go with eight DIMMs, there is ample room. you might need to move the fan half a CM upwards a little to compensate.