Visual inspection
The Noctua NH-U12A chromax.black is identical in shape with the original Noctua NH-U12A CPU cooler. Apart from the color of the coolers, the only difference between them is that the chromax.black was the first one to have included the new mounting system for the LGA 1700 socket.
In terms of design, the NH-U12A chromax.black is a good looking cooler, not only matching any system and color combination, but also having a minimalist look. This is especially important as many other CPU coolers have a “busy” design, with RGB LEDs and plastic parts installed everywhere.
The NH-U12A and the newer all-black model are designed to offer a great cooling performance while not interfering with the RAM slots of the motherboard. This is done thanks to a smaller heatsink that has a height of just 150mm, a width of 125mm and a depth of just 58mm.
The NH-U12A chromax.black has a single tower heatsink, and uses no less than 50 cooling fins to dissipate the heat of the CPU. To increase the clearance offered by the cooler, the heatsink has an offset design, this will push the front fan away from the RAM slots.
Just like the regular NH-U12A, the weight of the heatsink without the fans is 760g.
The NH-U12A chromax.black has six heatpipes arranged into a U shape. These have an outer diameter of 6mm each and are made from nickel-plated copper. In addition to the plating, the heatpipes are soldered directly to the baseplate of the cooler, this ensures an optimal thermal transfer.
The endings of the heatpipes are visible but fortunately are perfectly machined to be symmetrical. This is worth mentioning as many air CPU coolers have their heatpipe endings left uneven. This will disrupt the design of the cooler and especially the look of your system.
The baseplate of the NH-U12A chromax.black is made from solid nickel-plated copper, just like the 6 heatpipes used on this cooler. The surface of the baseplate is smooth and has a mirror like reflection. However, there are some circular marks as a result of the manufacturing process. These will not affect the contact of the cooler with the CPU surface in any way.
The aluminum made cooling fins of the NH-U12A chromax.black are bent downwards on the edges. This is done to increase the structural rigidity of the heatsink and to create a channel for the airflow of the fans. The latter will prevent any airflow leakage and help with the heat dissipation.
The NH-U12A chromax.black has two 120mm fans that provide the airflow for the heatsink. These fans are the well-known Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM, but in the new chromax.black color scheme. Both fans use the Noctua SSO2 bearing system and can be controlled through PWM.
The minimum speed of these fans is 450RPM and the maximum speed is 2000RPM.
The corners of the frame are covered by rubber pads. These are used to dampen the vibration caused by the rotation of the fan. In addition, the pads will protect the metal surface of the heatsink from being scratched.
The cable used by the fans has a medium length and is protected by high quality sleeving. The connector used is a standard 4 Pin.
