Conclusion

Frankly speaking, I didn’t expect anything more from Noctua NH-C12P. The Austrian manufacturer managed to design a very decent cooling solution: very efficient, universal, relatively light-weight and compact, with low noise, simple and reliable retention and, as always, of the highest quality. At the same time, the new cooler doesn’t really aim at the ultimate leadership and will have pretty hard times competing against the other solutions in the market considering its relatively high price of $69. On the other hand, if we continue comparing it against Thermalright SI-128 from the pricing standpoint, then you will have to add another $10-$15 for a good fan to its retail price of $50, because SI-128 ships without a fan at all. Add another $2-$5 for a tube of quality thermal compound and you get yourselves the same price. Although Thermalright SI-128 will still be a little more efficient.

In conclusion to our today’s review I would like to wish Noctua not to focus that much on the acoustic aspect of their solutions and release a new performance leader. I am sure that overclockers expect a lot from a company with engineering background like that. Why not start with polishing off the cooler we discussed today, for instance? Install five 8-mm heatpipes, add more heatsink plates at a smaller distance from one another, equip their upcoming Noctua NH-E12P (Extreme) with a 38mm fan and keep a few advantages of the NH-P12. And maybe they could do something about their naming principles, at least they could add some attractive names to the current model numbers. Well, as log as they keep going, we should see all this pretty soon, I am sure.