Will the Noctua NH-U12S be fine for the ryzen 3900x?

sol.j123 · 1 Mar 2020 at 22:27

i will upgrade to ryzen in the near future, preferably the 3900x. I currently am using the Noctua NH-U12S in my current setup, and I want to keep on using this cooler when i move to ryzen. I have tried to check online for info on this cooler and possible temps, to much avail, so i am asking here.
thanks for any help!

lee32uk · 1 Mar 2020 at 23:05

Hi welcome

Yes the Noctua will be fine for the 3900X.

Mcnumpty2323 · 1 Mar 2020 at 23:10

Though you might need the
Am4 mounting kit
If that noctuas not am4 compatible
If it is just ignore me

sol.j123 · 1 Mar 2020 at 23:24

lee32uk said:
Hi welcome

Yes the Noctua will be fine for the 3900X.

What temperatures can I expect to get? I have asked a few people and they said it would run kinda hot...

lee32uk · 2 Mar 2020 at 01:28

sol.j123 said:
What temperatures can I expect to get? I have asked a few people and they said it would run kinda hot...

The Wraith Prism stock cooler that you get with the 3900X is pretty good already. You can see in the link below that it managed to keep the cpu at 89c when overclocked and running Blender for 1 hour. The 360mm AIO kept it at 70c so I would expect the Noctua to fall somewhere in between that. Probably mid to high 70's if running something like Blender. Of course your case/fan setup will also impact temps.

https://www.techspot.com/review/1875-ryzen-3900x-wraith-prism-rgb-vs-liquid-cooler/

LiE · 2 Mar 2020 at 16:35

Keep in mind if you want to keep things quiet then it's better to over spec on cooling, allowing you to run a lower fan RPM. The stock cooler at 100% sounds like a hair dryer for example.

Relentless81 · 2 Mar 2020 at 16:39

I wouldn't want a single fan 120mm on that CPU

Go dual tower if you can or at least single tower 140mm

lee32uk · 2 Mar 2020 at 17:05

LiE said:
Keep in mind if you want to keep things quiet then it's better to over spec on cooling, allowing you to run a lower fan RPM. The stock cooler at 100% sounds like a hair dryer for example.

The NH-U12S will be a lot quieter than the stock cooler. It might not have the cooling power of the bigger D15 but it is good enough to keep the 3900X in check.

lee32uk · 2 Mar 2020 at 17:13

Relentless81 said:
I wouldn't want a single fan 120mm on that CPU

Go dual tower if you can or at least single tower 140mm

The Scythe Mugen 5 Rev B is a single tower cooler with a 120mm fan and it keeps up with a Noctua D15 in the review below.

https://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/8320/scythe-mugen-5-rev-cpu-cooler-review/index6.html

Relentless81 · 2 Mar 2020 at 17:33

lee32uk said:
The Scythe Mugen 5 Rev B is a single tower cooler with a 120mm fan and it keeps up with a Noctua D15 in the review below.

https://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/8320/scythe-mugen-5-rev-cpu-cooler-review/index6.html

Although it's a good cooler and next on my list and without reading the review I would be very surprised if in a closed case, with the exact same case fans that the scythe, a single 120mm keeps up with a dual tower 2 X 140mm cooler

If it does then that awesome and I want one even more

lee32uk · 2 Mar 2020 at 18:00

Relentless81 said:
Although it's a good cooler and next on my list and without reading the review I would be very surprised if in a closed case, with the exact same case fans that the scythe, a single 120mm keeps up with a dual tower 2 X 140mm cooler

If it does then that awesome and I want one even more

I mean the CoolerMaster MA620P is a dual tower cooler with 2 x 120mm fans and it performs worse than the Scythe. So dual tower doesn't mean better in every case. Also a 2nd fan usually only knocks a couple of degrees off. The Noctua D15S for example is pretty much on par with the dual fan D15.

https://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/9056/cooler-master-masterair-ma620p-cpu-review/index6.html

Relentless81 · 2 Mar 2020 at 18:30

lee32uk said:
I mean the CoolerMaster MA620P is a dual tower cooler with 2 x 120mm fans and it performs worse than the Scythe. So dual tower doesn't mean better in every case. Also a 2nd fan usually only knocks a couple of degrees off. The Noctua D15S for example is pretty much on par with the dual fan D15.

https://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/9056/cooler-master-masterair-ma620p-cpu-review/index6.html

I just removed and sold a D15S and it was over 5c cooler than the dark rock 4 it replaced which is a 135mm single tower cooler

I get what you're saying but Noctua might as well just pull the D15 from their products and everyone just use the U12 if that's the case

lee32uk · 2 Mar 2020 at 19:01

Relentless81 said:
I just removed and sold a D15S and it was over 5c cooler than the dark rock 4 it replaced which is a 135mm single tower cooler

I get what you're saying but Noctua might as well just pull the D15 from their products and everyone just use the U12 if that's the case

Not disagreeing with what you are saying but there is more to it than dual tower beats single tower. The review of that CoolerMaster shows that.

There are a lot of factors with coolers. You have to consider the fans and how fast they need to spin to achieve the same result. The actual fin stack can affect things as can the mounting system. Also the number of heatpipes and weight of the cooler etc. Same with AIO's. You have some 280mm that outperform 360mm and so on.

The NH-U12S might not be the best Noctua cooler, but it will cope with a 3900X. There is no reason for the op to buy a new one.

Relentless81 · 2 Mar 2020 at 19:11

Completely agree but not in the case of the U12S it's not worth the money compared to others and although it will be better than the stock cooler by some margin there are better coolers for the money

lee32uk · 2 Mar 2020 at 20:52

Relentless81 said:
Completely agree but not in the case of the U12S it's not worth the money compared to others and although it will be better than the stock cooler by some margin there are better coolers for the money

Of course there are better coolers, but the op already has the U12S.

Relentless81 · 2 Mar 2020 at 20:54

lee32uk said:
Of course there are better coolers, but the op already has the U12S.

If that's case I misread and might as well use it

EsaT · 3 Mar 2020 at 19:02

If you still have proof of purchase for that cooler you can get AM4 mounting kit for free from Noctua once you have invoice of either AM4 CPU/motherboard:
https://noctua.at/en/nm-am4-uxs-mounting-kit-order-form

It should come quite fast, if they have mounting kit at stock at the moment.

sol.j123 · 3 Mar 2020 at 21:48

thanks for help! i found my cooling kit in my noctua box. i have a crystal 460x case atm, with 8 fans, 2 being the cpu cooler ones. they are sp120s.

sol.j123 · 3 Mar 2020 at 21:52

i also got the u12s as i didnt want to move my gpu down on my mobo. i currently have an mtx z170.