Performance
We’ll first take a look at our Peak Test results. Here we found the NH-U12S is the best performing Tower cooler we have tested thus far. There was also a noticeable improvement in performance between the single and double fan setups with nearly a degree improvement in CPU temperature with the addition of the second fan. The fan made an even larger difference in RAM temperatures during our ram test.
Next up is our Real World Test. Here much of the same is seen, though the NH-U12S is narrowly defeated by the larger Dark Rock Pro 2. Surprisingly the RAM temps are almost identical between the single and double fan setups.
As far as noise is concerned, the NH-U12S in a single fan setup is the quietest cooler we have ever tested. The addition of a second fan does increase noise obviously but not by a large amount. It is also important to note that these measurements were taken at 100% RPMs without using the Low Noise adapter which means these numbers could be even lower if silent operation is your priority.