Noctua NH-U12A - Unavailable?

[hgpot]

I am looking to replace my AIO and go back to air cooling since it seems AIOs bring little to no improvement with extra complexity. I have an mATX case and an ITX board (used to have ITX case with no room for tower cooler). I searched around reviews and found that the Noctua NH-U12A is basically amazing performance for its size. However, I cannot find any site that has it in stock. Noctua's own page still advertises it as the latest generation, and reviews are from March-June of this year so I think it is recent enough that it should still be produced, but not so recent that supply can't catch up with demand. What gives?

 

Also, assuming there is no recourse for a NH-U12A, can anyone recommend something similar? My case is the Define Mini C from Fractal Design. 

[Turtle Rig]

45 minutes ago, hgpot said:

I am looking to replace my AIO and go back to air cooling since it seems AIOs bring little to no improvement with extra complexity. I have an mATX case and an ITX board (used to have ITX case with no room for tower cooler). I searched around reviews and found that the Noctua NH-U12A is basically amazing performance for its size. However, I cannot find any site that has it in stock. Noctua's own page still advertises it as the latest generation, and reviews are from March-June of this year so I think it is recent enough that it should still be produced, but not so recent that supply can't catch up with demand. What gives?

 

Also, assuming there is no recourse for a NH-U12A, can anyone recommend something similar? My case is the Define Mini C from Fractal Design. 

Just buy when it becomes available. 

[WoodenMarker]

What cpu and ram are you using?

[oriol]

Noctua has recently stated that some of their products are out of stock due to high demand and should be back in stock shortly: https://twitter.com/Noctua_at/status/1170943613565624320

[hgpot]

15 hours ago, WoodenMarker said:

What cpu and ram are you using?

CPU: Core i7-6700K

RAM: Crucial Ballistix Sport LT 

[hgpot]

15 hours ago, oriol said:

Noctua has recently stated that some of their products are out of stock due to high demand and should be back in stock shortly: https://twitter.com/Noctua_at/status/1170943613565624320

Man that sure is a recent update. I was just worried that the product may have been abandoned and I needed an alternative. I will try to wait for it to come back into stock.

[WoodenMarker]

43 minutes ago, hgpot said:

CPU: Core i7-6700K

RAM: Crucial Ballistix Sport LT 

The NH-D15S would be better: https://pcpartpicker.com/product/xCL7YJ/noctua-cpu-cooler-nhd15s

If you're looking to save a bit of money and don't mind a small drop in performance, the Macho Rev. B is a good alternative: https://pcpartpicker.com/product/4TCrxr/thermalright-cpu-cooler-machorevb

[hgpot]

2 minutes ago, WoodenMarker said:

The NH-D15S would be better: https://pcpartpicker.com/product/xCL7YJ/noctua-cpu-cooler-nhd15s

What makes it better? A better fit, better performance? I don't know a lot about specific product lines but have always heard that Noctua is where it's at for air cooling. Of course the biggest draw for the D15S over the U12A is that it is actually available! 

 

140mm seems big, but per Fractal's site, my case can support 170mm and this cooler claims to be 160mm, so it should fit. 

[WoodenMarker]

1 minute ago, hgpot said:

What makes it better? A better fit, better performance? I don't know a lot about specific product lines but have always heard that Noctua is where it's at for air cooling. Of course the biggest draw for the D15S over the U12A is that it is actually available! 

140mm seems big, but per Fractal's site, my case can support 170mm and this cooler claims to be 160mm, so it should fit. 

The NH-D15S isn't as compact but is better performing and quieter. 

Both coolers easily fit. 

[hgpot]

2 minutes ago, WoodenMarker said:

better performing and quieter. 

 

2 minutes ago, WoodenMarker said:

easily fit. 

 

Sold!

 

While I have you, I figure I can do a good upgrade on the case fans. One of the case fan mounts is currently taken up by the H80i, and it actually makes it so I can only fit 2 on front. So I have 1 fan that can stay there, and then room for 2 more, plus one on the back. I don't think that I need to worry about the top-mounted fans for now. I think they should all match, so I am looking at buying 3 case fans. I found the NF-S12A looks pretty good for that. Thoughts?

[WoodenMarker]

2 hours ago, hgpot said:

While I have you, I figure I can do a good upgrade on the case fans. One of the case fan mounts is currently taken up by the H80i, and it actually makes it so I can only fit 2 on front. So I have 1 fan that can stay there, and then room for 2 more, plus one on the back. I don't think that I need to worry about the top-mounted fans for now. I think they should all match, so I am looking at buying 3 case fans. I found the NF-S12A looks pretty good for that. Thoughts?

The front of the Define Mini C isn't extremely restrictive but it's enough to not use the NF-S12A which is better used in areas with low to no restrictions. 

Why in particular are you replacing the H80i and getting new fans? Are they too noisy? The H80i is already a good performer and can be pretty quiet with a fan replacement.

[hgpot]

25 minutes ago, WoodenMarker said:

Why in particular are you replacing the H80i and getting new fans?

Maybe it just needs new fans, but recently they have been sounding pretty terrible like something was caught in them, but there is nothing that I can see. It was occasional at first, but now it is constant and sounds like something is failing/breaking. There are two fans, and the noise happens if either one (or both) is powered and running, but not if they are both unplugged/off. It used to be worse in my ITX case (basically whenever the fans sped up at all they made awful sounds, which was often in the poor case I had before), and it was fine for months since I've moved the system to the mATX. 

 

I think for directly mounted fans like this, I want something with a static pressure focus like NF-F12?

[WoodenMarker]

17 minutes ago, hgpot said:

Maybe it just needs new fans, but recently they have been sounding pretty terrible like something was caught in them, but there is nothing that I can see. It was occasional at first, but now it is constant and sounds like something is failing/breaking. There are two fans, and the noise happens if either one (or both) is powered and running, but not if they are both unplugged/off. It used to be worse in my ITX case (basically whenever the fans sped up at all they made awful sounds, which was often in the poor case I had before), and it was fine for months since I've moved the system to the mATX. 

I think for directly mounted fans like this, I want something with a static pressure focus like NF-F12?

The stock H80i fans are very noisy and replacing them would be my first recommendation.

An NF-F12 would be an excellent replacement. 

[hgpot]

22 hours ago, WoodenMarker said:

An NF-F12 would be an excellent replacement. 

And they're in! 

 

 

Next step is to replace the two case fans (one front, one back). I still don't think I need the bottom one or top 1-2 - I don't see them doing much good. 

[WoodenMarker]

3 minutes ago, hgpot said:

And they're in! 

Next step is to replace the two case fans (one front, one back). I still don't think I need the bottom one or top 1-2 - I don't see them doing much good. 

What don't you like about them? They should be fairly quiet. 

[hgpot]

1 hour ago, WoodenMarker said:

What don't you like about them? They should be fairly quiet. 

They don't match, I guess? 

 

I don't really care about the noise at all. I wish I could make the fans actually spin faster when the temperature rises (no software that I have found actually does this - I have no control of the speeds!). Thinking about a Commander Pro. 

[WoodenMarker]

4 minutes ago, hgpot said:

I don't really care about the noise at all. I wish I could make the fans actually spin faster when the temperature rises (no software that I have found actually does this - I have no control of the speeds!). Thinking about a Commander Pro. 

What motherboard are you using? Most support at least some sort of fan control. 

[hgpot]

12 hours ago, WoodenMarker said:

What motherboard are you using? Most support at least some sort of fan control. 

Asus Z170I Pro Gaming. There's lots of fan control options, but none of them do anything to the actual fan speed that I can tell. I have them all set to min or max, no change in sound or temperature. H80i pump is in CPU header, rear fan is in one chassis header, and a splitter for the 2 rad fans + front intake fan on the last chassis header. 

[WoodenMarker]

7 hours ago, hgpot said:

Asus Z170I Pro Gaming. There's lots of fan control options, but none of them do anything to the actual fan speed that I can tell. I have them all set to min or max, no change in sound or temperature. H80i pump is in CPU header, rear fan is in one chassis header, and a splitter for the 2 rad fans + front intake fan on the last chassis header. 

Did you go in to Advanced Mode and use QFan tuning under the Monitor tab?

[hgpot]

22 hours ago, WoodenMarker said:

Did you go in to Advanced Mode and use QFan tuning under the Monitor tab?

I hadn't. I just now booted into UEFI and poked around and found that the control was set to DC instead of PWM. I got very excited after that. I configured it to go full speed at CPU 70C, min speed at CPU 20C (probably won't ever happen). Back in the OS, no changes. AISuite doesn't seem to get much data from the fans when doing the Fan Tuning:

 

 

 

 

 

In fact, the minimum appears to be higher than the maximum (but by very little). So perhaps it is changing between 8804rpm and 8881, but that is such a small difference that I can't tell. Still, I don't hear any difference in the fan speeds or see any difference in temperature (load/idle) regardless of what I choose.

[WoodenMarker]

2 hours ago, hgpot said:

I hadn't. I just now booted into UEFI and poked around and found that the control was set to DC instead of PWM.

In fact, the minimum appears to be higher than the maximum (but by very little). So perhaps it is changing between 8804rpm and 8881, but that is such a small difference that I can't tell. Still, I don't hear any difference in the fan speeds or see any difference in temperature (load/idle) regardless of what I choose.

Are the fans 4pin pwm? If not, setting the header to pwm will run 2-3pin fans at 100% rpm. 

The tuning can take several tries for it to work properly so try again. Is the pump header a 3 or 4pin? 

Are you sure you have a H80i? The tubing and side of the rad doesn't look like any H80i I've seen. 

[hgpot]

49 minutes ago, WoodenMarker said:

Are the fans 4pin pwm? If not, setting the header to pwm will run 2-3pin fans at 100% rpm. 

Yes, they all are, including the splitter.

 

49 minutes ago, WoodenMarker said:

The tuning can take several tries for it to work properly so try again

Okay I will give that a go. 

 

 

52 minutes ago, WoodenMarker said:

Are you sure you have a H80i? The tubing and side of the rad doesn't look like any H80i I've seen. 

...I feel like an idiot. I was saying it is an H80i as that's what I remember getting and my original receipt shows that. I forgot that I had to swap it as I couldn't get the H80i to fit in my ITX case. This is a MasterLiquid Pro 120...sorry. Good thing that it's the Cooler Master, since it is apparently 11mm thinner - I don't think my screws holding the fans on could do even one more 1m, considering the extra thickness of the F12s. 

[WoodenMarker]

24 minutes ago, hgpot said:

This is a MasterLiquid Pro 120. 

The rpm readout isn't 1:1. It's 1:3 instead which explains the high rpm displayed. 

Cooler Master doesn't recommend running the pump at lower rpm and it doesn't support pwm despite the 4pin header. Set the header it's plugged into to 100% rpm. 

[hgpot]

On 9/12/2019 at 7:42 PM, WoodenMarker said:

The tuning can take several tries for it to work properly so try again.

I ran the tuning 5 times in a row. Still, the fan speed options presented were barely different and the minimums were higher than the maximums. Chassis Fan 2 is still N/A in all cases (I'm guessing that this is the header that my splitter is plugged into). 

[WoodenMarker]

3 hours ago, hgpot said:

I ran the tuning 5 times in a row. Still, the fan speed options presented were barely different and the minimums were higher than the maximums. Chassis Fan 2 is still N/A in all cases (I'm guessing that this is the header that my splitter is plugged into). 

Double check and make sure which fans and splitters are plugged into which headers.