User's Manual

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Dear customer,

Congratulations on choosing the Noctua NH-U12S.

The NH-U12S is the latest version of Noctua’s award-winning

NH-U12 coolers. First introduced in 2005, the NH-U series has

become a standard choice for premium quality quiet CPU coolers

and won more than 400 awards and recommendations from leading

international hardware websites and magazines.

Enjoy your NH-U12S!

Yours sincerely,

Roland Mossig, Noctua CEO

This manual will guide you through the installation process of the

SecuFirm2™ mounting system step by step.

Prior to installing the cooler, please consult the compatibility list

on our website (www.noctua.at/compatibility) and verify that the

cooler is fully compatible with your motherboard. Please also make

sure that your PC case offers sufficient clearance for the cooler and

that there are no compatibility issues with any other components

(e.g. tall RAM modules). Double check that the heatsink and fan

clips do not make contact with the VGA card or other PCIe cards.

Noctua cannot be held responsible for any damage or losses caused

by compatibility issues.

Should you encounter any difficulties, please check the FAQs on our

website (www.noctua.at/faqs) and don’t hesitate to contact our sup-

port team at support@noctua.at.

Multilingual versions of this manual are available on our

website: www.noctua.at/manuals

Required mounting parts:

2x NM-IMB3 mounting bars1x NM-IBP2 backplate

4x NM-ITS1 thumb screws4x NM-IPS1 spacers

Noctua NH-U12S |

Installation Manual | LGA115x

LGA115x

Caution: The supplied backplate will install over the motherboard’s

stock backplate, so the motherboard’s stock backplate must not

be taken off.

Attaching the backplate2

Place the backplate on the rear side of the motherboard so that the

bolts stick through the mounting holes.

Caution: Please make sure that the three cut-outs in the

supplied backplate align with the screws of the motherboard’s stock

backplate.

First put the plastic spacers onto the bolts of the backplate, then

add the mounting bars.

Installing the mounting bars3

Caution: Choose the alignment of the mounting bars according to the

desired final orientation of the cooler:

Orientation A Orientation B

Caution: Make sure that the curved sides of the mounting bars are

pointing outwards.

Fix the mounting bars using the 4 thumb screws.

Caution: Gently tighten the screws until they stop, but don’t use

excessive force (max. torque 0.6 Nm).

In case you want to use the cooler on an assembled system and

your case doesn’t have a cut-out at the rear side of the motherboard

tray, you first have to remove the motherboard from the case in

order to be able to install the supplied backplate.

Removing the motherboard1

If there are residual traces of thermal paste or thermal pads on your

CPU, please clean them off first. Then press a small drop (4-5mm

diameter) of NT-H1 onto the centre of the heatspreader.

Applying the thermal paste

Caution: Applying too much thermal paste will lower heat

conductivity and cooling performance!

Caution: Please first take off the fan as well as the protection cover

at the bottom side of the heatsink.

Fastening the heatsink to the CPU5

Summary of content (6 pages)

PAGE 1
LGA115x Noctua NH-U12S | Installation Manual | LGA115x 2 Attaching the backplate Dear customer, Caution: Make sure that the curved sides of the mounting bars are pointing outwards. Congratulations on choosing the Noctua NH-U12S. The NH-U12S is the latest version of Noctua’s award-winning NH-U12 coolers.
PAGE 2
LGA115x Then put the heatsink onto the CPU and screw it to the screw threads of the mounting bars. Perform 2-3 turns on each screw, then repeat until both are fully tightened Noctua NH-U12S | Installation Manual | LGA115x Connect the fan to the motherboard’s CPU fan header. Depending on your CPU and the temperature inside the case, you may interconnect the supplied NA-RC6 Low-Noise Adapter (L.N.A.) in order to further reduce the fan’s operating noise.
PAGE 3
LGA20xx Noctua NH-U12S | Installation Manual | LGA20xx Dear customer, 1 Installing the mounting bars Congratulations on choosing the Noctua NH-U12S. The NH-U12S is the latest version of Noctua’s award-winning NH-U12 coolers. First introduced in 2005, the NH-U series has become a standard choice for premium quality quiet CPU coolers and won more than 400 awards and recommendations from leading international hardware websites and magazines.
PAGE 4
LGA20xx Then put the heatsink onto the CPU and screw it to the screw threads of the mounting bars. Perform 2-3 turns on each screw, then repeat until both are fully tightened. Noctua NH-U12S | Installation Manual | LGA20xx Connect the fan to the motherboard’s CPU fan header. Depending on your CPU and the temperature inside the case, you may interconnect the supplied NA-RC6 Low-Noise Adapter (L.N.A.) in order to further reduce the fan’s operating noise.
PAGE 5
AMD Noctua NH-U12S | Installation Manual | AMD 1 Removing the stock retention module Putting the backplate in place Dear customer, Congratulations on choosing the Noctua NH-U12S. The NH-U12S is the latest version of Noctua’s award-winning NH-U12 coolers. First introduced in 2005, the NH-U series has become a standard choice for premium quality quiet CPU coolers and won more than 400 awards and recommendations from leading international hardware websites and magazines.
PAGE 6
AMD Noctua NH-U12S | Installation Manual | AMD 4 Fastening the heatsink to the CPU 3. front fan (standard spacers) Caution: Please first take off the fan as well as the protection cover at the bottom side of the heatsink. Airflow rear fan (thick spacers) Then put the heatsink onto the CPU and screw it to the screw threads of the mounting bars. Perform 2-3 turns on each screw, then repeat until both are fully tightened. Connect the fan to the motherboard’s CPU fan header.