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Noctua NH-U12A |

Installation Manual | LGA115x

LGA115x

Caution: The supplied backplate will install over the mother-

board’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:

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).

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

your CPU, please clean them off first. Then press a small drop

(3-4mm 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!

Dear customer,

Thank you very much for choosing the Noctua NH-U12A.

First introduced in 2005, our NH-U12 series has won more than

600 awards and recommendations from leading international

hardware websites and magazines. The NH-U12A is the latest

addition to this prestigious series and I’m confident that you will be

able to sense some of the research, attention and care we’ve put

into making this product.

Enjoy your Noctua NH-U12A!

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

support 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 screws

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 mother-

board tray, you first have to remove the motherboard from the

case in order to be able to install the supplied backplate.

Removing the motherboard1

4x NM-IPS1 plastic spacers

Orientation A Orientation B

Summary of content (6 pages)

PAGE 1
LGA115x Noctua NH-U12A | Installation Manual | LGA115x 2 Attaching the backplate Dear customer, Caution: Make sure that the curved sides of the mounting bars are pointing outwards. Thank you very much for choosing the Noctua NH-U12A. First introduced in 2005, our NH-U12 series has won more than 600 awards and recommendations from leading international hardware websites and magazines.
PAGE 2
LGA115x Noctua NH-U12A | Installation Manual | LGA115x 5 Fastening the heatsink to the CPU Caution: Please first take off the fans as well as the protection cover at the bottom side of the heatsink. Caution: When using the L.N.A., check the temperature of your CPU using appropriate software (e.g. the respective applications of your motherboard manufacturer), in order to evade automatic throttling of the CPU due to the increased temperature.
PAGE 3
LGA20xx Noctua NH-U12A | Installation Manual | LGA20xx Dear customer, 1 Installing the mounting bars Thank you very much for choosing the Noctua NH-U12A. First screw the NM-IBT2 bolts into the screw threads of the LGA20xx socket frame. Fix the mounting bars using the 4 thumb screws. First introduced in 2005, our NH-U12 series has won more than 600 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-U12A | Installation Manual | LGA20xx ! Warranty, support and FAQs 3. Even with high-grade products and strict quality control, the possibility of defects cannot be eliminated entirely.
PAGE 5
AMD Noctua NH-U12A | Installation Manual | AMD 1 Removing the stock retention module Putting the backplate in place Dear customer, AM4 Thank you very much for choosing the Noctua NH-U12A. First introduced in 2005, our NH-U12 series has won more than 600 awards and recommendations from leading international hardware websites and magazines.
PAGE 6
AMD Noctua NH-U12A | Installation Manual | AMD ! Transporting your system 4 Fastening the heatsink to the CPU Caution: Please first take off the fan as well as the protection cover at the bottom side of the heatsink. 2. As it is not possible to reliably calculate or control the forces that act upon a system during transport (e.g. in shipping), we generally recommend, for safety reasons, taking the cooler off.