360° View - Noctua NH-U12P Heatsink Information on Frostytech's test methodology is available here.
	The Heatsink Fan: The 120x120x25mm NF-P12 fan at the heart of the Noctua NH-U12P heatsink spins at 1300RPM by default. Optional in-line resistors can reduce fan speed from that level to 1100RPM or 900RPM if quieter operation is desired. A standard 3-pin motherboard header provides power. The nine bladed fan is ships without a fan grill. A second fan, 120mm, 92mm, or 70mm can also be attached to the other side of the heatsink (second fan not provided).
	Heatsink Top: Looking at the top of the Noctua NH-U12P heatsink we see the tips of the four 6mm diameter U-shapped copper heatpipes. The 38 nickel plated aluminum fins are each roughly 126 x 61mm in size; that's lot of cooling surface area. Each aluminum fin is nickel plated so it can be soldered to the copper heatpipes which run from top to bottom. The tabs on either edge are for the wire fan clips to lock into.
	Heatsink Side A: The Noctua NH-U12P stands 149mm tall. Its widely spaced nickel plated aluminum fins are all soldered to the four copper heat pipes which rise up from the base. There are no specific instructions for orienting the Noctua NH-U12P in a specific way, other than setting the fan to blow hot air towards the rear of the case. The first fin from the base up is elevated 42mm to give capacitor clearance. Each fin is 0.42mm thick and spaced 2.6mm from the next. The copper portion of the base ranges from 2mm to 4.3mm thick.
	Heatsink Side B: The Noctua NH-U12P is a big heatsink with widely spaced metal fins as heatsinks go, this permits slower RPM fans to be used. The base is shown without any of the processor specific mounting hardware installed.
	Heatsink Base: The base of the Noctua NH-U12P heatsink is fabricated from a block of nickel-plated copper to which all four copper heatpipes are soldered. The base has a machined surface finish, done with a slight ridge texture. The metal is very slightly domed in the center, slight enough to ensure good contact with the CPU IHS and not distorted enough to require lapping. Surface roughness is ~48 microinches, which is good. The portion of the base that comes in contact with the CPU measures 40x38mm in area.