Standing 158mm tall with a footprint of 125x72mm, the Noctua NH-U12S heatsink ships with single NF-F12 PWM fan that rotates at 1500RPM. The NH-U12S is built much like the NH-U14S, but is a better fit for cloistered motherboard processor sockets. As with its brethren, Noctua's NH-U12S heatsink supports a rear mounted fan if you want to run two low speed fans (for the sake of quiet), or a pair of fans at full tick for the best cooling performance possible. With that in mind, we'll test the NH-U12S heatsink in single and dual fan configurations. A second NF-F12 fan will run about $23.

The Noctua NH-U12S heatsink is built around five 6mm diameter copper heatpipes and a 108mm tall aluminum fin stack. Where the heatsink interfaces with the processor, we find a beautifully machined nickel plated copper heat spreader. Every component, from the fins to the heatpipes to the copper and aluminum base plates are nickel plated for oxidation resistance and the joints soldered to lower thermal joint resistance. As is tradition for Noctua, fit and finish is top notch.

Weighing 755 grams, the Noctua NH-U12S heatsink is compatible Intel socket LGA2011/1366/1150/1155/1156 and AMD socket FM1/FM2/AM2/AM3 processors. It does not support Intel LGA775 processors. Retail price for the Noctua NH-U12S heatsink is about $50CDN ($50USD) online.

Noctua NH-U12S Heatsink

heatsink specsheet manufacturer: noctua model no.: nh-u12s materials: nickel plated aluminum fins, copper heatpipes, copper/aluminum base. fan mfg: noctua nf-f12 fan spec: 1500rpm, 12v, 0.05a fan dim: 25x120x120mm heatsink & fan dim: 158x125x72mm (158x125x102mm dual fans) weight: 755 grams includes: multi-socket mounting hardware, thermal compound, fan speed adaptor, fan clips, screwdriver, instructions Compatible with Sockets: AMD: AM2/AM3/FM1/FM2 Intel: LGA2011/1366/1150/1155/1156 (not LGA775) Est. Pricing: $50USD ($50CDN)

MOUNTING KIT UPGRADEABLE TO SUPPORT AMD SOCKET AM4?
Manufacturer Provided Mounting Kit Required to Support AMD Socket AM4 Motherboards? YES Manufacturer AM4 Kit Request Form Link: https://noctua.at/en/nm-am4-mounting-kit-order-form Noctua state: "Owners of Noctua CPU coolers can obtain the Noctua NM-AM4 SecuFirm2 Mounting-Kit free of charge via this form. A proof of purchase (electronic version, photo or scan of the invoice) of both a Noctua CPU cooler and either a socket AM4 mainboard or socket AM4 CPU are required. There is a dedicated upgrade kit  (NM-AM4-UxS) available for NH-U14S, NH-U12S and NH-U9S" For more details, heatsink exceptions and a complete list of incompatible coolers, see here.
Noctua NM-AM4 SecuFirm2 Mounting-Kit supported on following Noctua heatsinks Frostytech has tested: NH-C12P ,  NH-C14 ,  NH-D14 ,  NH-D15 , NH-D9L, NH-L12, NH-L9x65, NH-U12 , NH-U12P ,  NH-U9, NH-U9B . Noctua NM-AM4-UxS Mounting-Kit: NH-U14S, NH-U12S and NH-U9S.

Fans, whether it be one or two, are held in place with easy to attach wire fan clips. To decrease annoying vibrational noises, brown rubber spacers wrap around the fan frame and "insulate" it from direct contact with the metal fins. The heatsink is designed to work with 120mm sized fans.