Installed

The Noctua NH-L12 is a small cooler compared to the company's previous NH-D14 behemoth. As can be seen in the images, the cooler does hang over the DIMM slots, so users should install their memory modules first. That said, there is clearance for most of today's memory, but sticks like Corsair's Dominator Platinums will not fit.


Here we can again see the amount of clearance between the memory modules and the heatsink. The heatpipes and cooling fins nearly cover all the DIMMs on the right or left side of the CPU socket; the side depends on your choice of cooler orientation. Meanwhile, the bends in the heatpipes slightly cover the first DIMM slot to the left of the socket. It is minor, but thicker ram heatsinks could end up touching the heatpipes, although it seems unlikely and was not the case during my testing.


Another shot showing memory clearance. It should be mentioned that the Noctua NH-L12 can be mounted with a single fan (just the 92 mm), which will not change memory clearance. It will, however, result in a cooler with an extremely low profile.

Overall, the Noctua NH-L12 is a superbly designed product that has the quality one would expect from the company, with a plethora of mounting options for almost any situation. Just remember to never mount the cooler with the bends in the heatpipes facing up towards the top of the socket, since that would result in inferior performance.