Noctua NH-U12S chromax.black Installation Manual

Dear customer,
Congratulations on choosing the Noctua NH-U12S chromax.
black. 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 support team at support@noctua.at.
Multilingual versions of this manual are available on our web-
site: www.noctua.at/manuals
Required mounting parts:
1x NM-IBP2 backplate 2x NM-IMB3 mounting bars
4x NM-IPS1 spacers 4x NM-ITS1 thumb screws
1

Removing the motherboard

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.
NOCTUA NH-U12S chromax.black
INSTALLATION MANUAL
2

Attaching the backplate

Caution: The supplied backplate will install over the mother-
board's stock backplate, so the motherboard's stock backplate
must not be taken off.
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.
3 Installing The Mounting Bars
First put the plastic spacers onto the bolts of the backplate, then
add the mounting bars.
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).
4 Applying The Thermal Paste
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.
Caution: Applying too much thermal paste will lower heat
conductivity and cooling performance!
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.