Specifications, Availability and Pricing

The specifications of the NH-U12P SE1366 might seem familiar from the NH-U12P, as they are the same exact cooler. With the SE, Noctua adds a second NF-P12 premium, nine bladed fan to the included hardware, as well as the SecuFirm2 Core i7 mounting kit. While this cooler at maximum weight, with both fans attached, is at 790g, it's not quite the heaviest cooler, but still weighty. This cooler is designed to take the heat from the CPU with a copper heat-sink that delivers the heat to four, copper heat-pipes, which are both nickel-plated. This "Special Edition" comes with the premium accessory kit as well. This kit includes a tube of NH-H1 thermal compound, the SecuFirm2, the two fans I addressed above and power adapters for the fans to reduce noise levels and fan speeds even further.

I just went to look, and Google shopping shows the NH-U12P SE available from around twenty or so e-tailers at the moment. Of course, Newegg is one of those. Every link I hit took me to in stock listings, which means getting one is easy right now. With that in mind, after the review if you feel inclined to purchase the NH-U12P SE to cool your Core i7, you shouldn't have any issues making this acquisition.

As a buyer, you have to realize that with a premium accessory and mounting hardware, that the NH-U12P SE1366 would likely be outrageously priced like some of the other coolers on the market. However, this doesn't seem to be the case in this instance. Taking a look at Newegg, I found the NH-U12P SE selling for $76.99 US dollars, plus shipping. This is a fair and comparable asking price, basing my thought on the original NH-U12P, with an asking price of $60 US dollars. The additional "goodies" more than make up for the cost. There are cheaper coolers on the market, but are they all even in performance? - I think it's about time we find out.