Aggressive Passive Cooling, The Noctua HN-P1

1180G of Cool Aluminium, NH-A12x25 Fan Optional

Noctua’s passive NH-P1 is up for review at NikkTech so we now have a chance to see just how it performs, and they did some testing with a NF-A12x25 LW-PWM fan to contrast with completely passive cooling.  The heatsink is massive, standing 158mm tall, 154mm deep and 152mm wide, before you add the fan. They tested with Intel’s i7 3930K, with a TDP of 130W it makes for a decent test of the NH-P1 and it’s ability to cool.

At load they were seeing temperatures hit 63.3C, better than some active coolers but nowhere near the performance of the best coolers, add the low noise fan and you will see those temps drop to 57.9C.  The only drawback that you might be able to make out the 36.4dBA it produces, if your ears are good enough.  Just over two and a half pounds of aluminium doesn’t come cheap, the NH-P1 will cost you about $110, and add another $25 if you choose to pick up a fan for it as well.

If your case has the space and air flow, then Noctua certainly has a solid option for you.