Noctua NH-U12P CPU Cooler

The market for CPU heatsink and fans has grown quite saturated -- but with this saturation also comes a diversity that allows for a different heatsink to suit every preference. From performance heatsinks, noise conscious designs, to value/budget products, there's at least a dozen from various brands to fill in the specific market niche -- or maybe even a combination of two or more. Noctua has made quite a prominent name for itself in the industry for making quiet PC cooling solutions. Being that, a quiet cooler does not mean it cannot be a performance cooler at the same time. Combined with a design that challenges the best air cooler, it proves one thing -- bigger does not mean better. It's all about cooling efficiency; and combined with arguably the best fan for this application -- the Noctua NF-P12 -- how will the Noctua NH-U12P perform installed in our real life testing scenario? I've always wondered how it stacks up against the Scythe Infinity -- one of the biggest, and one of the best performing coolers over a year and a half ago -- but with a little twist. We want to see how the heatsink itself performs. And we'll even compare the two with the same fan. Now that would be an interesting showdown.