Fan Installation:
Installing the fans is even easier than installing the CPU cooler. While
Noctua does not include fans with the NH-U9 or NH-U12, they do include two sets of mounting clips and sound dampening silicon for the fans of your choice. This is a great option for these coolers! If you decide to install fans, you can install the fans of your choice! This allows these coolers to be more 'universal' than most other coolers, as you can get the fans to match your particular installation perfectly!
For this review, Noctua included an assortment of 92mm and 120mm fans for my evaluation. These fans are from another European company,
Coolink. The 120mm fans are the SWiF 1202 that boasts a speed of 900-1600 RPM at 14-24dBA, while the 92mm fans boast a speed of 1100-1850 RPM at 12-22dBA.
The Coolink fans include an expansion bay fan controller. The way this controller is to be put together, anybody could convert the controller to fit in another location, such as a drive bay, or another location on the case. I will not be using this fan controller, I will allow the Cooler Master Cool Drive IV to control the fans.
Here you can see how the NH-U12 looks prior to installation with both fans installed. If you look closely at the picture on the left, you can see the fan clips have a notch they rest in, and then clip onto the fans. The picture on the right provides another viewpoint of how the clips are situated.
The picture on the left shows the NH-U12 installed with one 120mm fan, while the picture on the right shows two fans installed (in a push-pull configuration).
