True to the spirit of the redux line, the NH-U12S redux takes the proven concept of the original, award-winning NH-U12S and reduces it to its essential core: a quiet, quality-made 120 mm cooler with s... Noctua Announces Redux line Processor Cooler and Second Fan Kit
Aside from pricing the line much lower, their redux line tends to use their previous gen fan bearings, and they colour them grey to differentiate them instead of their usual grandpa diarrhea colour scheme. Noctua's previous gen bearings make those redux fans better than 99.99% of competitors. The best "budget" fans you can possibly get for any use, by a landslide, are Noctua's redux fans. They put the high end fans from other companies to shame if you ask me. I use 3 of their 120mm 1700 rpm pwm redux fans. I got them for $18 CAD a piece, and to me it seems like their pressure, airflow, etc, all actually match their description, and operate much more quietly, than much more expensive fans from other companies.
Seems the heatpipes arn't soldered to the base, unlike the premium models. And it has one less heatpipe, and uses the older fans. It's really just a budget line. How do the NH-U12A, NH-U12S, and NH-U12S redux? Which one to choose. (noctua.at)
Yikes, I didn't expect them to have a page on it, and more importantly I didn't expect them to not solder the heatpipes. I guess it was a bit too good to be true to just be using last gen fans.
And i should correct "budget line" like this and keep it quoted. I think 50 bucks for that is a lot, seeing how much it lacks. I guess tests will have to prove otherwise. You still get Noctua quality ofcourse, which is always rock solid.