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Place the backplate on the rear side of the motherboard so that the 
bolts stick through the mounting holes. 

Caution: Please make sure that the three cut-outs in the  
supplied backplate align with the screws of the motherboard’s 
stock backplate.

First put the plastic spacers onto the bolts of the backplate, then 
add the NM-IMB2 mounting bars. 

  Installing the mounting bars

3

Noctua NH-P1| Installation manual

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While the NH-P1 provides first-rate performance for a passive 
cooler, it is not suitable for overclocking or CPUs that create high 
heat-loads. Please note that the TDP (Thermal Design Power) 
rating or amount of heat dissipation that the cooler can handle 
not only depends on the chassis and various other factors such as 
ambient temperature or other components inside the system, but 
also generally varies from CPU model to CPU model. 

For this reason, we specify cooling performance using the  
Noctua Standardised Performance Rating (NSPR) instead of  
giving a general TDP specification. In addition, we refer to our 
CPU compatibility list where we indicate how well the cooler can 
be expected to work on a particular CPU in a fully optimised 
setup (see our setup guidelines): 
https://ncc.noctua.at/s/nh-p1-cpus

If necessary, Noctua recommends adding a near-inaudible 
120mm fan like the NF-A12x25 LS-PWM to the heatsink for 
improved performance headroom.

Dear customer,

Congratulations  on  choosing  the  Noctua  NH-P1. 

The NH-P1 is Noctua’s first passive CPU cooler and has been 
custom-designed for fanless operation from ground up: In 
enclosures with good natural convection, its six heatpipes and 
thick, widely spaced heatsink fins enable it to cool modern 
high-end CPUs with low to moderate heat dissipation 

 

completely passively. Please take a look at our setup guidelines 
in order to make sure that you will get optimal results.
 
Enjoy your NH-P1! 

                             Yours sincerely,

 

 

Roland Mossig, Noctua CEO

This manual will guide you through the installation process of the 
Se™ mounting system step by step. 

Prior to installing the cooler, please consult the compatibility list 
on our website (www.noctua.at/compatibility) and verify that the 
cooler is fully compatible with your motherboard. 

Please also make sure that your PC case offers sufficient clearance 
for the cooler and that there are no compatibility issues with any 
other components (e.g. tall RAM modules). 

Double check that the heatsink and fan clips do not make  
contact with the VGA card or other PCIe cards. 

Noctua cannot be held responsible for any damage or losses caused 
by compatibility issues. Should you encounter any difficulties, 
please check the FAQs on our website (www.noctua.at/faqs) and 
don’t hesitate to contact our support team at [email protected].

Multilingual versions of this manual are available on our website: 
www.noctua.at/manuals

  LGA115x & LGA1200

!

Caution: In order to get optimal results when building passively 
cooled systems using the NH-P1, it is important to follow some 
general guidelines. 

Please refer to the following page for detailed guidelines and 
recommendations on how to set up your system for best results: 
https://noctua.at/en/nh-p1-setup-guidelines

The NH-P1 strictly requires either a fanless PC case with good 
natural convection, an open benchtable type setup or a PC case 
with fans in order to achieve its full performance. 

We offer a list of recommended cases for completely fanless 
systems using the NH-P1: 
https://ncc.noctua.at/s/nh-p1-case-recommendations

Required mounting parts:

4x NM-ITS1-TX 

thumb screws

4x NM-IPS1 

plastic spacers

1x NM-IBP2 

backplate

2x NM-IMB2 

mounting bars

In case you want to use the cooler on an assembled system and 
your case doesn’t have a cut-out at the rear side of the mother-
board tray, you first have to remove the motherboard from the 
case in order to be able to install the supplied backplate.

  Removing the motherboard

1

Caution: The supplied backplate will install over the mother-
board’s stock backplate, so the motherboard’s stock backplate 
must not be taken off.

  Attaching the backplate

2

Caution: Choose the alignment of the mounting bars according to the 
desired final orientation of the cooler: 

Caution: Make sure that the curved sides of the mounting bars are  
pointing outwards. 

Orientation A

Orientation B

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