With the NH-D14 Noctua shows its latest high-end CPU cooler. Already as a standard it comes with two fans whereas one measures 120 mm in diameter and the other 140 mm. Furthermore also the weight is extraordinary: 1250 gramms that's what this sandwhich construction puts on the balance. What this monster is capable of we'll show you on the following pages.
On the following pages we will show you what the Noctua NH-D14 is capable of.
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Preview
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Specifications and included in delivery
Specifications
| Model | Noctua NH-D14 |
| Material | Aluminium / copper |
| Dimension (WxDxH) | 140 x 160 x 158 mm |
| Fan dimensions | 1 x 120 mm x 25 mm, 1 x 140 mm x 25 mm |
| RPM | 120 mm: 1300 rpm +/-10%, 140 mm: 1200 rpm
+/-10% 120 mm: 900 rpm +/-10% (U.L.N.A.), 140 mm: 900 rpm +/-10% (U.L.N.A.) |
| Accoustic pressure | 19.8 dBA, 12.6 dBA |
| Connector | 3-Pin |
| Weight | 900 g, 1250 g with fan |
Included in delivery
- Cooling block with 120 mm and 140 mm fan
- Mounting kit for Socket AM2, 939, 940, 754, 775, 1156, 1366
- Resistor to regulate voltage
- Mounting components
- Manual
The Noctua NH-D14 comes well protected from outer influeces so that the
none of the parts included will be damaged during transportation. The delivery includes everything you need to install the
heatsink. In the different bag you find all the accessories needed to install
the cooler on different platforms. One can say that the very large delivery is
typical for Noctua and therefore we call it very good!
A bit special with Noctua is that they inclued resistors to regulate the fan
speed instead of PWM controled fans. With the specific adaptors it is possible
to drive the fans with 1'000 rpm (+/- 10%).
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Construction and design
Construction
The Noctua NH-D14 consists of aluminium and nickel coated copper. The base plate is made of solid copper which has been coated with nickel. Furthermore the baseplate has an almost invisible structure and it therefore isn't polished. To transport the heat as efficiently as possible from the CPU to the finds you find six heatpipes. At both ends of the heatpipes there are 42 fins soldered to them. With the NH-D14 Noctua makes use of a sandwich construction which means that one of the two fans is located between the two cooling towers.
Design
The NH-D14 is very well made and there are absolutely no hints for a sloppy manufacturing process. Quite special about this cooler is its massive size and the sandwich construction. With a total of 1250 gramms including the fans the Austrians definitely have one of the heaviest coolers on the market. On the NH-D14 you'll also find fins which are connected to eachother. This technique became quite common and it doesn't only increase the coolers stability it is also responsible for a better heat transportation and further it optimizes the airflow.
Noctuas own 120 mm fan operates at 1'300 rpm when it is driven with 12 Volts. At these speed it is subjectively silent. If you use one of the U.L.N.A. adpators Noctua packs into the delivery you will get 1'000 rpm (+/- 10%) which produce soundlevel which is subjectively very silent. The same you see with the second fan except its a 140 mm fan that operates at 1'200 rpm default and it is subjectively silent. Using the delivered resistor you get 900 rpm (+/- 10%) and again a very silent noise.
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Mounting
To mount
Noctuas NH-D14 properly you'll find a seperate backplate for AMD- and Intel-sockets. The whole installation process is simple and done quickly. All the components are bolted together which make the cooler fit perfectly on either an AMD or Intel CPU.
With the installation accessories it is the same as with the cooler itself
everything is absolutely perfect manufactured and leaves a very good impression.
Beacause the NH-D14's sheer size it hasn't been possible to install a DIMM-module in the first memory slot. Potential customers who already use six memory modules on a X58 platform might encounter compatibility issues. Apart from that it is remarkable that there are no other compatibility issues.
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Testsystem and testroutine
Testsystem
| Mainboard | ASUS P6T Deluxe |
| Processor | Intel Core i7 920 2.66 GHz |
| Memory | Corsair Dominator TR3X3G1600C8D, 3 x 2 GByte |
| Graphics card | Gigabyte GTX 285 |
| Hard disk | Samsung Spinpoint F1 640 GByte |
| Power supply | Enermax Revolution 85+ 1050 Watt |
| Thermal grease | Arctic Silver 5 |
Testroutine
The CPU is being evaluated using Real Temp and with Prime95 we reach nearly 100% load on the CPU. For measuring the noise level we use a Voltcraft SL-200 decibel meter, which is positioned one meter from the CPU cooler with the fan mounted.
- 2.66 GHz 12 volts load
- 2.66 GHz 7 volts load
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Results 2.66 GHz 12 volts
| Cooler / fan | Temp. diff. load | Absolute temp. | RPM | Noise | Price | Review link |
| Noctua NH-D14 | 31 K | 56 °C | 1300/1200 rpm | 40.9 dBA | CHF 114.- (EUR 76.-) | Noctua NH-D14 |
| Alpenföhn Nordwand Dual-Fan | 33 K | 57 °C | 1500 rpm | 43.0 dBA | CHF 103.- (EUR 69.-) | Alpenföhn Nordwand |
| Alpenföhn Nordwand | 35 K | 59 °C | 1500 rpm | 42.4 dBA | CHF 79.- (EUR 53.-) | Alpenföhn Nordwand |
| Corsair H5O Dual-Fan | 37 K | 59 °C | 1600 rpm | 44.4 dBA | CHF 133.- (EUR 95.-) | Corsair H5O |
| Noctua NH-U12P Dual-Fan | 38 K | 62 °C | 1400 rpm | 41.6 dBA | CHF 125.- (EUR 83.-) | Noctua NH-U12P |
| Corsair H5O | 38 K | 60 °C | 1600 rpm | 44.0 dBA | CHF 113.- (EUR 81.-) | Corsair H5O |
| Noctua NH-U12P | 40 K | 64 °C | 1400 rpm | 40.5 dBA | CHF 85.- (EUR 57.-) | Noctua NH-U12P |
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Results 2.66 GHz 5 volts
| Cooler / fan | Temp. diff. load | Absolute temp. | RPM | Noise | Price | Review link |
| Noctua NH-D14 | 36 K | 61 °C | 1000/900 rpm | 37.2 dBA | CHF 114.- (EUR 76.-) | Noctua NH-D14 |
| Corsair H5O Dual-Fan | 42 K | 64 °C | 900 rpm | 37.5 dBA | CHF 133.- (EUR 95.-) | Corsair H5O |
| Alpenföhn Nordwand Dual-Fan | 43 K | 67 °C | 700 rpm | 37.0 dBA | CHF 103.- (EUR 69.-) | Alpenföhn Nordwand |
| Noctua NH-U12P Dual-Fan | 44 K | 68 °C | 1000 rpm | 38.0 dBA | CHF 125.- (EUR 83.-) | Noctua NH-U12P |
| Noctua NH-U12P | 45 K | 69 °C | 1000 rpm | 37.4 dBA | CHF 85.- (EUR 57.-) | Noctua NH-U12P |
| Corsair H5O | 46 K | 68 °C | 900 rpm | 35.4 dBA | CHF 113.- (EUR 81.-) | Corsair H5O |
| Alpenföhn Nordwand | 48 K | 72 °C | 700 rpm | 36.4 dBA | CHF 79.- (EUR 53.-) | Alpenföhn Nordwand |
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Conclusion
| General | + | - | |
| With the NH-D14, Nocta presents a very powerful and very well manufactured aircooler which also comes with a lot of accessories. So much high-end comes at a price, that's for sure but these days you wont find many other products available on the market that are able to compete with the NH-D14. Also regarding the cooling capacity Noctua shows what is actually possible with aircoolers and takes the first place in our comparison tables. | -
Performance - Manufacturing quality - Delivery |
||
| Installation | + | - | |
| Reflecting the mounting process, Noctua comes up with a solution which is suitable for this very good cooler. By using different backplates for each socket it is possible to mount the cooler quickly and very safely on all recent platforms. Furthermore two fans can be installed on the cooler. Compared to the NH-U12P for example Noctua has also improved the fan mounting. Now the fans and the cooler carry antivibration rubbers and even the clamping mechanism is much easier to use now. | - Perfect fit | - Incompatibility first DIMM-Slot | |
| Performance | + | - | |
|
If you drive the fans with 12 volts they are subjectively slient. As we drove the fans at 7 Volts, with 1'000 rpm respectively 900 rpm resulting, we could see that the performance decreased way less then with all the other coolers in our comparison table. Therefore you see that this cooler has been optimized for fans with low rotation speeds. Furthermore with the fans at lower rotations speeds the cooler becomes subjectively very silent. |
-
Cooling capacity - Very silent |
||
| Recommendation | + | - | |
|
With the NH-D14 Noctua designed an aircooler which is almost on a level of its own. According to its price this absolute high-end cooler is suitable for PC-enthusiasts, gamer and overclocker who want to have a very silent system or get even the last MHz out of their CPU. |
- PC-Enthusiasts - Gamer - Overclocker |
You can buy the Noctua NH-D14 at Digitec.ch to a price of CHF 114.- (EUR 81.-).
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Author: m.buechel@ocaholic.ch