Introduction

From the Noctua website:

Designed in Austria, Noctua's premium cooling components are internationally renowned for their superb quietness, exceptional performance, and thoroughgoing quality. Having received more than 1000 awards and recommendations from leading hardware websites and magazines, Noctua's fans and heatsinks are chosen by more than a hundred thousand satisfied customers around the globe.

With a reputation forged by amazing performance, exceptional quality, and ultra-low noise levels, Noctua stands out as one of the premier manufacturers of PC-cooling products. Their fans, while not exactly pleasant to look at, are some of the highest quality you can buy. The same can be said of their heatsinks. The warranty and support of their products is also second-to-none. Really, if you have a Noctua cooler and a new socket comes out that it does not support, they will send you mounting hardware for it. Noctua is the perfect example of a company that truly offers a great customer experience.

Noctua's fans, while expensive, remain favorites of many enthusiasts for their extremely low noise output. Meanwhile, the stalwart NH-D14 with its top-tier performance continues to be an enthusiast favorite. That said, all of Noctua's coolers and fans fit specific needs. Another example of that is the NH-L12: while it may struggle with larger CPUs, its small size and low profile make it a perfect fit in today's increasingly popular mini-ITX system. Noctua's choice of colors might not appeal to all, but the quality of each product has kept PC enthusiasts coming back again and again.

Today, I take a look at another new cooler from Noctua, the NH-U14S. This single-tower design is a bit bigger than its smaller brother, the NH-U12S I reviewed previously. Offering more surface area to disperse heat along with the option to add a second fan, this cooler could very well be a new contender. It being a Noctua product, I already expect top notch quality and low noise levels, but it still warrants a thorough look to see what is offered.