Introduction

We would like to thank Noctua for supplying the review sample.

Features: (as listed by the manufacturer)

• C-Type top-flow design
• Dual NF-P14 FLX fans
• Low Profile Mode
• High Clearance Mode
• SecuFirm2 multi-socket mounting system
• Noctua NT-H1 high-end thermal compound
• Dual direction installation option for AMD sockets.

Compatibility:

• Intel LGA1366, LGA1156, LGA1155, LGA775
• AMD AM3, AM2+, AM2, s939, s754 (backplate required)

Package and Contents

Noctua's NH-C14 is a big and heavy CPU cooler. Big coolers need bigger boxes. The box is easily as big as the ones in which premium DSLR cameras ship. It uses high-quality paperboard and lid-lock. The box is decked in white with an outline of the product making up the background. The front reveals the product name and an image. Looking up, one can see important specifications listed on the top of the box. The right side shows the various fan configurations that can be used: dual-fan (default), top-fan (high-clearance), and bottom-fan (low-profile).

The back side talks about key features of the NH-C14 in German, Portuguese, French, Spanish, Russian, and Japanese. The left side reads out the same content as the back side, but in English, and backed with descriptive drawings.


Upon opening the box, there are two paperboard compartments. The top one is a box that packs the wealth of accessories that come with this cooler; below it a paperboard clam-shell that cushions the box that holds the main unit. Let's begin with the accessories box.

The Noctua NH-C14 has socket-specific installation procedures, with each having its own set of accessory requirements. Hence these are packed away into specific plastic packets, along with some bigger loose parts that don't get misplaced easily. First, there's the AMD packet that contains accessories for installation on AMD sockets, next, there's the Intel packet with a larger number of parts that are required to install onto Intel sockets, there's one packet with parts that are common to the two installation types, lastly, there's a packet that contains a "Support Bar" part that can be optionally installed to reinforce the cooler and minimize bending under its own weight.

Certain parts such as the hard plastic case badge, and the large Allen key-shaped star screwdriver come loose in the box. You might need the bundled screwdriver to get into tight spots and fasten things later down the installation.


The first picture in the above row shows the contents of the "common parts" and "support bar" packets. There's:

• A 3-pin Y-splitter that can power both fans from a single fan-header on the motherboard
• Four intermediate speed-control resistor cables (two for each fan). The ones with the black male plugs are LNA (low noise adapter), which run the fan at 900 RPM; the blue ones are ULNA (ultra-low noise adapter), which run it at 750 RPM. Without them, the fan runs at full-speed (1200 RPM)
• Four rubber bolts
• The support bar with its own installation card
• A number of screws/bolts
• A syringe of Noctua NT-H1 thermal compound

The AMD packet keeps it simple, with:

• Plastic spacers of the appropriate length and lumen (colored white, so you don't confuse them with the black spacers in the Intel packet)
• Curved mounting bars
• Screws

Lastly, there's the Intel packet, with a few more parts than in the AMD one:

• The SecuFirm backplate assembly
• Curved mouting bars with three sets of holes punched, for the appropriate hole-spacing of LGA1366, LGA1155/LGA1156, and LGA775
• Plastic spacers
• Bolts and thumb-nuts

Noctua kept up with its trend of separate packets for specific parts, with separate instruction manuals for AMD and Intel socket installations, tucked away into a paperboard cover. The manuals are well illustrated, and well described.

A closer look

The Noctua NH-C14 is a top-flow aluminum fin tower cooler. A top-flow cooler is that in which air is blown onto the plane of the motherboard. Most coolers bundled by CPU manufacturers are essentially of this type, however, this is an aluminum fin tower-type heatsink, while most bundled coolers are heatsinks carved out from a single block of metal. Noctua goes on to classify its design as a "C-type" top-flow heatsink. The second image reveals it. The design involves an open-end from the side, in which the second fan is nested. In designs such as that of the Thermaltake Big Typhoon, the aluminum fin array forms a closed shape with the base below, and heat pipes on either sides.

There is very little surface area on top of the base with some ridges, the purpose of the second (bottom) fan is not to convey warm air from the fin array onto something, but rather compound the top fan's air-flow with push-pull action.


Noctua packs two NF-P14 140 mm fans that come pre-fitted to the heatsink in the dual-fan mode using metal clips and rubber standoffs to absorb vibrations. The NF-P14 uses a round frame that makes it compatible with 120 mm fan mounts. Its impeller bears the chocolate brown color that is characteristic of Noctua's fan blades.

The sharp-looking cuts into each blade are what Noctua calls "Vortex control notches," they work to improve the airflow-to-noise ratio; or so claims the company. The fan uses tough plastic, and the blades are a lot more solid than they look. My only gripe here is the lack of 4-pin PWM-based speed-control and monitoring. Most fans that come bundled with CPU coolers these days have 4-pin connectors. It would be wise if Noctua made a PWM-ready variant of the NF-P14.

You can control fan speed using the "voltage" method, certain motherboards let you select between control methods in the BIOS setup program. Even if that doesn't work out, Noctua bundled two resistor cables per fan. The one with the black male connector runs the fan at 900 RPM, the one with the blue connector runs it at 750 RPM. Without either of those resistors, the fan runs at its rated top-speed of 1200 RPM.


Keeping up with the "C-type" design, the heat pipes on the NH-C14 move up from the base to the aluminum fin array from only one side. It gets a little crowded at the base where no less than six heat pipes converge, but as they propagate, they do spread out symmetrically. The aluminum fin array isn't a cuboidal block. It almost cleaves at the center, creating two lobes. Four heat pipes pass through the central portion, two through the peripheral. The unusual shape of the aluminum fins, particularly at the edges, contribute to better airflow and heat-dissipation.


Noctua doesn't believe in heat pipe direct-touch base design, yet. Instead, it uses a nickel-plated copper base that has a polished surface.