Introduction

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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)

<table class="tputbl">
<thead>
<tr><th colspan="2">Specifications</th></tr>
</thead>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Dimensions:</th><td>140 (W) x 166 (D) x 130 (H) mm</td>
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<tr class="alt">
<th scope="row">Heatsink Material:</th><td>Aluminium Fins, Nickel-plated Copper Heat pipes and base</td>
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<th scope="row">Heatpipe:</th><td>6x 6 mm, Copper with nickel plating</td>
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<th scope="row">Fan Dimensions:</th><td>140x140x25 mm </td>
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<tr>
<th scope="row">Fan Speed:</th><td>1200, 900, 750 RPM (full-speed, LNA, ULNA) ± 10%</td>
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<tr class="alt">
<th scope="row">Maximum Air Flow:</th><td> 110,3 m³/h per fan</td>
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<tr>
<th scope="row">Connector:</th><td>3-pin, comes with intermediate speed-control modules</td>
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<th scope="row">Fan controller:</th><td>Voltage, or LNA, ULNA speed-control modules-based</td>
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<th scope="row">Weight:</th><td>700 g (heatsink), 850 g (with 1 fan), 1.00 kg (with 2 fans)</td>
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</table>

Package and Contents

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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.

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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.

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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

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

Installation

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Installation begins with Noctua's SecuFirm back plate that lets you select between the target socket type using three sets of mounting holes: A for LGA1366, B for LGA1156/LGA1155, and C for LGA775. We're installing on LGA1366. Drive the four bolts with hexagonal heads through the set of mounting holes, while ensuring they're firmly in. Two of the hexagon's sides should align with the walls of the ridge on the back plate. Flip the back plate and remove the rubber inlay. It needs to be retained for LGA775.

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Drive the bolts through the back of the motherboard. Flip the board, and ensure that the bolts are all erect. If any are slanting, chances are you messed up with the mounting hole part. Place the black plastic spacers over each bolt.

Now place the two arc-shaped mounting bars, with the curves facing outwards. As with the back plate, the bolts must be passed through the complementing mounting holes on the mounting bars. Fasten the mounting bars using the thumb screws.

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Apply the included thermal compound. Noctua's compound appears to be a gray, silver-based compound that is viscous. It is also surprisingly cohesive and took some effort to break the strand of TIM by pulling the syringe. It drew out more TIM than was required from the syringe, as pictured above. On a second try I got it right, before installing the cooler to run the tests.

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Now comes the boss-fight of the NH-C14's installation. Take a good look at that square cutout in the aluminum fin array. There are two of those, and the installation requires you to use the provided Allen key-shaped screwdriver and pass through that hole to reach the spring-nut that comes fixed to the heatsink base. The spring-nut has to align with the protruding bolts on each of the mounting bars. Make yourself familiar with this mechanic before proceeding to place the heatsink on the motherboard.

Now place the heatsink onto the motherboard. It's not a symmetrical heatsink, and isn't extremely stable as you place it, put some effort into keeping it stable. Now pass the included screwdriver through that square hole I talked about, reach the spring-nut, and applying pressure (against the spring), fasten the nut (clockwise). The pressure must ensure that the nut is driving itself into the fixed bolt below. Once you've made a few turns into the bolt, move on to the next spring-nut and bolt. If you completely fasten the first one, the second one will loose alignment or become very tough to fasten. Connect the two fans to the Y-cable, connect that to your CPU fan power header.

On a scale of 1 (hardest) to 10 (easiest), I would rate the NH-C14's ease of installation at 6. Notwithstanding its difficult shape, you will almost always need to get the motherboard out of the case for a failsafe installation.

Installed

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Noctua NH-C14 is huge, like really huge. It overshadows everything else on the Gigabyte X58A-UD7, which is already a big motherboard. With both its fans installed, the NH-C14 weighs 1000 g, and that can easily contribute to PCB bending over long periods of time. Check out the optional C-14 support bar kit, if your package includes it. I'm not sure if all packages do, and hence I skipped installing it.

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I had lost all hopes for the NH-C14 with regards to memory module clearance. Much to my surprise, it leaves plenty of room for you to install and remove standard-height memory modules. In the "high-clearance" configuration (with the bottom fan removed), I can imagine there being enough clearance for memory with tall, fancy heatsinks.

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The GIGABYTE X58A-UD7 is a very crowded motherboard, its designers made lavish use of heatsinks to keep key components cool. Despite its protruding heat pipes, the NH-C14 steers clear of the northbridge heatsink.

Performance

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<th colspan="2">Test System</th>
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<th scope="row">CPU</th>
<td>Intel Core i7-950 </td>
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<tr class="alt">
<th scope="row">Clock speed</th>
<td>23 x 133 MHz = 3.06 GHz, Memory at DDR3-1600 </td>
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<th scope="row">Motherboard </th>
<td>GIGABYTE X58A-UD7 </td>
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<th scope="row">Memory </th>
<td>3x 1 GB OCZ XTC-Gold PC3-12800 </td>
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<th scope="row">Video Card</th>
<td>NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT Reference </td>
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<th scope="row">Harddisk</th>
<td>WD Caviar Green 500 GB, 5400 RPM </td>
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<th scope="row">Power Supply</th>
<td>CoolerMaster eXtreme Power Plus 700W </td>
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<th scope="row">Case</th>
<td>NZXT Gamma (no case fans) </td>
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<th scope="row">Software</th>
<td>Windows 7 32-bit, no SP</td>
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</table>

Room temperature is maintained at 20°C (68°F). Since you need EIST enabled to make use of the Turbo Boost feature with this generation of Intel Core processors, letting the machine fall back to the idle state is becoming a norm. Hence Idle (stock) refers to the machine running at 1.60 GHz (12 x 133 MHz), with vCore at 0.928 V. Idle (nominal) refers to the machine idling at the processor's nominal clock speed of 3.06 GHz (23 x 133 MHz), with EIST and C1E disabled.

Load (stock) refers to the CPU running four threads of Prime95's "In-place large FFTs" stress test for 15 minutes, with default BClk value of 133 MHz, with EIST, C1E, and Turbo Boost enabled. Turbo Boost bumps the clock speed of all four cores by 133 MHz, taking it up to 3.20 GHz (24 x 133 MHz).

Load (OC) refers to the CPU running four threads of Prime95's "In-place large FFTs" stress test for 15 minutes, with overclocked BClk value of 166 MHz (4.00 GHz, 1.38V). We chose 4.00 GHz as it's stable on just about any cooler, while giving us close to 1.4 V of vCore to test load on. Later in the review, we'll let the cooler run wild by testing the maximum stable OC achievable.

The fan is set to run at 100% speed (i.e. no motherboard-based fan-speed control was in place).

Temperatures have been taken via RealTemp. In noise testing, the sound-level meter is maintained at a distance of 1 m from the source.

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The Noctua NH-C14 is off to a flying start with the lowest idle temperatures. All that weight, all those parts, and that rage-inducing installation, are beginning to pay off.

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Whoosh. The NH-C14 shatters the myth that top-flow coolers are fundamentally inferior to side-flow ones. Aside from being the best performing cooler thus far on our new cooler bench, the NH-C14 should be the best performing top-flow coolers out there in the market. The air flow of top flow coolers provides some cooling for components around the CPU area, and that is good for voltage-assisted overclocking.

When overclocked, the CPU barely appears to be running hot, given that Bloomfield poses a very heavy thermal load. There should be a lot of overclocking headroom left.

Fan Noise

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This is where the NH-C14 limps. The nearly perfect feature-set and design are tarnished by fans that lack PWM-based control. You can still manually control the fan using the included resistor cables. Not only are the fans loud, but also have a high-ish pitched noise, which tends to get unpleasant.

Value and Conclusion

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Noctua NH-C14 sells for US $89.99.

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Awesome performance
Low overall height
Low-profile ready
Good clearance with components around the socket
Good packaging

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Very heavy
Expensive
Loud at maximum speed
Some installation steps cumbersome
Fans lack PWM-based control

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<th>9.2</th>
<td>The Noctua NH-C14 is a treat to install and use. As far as its design, packaging, and product presentation goes, the NH-C14 is top-notch. I couldn't have imagined any other cooler manufacturer take up top-flow design at this market segment, and then go on to win big time in terms of performance. Not only is this top-flow cooler very much in the league of high-end side-flow tower-type coolers, but it can also compete with entry-level water-cooling in-a-box solutions.<br />
The outstanding issues are fans that lack 4-pin PWM connectors, and that voltage-based control using software/BIOS can get quirky as you're controlling two fans connected to one header. The other issue is the high noise output at load. But for the kind of performance, I think the noise is a fair tradeoff.<br />
Overall, the Noctua NH-C14 is wonderful piece of engineering. It's as if its designers wanted to do some mythbusting, and disprove that top-flow design coolers are passé. Top-flow works, but at the expense of a lot of metal content. Performance considered, NH-C14 isn't an inefficient design after all. Don't hesitate to get one, if you have 90 bucks.
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