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.

Packaging & Contents

Noctua's NH-U14S is packaged into a box that measures 22 cm in length, 20 cm in width, and 15 cm in height. The front proudly lists off the product features. These also include full memory compatibility on LGA2011, a six-year warranty, PWM support, and the inclusion of low-noise adapters. The first side has the same list of features as the front, and the other lists the heatsink's and fan's specifications, including weight, MBTF, and scope of delivery.


Here is a short paragraph in many different languages. It gives a brief rundown on the Noctua NH-U14S. The last side of the box again lists the features but pairs them with small images to give a better idea of what the feature is and does. Overall, the box is fairly plain but sturdy.

Contents

Opening the box, I am once again greeted by exceptional packaging--a norm for Noctua. Accessories and mounting hardware are placed on top. The heatsink and fan are held in place by the cardboard underneath.


The smaller boxes containing the mounting hardware and accessories are clearly labeled with images depicting exactly what is inside. The cooler itself is packaged with the fan pre-installed, but removing the fan reveals the obvious width of the NH-U14S heatsink. Its width has me wondering if it will interfere with the expansion slots.


Noctua's SecuFirm 2 mounting hardware once again makes an appearance. As can be seen by the backplate on Intel systems, the heatsink's orientation can be changed. This is not possible on AMD sockets.

Common parts supplied for mounting include:

• 8x Anti-vibration pads
• 4x LGA2011 mounting screws
• 4x AMD mounting screws
• 4x AMD spacers (white)
• 4x Intel spacers (black)
• 4x Thumb screws
• 2x Fan clips
• 2x AMD mounting arms
• 2x Intel mounting arms
• 1x 140 mm x 150 mm x 25 mm fan
• 1x Intel backplate
• 1x Tube of NT-H1 thermal paste
• 1x Phillips screwdriver
• 1x Metal Noctua badge
• 1x Low noise adapter