A good CPU cooler is very important on hot summer days. Especially if you’re overclocking a high end multi-core processor. If cool air isn’t getting to your CPU, motherboard, or surrounding components, heat can quickly compromise your system’s stability. If you’re stuck in a chassis that just can’t quite direct that air to the right places, we think the Noctua NH-C14 CPU cooler could be a solution. Let’s check it out!
Features and Specifications
The unique horizontal design of the Noctua NH-C14 that makes it useful when cooling more than just your CPU. A couple of 140mm (NF-P14) cooling fans aimed downwards can suddenly push much needed air on to the motherboard, memory, and in some cases the back of a video card. The fans can be configured individually using the BIOS or with a Low-Noise or Ultra-Low-Noise adapter that sets fan speed to a pre-determined RPM.
In case you’re wondering about the rated fan speeds and noise, the fans in stock configuration rotate at 1200 RPM moving 65 feet of air producing a measly 19-20 dB(A). The Low-Noise Adapter limits rotation at 900RPM moving 47 feet of air at 13 dB(A). And, the Ultra-Low-Noise Adapter limits rotation to 750 RPM moving 42 meters of air at 10 dB(A). Basically, it goes from quiet to producing less noise than your own breathing!
Finally, the $89.99 price tag of the NH-C14 gets you more than just a 6 year warranty. In our Computex 2011 Video with Noctua, we learned that they provide lifetime cooler support with updated mounting kits free of charge with proof of purchase. Provide a valid receipt and you can move your cooler over to your new system down the road. How cool is that?
What’s in the Box?
Noctua has never skimped on the quality of components and materials used inside any of their products. That high standard continues in the accessories bundled with the NH-C14 cooler.
Inside the box for the NH-C14 Cooler you will get…
- Two NF-P14 (140mm) Fans (Ratings above)
- Two pairs of fan wires for mounting
- A Low-Noise Adapter (L.N.A.) wire splitter
- An Ultra-Low-Noise Adapter (U.L.N.A.) wire splitter
- NT-H1 Thermal Compound (It’s good stuff)
- SecuFirm2 Mounting Kits for all of the AMD and Intel CPU
- Noctua metal case badge (Show that you’re cool)
- L-Shape Screwdriver
There is literally nothing you need extra to install the NH-C14. They have even included a special screwdriver that makes life very easy when installing it.
Despite the cooler’s 850/1000 gram total weight with fans mounted, Noctua still warranties the NH-C14 for a total of 6 years. As mentioned earlier, Noctua also provides adapter kits for processors that show up even a couple years after launch for FREE. That means that when LGA2011 rolls out, you can get them to ship you one with proof of purchase. Worth considering when pricing out coolers, especially since the Noctua is typically no more than $5 – 10 more at the top end.
Let’s move on to a quick inspection of the cooler itself, then roll on to installation.
Taking a Closer Look
The NH-C14 takes up about as much space floor space as the massive NH-D14, but with a single horizontal radiator. The two 140mm fans span the width of the cooler almost entirely. The cooler stands about 5.5″ tall with all the fans installed. That means it’s quite a bit shorter than man tower coolers. We found that it just fit inside our Silverstone SG07 mini-ITX case. However, the width easily fills the SG07 to capacity. For ITX, it leaves very little room and may quickly encroach on your video card depending on the orientation of the CPU socket. Otherwise, it fits all other form factors just fine.
The heat pipes on the NH-C14 are what cool the CPU the most. There are six C-shaped heat pipes roughly 6mm in diameter that carry the heat up and away from the CPU. As long as the liquid within the pipes is of good quality, heat can quickly be carried away. This is also an area where Noctua hasn’t skimped out on.
Regular small, mid, and full sized towers should have no problem accommodating the massive Noctua NH-C14. Again, it will depend on the design of your particular case. If you have space open above your motherboard, you should have enough room. Users with mini-ITX cases should be aware that this may or may not fit and it’s best to measure twice and buy once.
Test System and Installation
We’ve used the following system several times in previous tests which has proven to be a hot beast in overclocked situations. If any CPU cooler can keep the 6-core Intel Core i7-980X cool, it’ll cool anything currently available.
Here’s what we used to build it:
- Processor: Intel Core i7-980XE Gulftown (6-Core)
- Motherboard: ASUS Rampage III X58 Black Edition (ROG)
- Memory: Patriot Memory Division 2 6GB 2000MHz DDR3
- Graphics: ZOTAC NVIDIA Geforce GTX 580 1546MB
- Power Supply: Antec CP-850 Watt
- Storage: Seagate 250GB “Cooking Drive” (For thermal tests)
- CPU Coolers Used: Thermaltake OCK, Noctua NH-D14, Zalman CNPS10X Extreme, Megahalems (Rev.B), Thermalright Venomous X, and Noctua NH-C14 (as tested)
- Computer Case: DangerDen Torture Rack (No extra cooling fans)
The NH-C14 has a mounting system like the NH-D14. Noctua’s SecureFirm2 is arguably one of the most secure mounting methods given the weight of these coolers. Noctua includes everything needed right down to the Philips screwdriver for tightening the retention screws. It is even specially designed to make the task very easy. Adding to the plus side, it comes with a well illustrated manual which should provide seasoned vets and beginners with all the info they need for a successful installation.
We found it very easy to configure the fans so that air blows up and out the top if you have side mounted radiators or have other hardware that can benefit from a redirection of the air. And, the bottom fan can be omitted if you have very tall memory heat sinks. The top fan can be omitted as well if you happen to have limited case depth. This is a truly versatile cooler.
Test Method
We’ll be using OCCT which is an artificial program good for fully loading all the CPU cores. First, we allowed the cooler to “burn in” the day before which settles the Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste which is the same paste used on all our previous tests. The reason is that there’s not enough Noctua NH-N1 thermal paste to go around for repeated testing. Stock and overclocked CPU frequencies were selected to push the cooler’s thermal properties. Temps were recorded after idling for 2 hours. Temps were then recorded with the CPU at full load. The cooler was tested with both fans installed at full speed and at low fan speeds.
In spite of a rather dry, 21C room, the NH-C14 easily manages the temperatures, and very efficiently. The 140mm fans were also quiet and produced a very faint, yet inoffensive hum at full speed. In fact, the chances are very high that your video card will be louder. Of course, there is just no way anything we have in the labs is better than its big brother the NH-D14. But for a horizontal cooler, the NH-C14 does very well.
Extra Motherboard Cooling Benefit
Since the cooler’s fans face can be oriented to face downward, cool air will naturally hit the motherboard and surrounding components in close proximity. Just how many components will depend on your particular case. Since, the DangerDen Torture Rack has two levels, the cool air hit just the motherboard. Here are the results.
As far as temps go, everyone knows that INTEL X58 motherboards can get pretty darn hot at full load. The NH-C14 dropped the surrounding sensor temps at both low and high speeds. The tower coolers just don’t quite get the air where needed. That’s a very noticeable drop in temps and means it could help stabilize a potential overclocking load. If nothing else, it’ll bring down those operating temps which means that connected components won’t suffer from heat transfer either.
Final Thoughts
Standard horizontal CPU coolers aren’t always the most efficient. Especially if it’s a stock retail AMD or Intel cooler: they are mainly built to do the job as cheap as possible. They’re typically too small and sit too close to the board to actually do anything other than cool the CPU. Poorly one might add. While the possibilities of this feature were once taken for granted, designs like the Noctua NH-C14 completely correct any short comings. As hexa-core and higher processors threaten to heat things up inside your case, I predict the NH-C14’s design will be sought after by the millions of future PC owners who want to keep their original computer case while helping cool more than just the CPU.
Compared to the competition, our testing places the NH-C14 performance near the NH-D14, and overall better than its smaller NH-D12 sibling. That means that it’s extremely similar to the Thermalright Venomous X and Megahalems Rev.B coolers which are very popular among enthusiasts. But, it’s the horizontal design adding an added additional cooling benefits to the motherboard’s components. The high quality also makes the NH-C14 very much their equals.
At $89.99 USD, the Noctua NH-C14 may not seem like the most affordable CPU cooler. However, it’s priced very similar to the competition which sometimes do not come with dual fans like the Venomous X. Or fans at all. The cooler’s high quality materials, lifetime socket support, and performance are what your hard earned money buy. This is easily the best horizontal CPU cooler in North America if not the world and easily earns our highest honor: Futurelooks’ Editors’ Choice Award.
Pros
- Horizontal CPU design cools other components
- Shortest high performance CPU cooler on the market
- Great cooling performance
- High quality construction and finish
- One of the best mounting solutions we’ve seen
- Comes with two 140mm 1200 RPM fans and Low-Noise adapters
- Lifetime socket support for new CPUs
Cons
- Has a similar foot print to its monstrous NH-D14 brother
- The beige and brown color scheme may not appeal to all tastes
- Priced at the top of the range for CPU coolers
