Noctua NH-D14 AMD & Intel CPU Air Cooler Review @ [H]

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FrgMstr

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Noctua NH-D14 AMD & Intel CPU Air Cooler Review - Noctua is back with us again today with its NH-D14 CPU air cooler which is capable of being mounted to just about any desktop Intel or AMD CPU made over the last five years. Noctua is known for premium performance with a premium sound profile, but also with a premium price. How does this massive heatsink fare here today?
 
The thing to keep in mind is that this was only the second dual-tower super cooler, and it came out years ago (Thermalright's IFX14 was first). A year ago I asked Noctua when we could expect a followup. They said "really soon", and then the 14S came out... maybe that is what they meant?

But yes, it's a shame the legendary dual tower that leapfrogged Thermalright has remained static for so long.
 
I wonder if the SE2011 one with PWM fans would of done any better . The fans don't rotate any faster, just PWM types so probably be same .

For me the 14S is good compromise .
 
Really weird you guys publish this review today as I was literally just handed a box containing a brand new NH-D14. Considering this cooler is now verging on ancient... I'm not sure why I purchased the thing other than its solid reputation and the opportunity to compare it to the other 2 coolers I currently have available to me:

Noctua NH-C14--Oversized yet almost low-profile vertical cooler which soundly beats the ever popular 212 EVO while also improving RAM and VRM cooling.

Corsair H80i--the only All-In-One cooler I was positive would fit in my case and that I was relatively sure would actually be able to handle my OC. (also wanted to test Corsair Link software with Windows 8.1--beta works fine seems to me!)

I have yet to install the DH-14 but if it doesn't soundly beat the C-14 (which quite frankly is in a whole different league than the H80i unit I have received and the install I've managed with it) I'll be disappointed.

From the sounds of this review it is very unlikely the DH-14 will beat the C-14 by much... but to look at the two units side by side (one painted with a sharpie, one untouched) the D-14 looks like it definitely should.

My amateur testing will be done with an undersized and apparently very common Rosewill Challenger chassis. The case has respectable airflow for an outdated and undersized midtower, and I've improved on it some, and then detracted from it by using the window panel from the nearly identical NZXT M59.


I think setting up a testing platform that has less than perfect thermal (and backplate tension) characteristics may show some more drastic results than the ultra-clean and stripped down methodology used in the very professional [H]ardOCP review.
 
the Noctua original fans are limiting the performance of the D14. with aftermarket 140mm fans, it can keep temps for 4.8Ghz Sandy in check, comparable to a Corsair H100.
 
I'm surprised it's still $80 for this. I bought one in 2009 for under $50 and found that it's been fantastic in my wife's rig that's equipped with an i7 920.
 
You can easily drop a few degrees extra with this cooler if you get rid of the 140mm fan use 2x 120mm fans, with both of them pointing towards the center of the cooler.

Blowing the hot air from the first tower through the second tower is kind of silly.

If you want a few more degrees dropped, you can build a shroud from the center of the cooler that goes to an exhaust fan on the top of the computer case.

I have the "original" of this cooler, and have done all of the above.

I filled out the form on Noctua's website to have them send me the 2011 mounting kit for free when I switched to LGA 2011.
 
I miss my NH-D14. I like my Phanteks PH-TC14PE in black better.
 
Maybe I missed it, but did the installation part skip discussion on how hard or easy it was to mount? I read it twice and saw only discussion on ram slot blockage. Maybe a discussion of the mounting process was on another page?

Also, please keep including the i30 on your charts. I had to replace a HSF recently and didn't have a ton of money, and your reviews convinced me to get the i30 as an inexpensive but high performing heatsink. I have been VERY pleased with the i30, as its price/performance can't be beat. So please don't drop it from your cooler review charts until it is totally discontinued, and even then maybe review whatever replaces it. It's one of the best "secrets" for cooling out there I think, and I found out about it right here.
 
You would have to pry my D14 from my cold dead hands to get it from me! I bought the 2011 with the PWM fans, and use the low noise adapters on my 3770k. Keeps its nice and cool at 4.5 ghz, and nearly silent.
 
I thought I posted something about how this cooler hasn't changed since it was last reviewed except for the upgrade to PWM yesterday, but I guess not. It should be no surprise that the 14S and 12S beat the old D14 - there have been 5 years spent in heatsink and fan development, and CPU dies have gotten smaller with better heat/power regulation. The C14 is a great example of this - it significantly outperforms the D14 at a lower noise level.

There is an actual NH-D14 successor (not just new mounting brackets) slated for Q2 or Q3 2014 with Active Noise Cancellation. You can check it out here.
 
I've been using the NH-D14 as a passive cooler with fans detached in my i7-2600k powered HTPC since 2010. I'm looking forward to the successor ;-)
 
drowsyhaze said:
I thought I posted something about how this cooler hasn't changed since it was last reviewed except for the upgrade to PWM yesterday, but I guess not. It should be no surprise that the 14S and 12S beat the old D14 - there have been 5 years spent in heatsink and fan development, and CPU dies have gotten smaller with better heat/power regulation. The C14 is a great example of this - it significantly outperforms the D14 at a lower noise level.

There is an actual NH-D14 successor (not just new mounting brackets) slated for Q2 or Q3 2014 with Active Noise Cancellation. You can check it out here.
Click to expand...

In my real-world testing so far, the NH-D14 performs just as well as the C14. Actually, because the D14 is brand spankin' new and the C14 baseplate is unlapped, the old D14 seating I managed is getting slightly better idle temps than I was getting with the "C" and the D14 cools the chip down faster between Haswell's constant moderate spiking. These two coolers are essentially equal in performance, which says a lot for the C in my mind, because while it's not cheaper, it was obviously a lot cheaper for Noctua to produce and it's a lot shorter vertically. But in ease of use: the C14 is a pain in the ass to install or reseat because of visibility issues and somewhat difficult bottom fan removal. As for noise level... a practical comparison shows the two Noctuas to be equally quiet. Compared to the H80i unit I received that is pictured above (which was apparently defective) it's like pitch black and stark white. The water cooler wasn't noisy during normal "quiet mode" operation as long as the processor wasn't thinking. Any effort on the part of my 4770k would cause the fans to ramp slightly and the noise was pretty offensive. Particularly during post and after waking from sleep, when the 2 Corsair fans went to 100% , whoever might have been standing around would be compelled to comment on the abrupt vaccum cleaner noise level. Routing the 2 fans to the motherboard headers and setting my own fan curve helped, but throwing the fans back into the package was the best solution. The 2 NZXT Performance fans that came with the old M59 chassis worked much better on the H80i, which is a sad joke.

The D14 is absolutely the largest (vertically) HS that will fit in the Rosewill Challenger and it's a bad fit unless you have the window panel for the extra 1mm or so. I realize a lot of people like having a Full Tower but even a more modern Mid Tower is typically a good bit larger than this case. I bet there are a lot of people out there that went with this case and can't find anything they want to upgrade to. I've bought tons of them for various builds and the discontinued NZXT M59 for its window panel to swap in on mine, and I'll probably buy another because its cheaper and easier than doing a panel of my own for the Challenger. I think the Challenger is now discontinued as well, and once they are sold out the actual basic design... which goes back to the NZXT Gamma AFAIK, will be gone. Well, that's fine, the Optical Drive Area is hideous and the front panel is a dust nightmare without much good ventilation in its stock orientation. In order to make this case flow you really need to chop it up. So hopefully someone will design a case that I like in this size that I don't have to mangle to live with soon.

Now the meat of the problem. Comparing either of the Noctua coolers to the cute little H80i (largest radiator AIO I thought I could easily fit the case) is pointless. The Noctuas both hit my target which was making it through 2 hours of default blend torture test in prime 95 27.9 @ 4.4Ghz 1.232Vcore and 4.2GHz 1.188Cache without throttling. Scoff if you like, but the default blend test starts this particular 4770k off in the low 60'sC. At a certain point after the end of the first rotation prime will spike these temps much higher for a while, easily throttling a chip that's already pretty hot and struggling. The NH-C14 was able to keep this from happening while the CM Hyper 212 EVO it replaced was not. The NH-D14 can handle this test, as well, but the H80i was clearly not up to the task.

Bottom line here is that the mounting system on the two Noctua coolers I have is the same and it's very very good on 1150. The mounting system on the Corsair unit is terrible and getting a proper seating to give the cooler a chance was almost impossible for me. Then, during the last of my 3 attempts to reseat the H80i and get proper tension, I noticed it had actually begun to leak. Whether this was because it took a slight shock at one point during reinstallation or because I placed too much pressure on the tubing (leaving the block on the CPU and disconnecting the rad from the chassis is probably not a good idea) I'm unclear. It may have been slowly leaking from the very beginning, there was some evidence of residue beneath the hoses. It did no damage and I was careful to monitor the unit at all times while it was operating, but I didn't think to all out prepare a leak test. The event would have been catastrophic had I not noticed the leak while the unit was disconnected. Given the success so many have with this tried and tested but not universally loved design on the H80i, I am positive I got a bad example. I suspect it took a good shock during shipment or was already refurbished or damaged/returned even though I bought it from a authorized retailer under the assumption that it was new. It's being replaced and I will try again, probably with only 1 video card during the initial testing... I'm concerned the tubing is not flexible enough for the tight space in which I have it placed, but the picture above doesn't look out of the ordinary in that respect to me. I'll update when I get the replacement H80i in but if this is how most AIOs are mounted and the second unit doesn't perform any better I don't think I'd be willing to try any other similarly sized AIOs available as I simply haven't found any others aesthetically appealing. I'd be looking at a custom loop and that's a pretty serious time/money investment. Sounds fun!
 
Oh yeah, the D14 is pretty easy to install. For real. You have to take the center fan out, obviously, and I put that 140mm fan on the back of the unit instead (I painted both the fans with a Sharpie because I just don't like the way Noctua's color scheme looks). But yeah, there's enough room in between the two towers for just a regular screw driver to reach straight down to the two beefy mounting screws and you can actually see them so it's a sinch. The best thing about the Noctua mounting system on both the C-14 and NH-D14 is that at all points of the process you are going to fully tighten all screws until they stop. There is no head scratching at any point of the install. The C14 is a pain, though. You just can't physically see what you are trying to get to at several steps.

20131228_081425_zpse6a061bc.jpg~original
 
Wow! This is certainly a surprise. I havent really kept up with the latest and greatest heatsinks like this one but just assumed that the legendary D14 was still king of the hill. Really surprised to see it outperformed like this. Not that its by a huge margin but its still knocked down a peg.

Honestly though I guess I assumed the D14 would always be on top because I figured heat sinks had kind of tapped out in terms of potential. I mean we havent seen any great leaps from them in a while. This one is near ancient in terms of PC enthusiast parts but stayed in the top .1% for a long time with nothing really new and great coming up to compete with it or others like it like the Silver Arrow. The only place real strides have been made is in the cheaper units with coolers like the $30 Hyper 212+ giving you almost the same performance for 1/3 of the price.
 
I'm using this for my Ivy Bridge i5, this is quite an older cooler though I was surprised to see this review.

It performs the same as average 120mm closed-loop water systems but with zero risks of water leak and pump failure, and extremely quiet.

The only thing I'm considering to upgrade to right now is Swifttech H220 ...
 
Vittra said:
The U14S is not the replacement for the NH-D14. This is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=E7Y9dV0XX6s#t=211
Click to expand...

I like the U14S but it's taller than the D14 and doesn't fit in my case. If they can keep the coolers under 160mm in height, I think that's best. The Secufirm mounting system is amazing but I simply don't like the look or idea of hanging larger and larger and more oblong HS's onto my boards.

Active Noise Cancelling is cool but I'm more interested in making use of it where sound is genuinely a problem, like the local airport, which is too close for comfort. The NH-D14 is already whisper quiet at 100% fanspeed.

Obviously there is a reason behind the odd coloring of Noctua fans. I suspect they have stuck with the colors because it's good for their profit margins as well as the performance of the fan materials. The material going into the "industrial" black fans the rep mentioned is more rigid. I assume these fans will be noisier.

FWIW I have experienced no issues with any of my black sharpied Noctuas, and I have done about 6 of them. You want to be careful about too many coats on the fins in order to avoid getting the weight out of balance.
 
if i am reading the graphs right the u14s beats the d14... hmm
 
I know it's a bit of a derailment but I have finally completed installation and testing of a brand new Corsair H55 that I ordered direct from the manufacturer on their snazzy website. It arrived with a little ribbon/bow tied around it and the installation was much much easier than the H80i unit I pictured earlier in the post as part of the test of the Noctua NH-d14 vs. the NH-c14 vs. the Corsair 120mm AIO watercooler.

Obviously, I didn't buy the unit planning to use it in a single fan orientation, so I felt it was fair to give it the best opportunity available and installed my favorite branded fans instead of the included single brushless Corsair fan. Using 2x Noctua NF-P12 fans (painted black with Sharpie marker), this unit has completely exceeded my expectations. It is a couple degrees behind the Noctuas (which are essentially equal) but it doesn't freak out like I thought it would when I unleashed the higher quality 4770k chip I recently purchased. So I am comparing results from a 4.6GHz 1.265V overclock on the H55 in push-pull to a 4.4GHz 1.200v overclock on either Noctua, and still the H55 is keeping up. I was fully prepared to dial back my chip some if need be to improve VRM cooling and visual appeal, but it's not necessary. Now I'll just wait to see how long the pump lasts. Luckily, my computer sleeps perfectly 10min after last input.
 
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