Noctua NH-D14 HSF Review – The Best CPU Cooler Ever?

External Impressions

With the NH-D14 out of the packing we can get a good look at it. This is different from Noctuas previous dual fan configuration. Instead of twin 120mm fans front and back the NH-D14 has a front mounted 120mm and a center mounted 140mm fan. The cooler is also pretty much assembled; all you have to do is install the SecuFirm mounting system to your motherboard and put the cooler on.

Now, like I said before, the NH-D14 is not massive, but it is big. Here I have the NH-D14 next to a standard 12oz Dr. Pepper can for a little scale. Is bigger better? Guess we will find out together.

Pulling the fans off we can get a better look at the cooler itself. This time around Noctua made the sound reducing silicon strips way beefier than in coolers past. Past strips were 1/8″ thick, and used a sticky backing to hold it to the cooler. The new ones are almost 1/2″ thick and 1/4″ wide, and pressed into the fins. The fins of the NH-D14 are a little thinner than those on the NH-U12P, but still feel very solid. I never felt like I was going to bend a fin.

Looking closer at the top of the cooling fins the profile looks like a saw blade, and if there was a doubt as to who made the cooler, Noctua has their name and owl logo stamped into the fins.

The NH-D14 has a twin tower arrangement with 6 heatpipes, giving 12 vertical pipes for dissipating heat. With the large amount of surface area of the fins, along with the dual fans and 6 heatpipes, the NH-D14 should do very well.

The base of the NH-D14 doesn’t have a perfect finish, but neither did the NH-U12P. Here we can also see the pre-installed mounting tabs.