NZXT Havik 140 CPU Cooler Review

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

NZXTs first step into the cooling world with the Havik 140 was a good one. The cooler performs well and has a good look to it. The white fans and their funky blade design have a different look than the majority of other coolers on the market. The fans are also relatively quiet for their size and CFM rating. Typically fans that push over 90CFM have noise ratings well above 30dBA. NZXTs fan blade design pushes 90.3CFM @ 25dBA each.

The overall size of the Havik 140 is large. It stands 166mm or 6.5 inches tall, so measuring your case will be a must. You can also cut some of the height of the Havik 140 by swapping the fans out for a pair of 120mm fans; it wouldnt gain you much but it would drop the overall height to 6.2 inches. Its overall weight of 1035g could be an issue for some as well when transporting the system long distances. The upside is the way the mounting system is set up the cooler can be removed and installed easily.

As I noticed in my testing the bowed base is sensitive to the mounting direction. The directions didnt have anything thing in them in regards to this, but I did see a nice improvement in performance by turning the cooler so the heatpipes and direction of the bow was parallel to the socket locking lever. Again, the way the mounting system is set up, switching this was easy and only took a minute.

Overall, the cooler did perform well. With the Havik 140 having an MSRP of $74.99 that firmly plants it in the high-end air and up against coolers like the Zalman CNPS11X, Prolimatech Super Mega and Thermalright Venomous X. In my testing at 4GHz the Havik 140 was only a little behind the Zalman CNPS11X, but both were still running cooler than the stock Intel HSF at stock 2.8GHz. Also, with white versions of cases like the NZXT Phantom and the Corsair 600T being released, the Havik 140 and its white fans would look pretty nice.

Overall, the Havik 140 from NZXT is a very nice first offering. With the MSRP of $74.99 it’s not to out of the question for most enthusiasts, but enough competition at that price range they will think about the purchase. It will be interesting to see where the price lands once the Havik 140 gets into the wild and places like Newegg start to carry it.

Legit Bottom Line: NZXT has come to the table with a solid first offering with the Havik 140. With the MSRP of $74.99 its price is not unreasonable.