Noctua NH-D14 CPU Cooler Review

Posted by: Sahil Mannick (Helios1234) on: 11/08/2009 05:05 PM [ Print | 0 comment(s) ]

Content

The tool kit and thermal paste
The bundle is very healthy with the NH-D14. The heatsink comes with the premium Noctua fans, and these are supplied with the U.L.N.A adapters. The two adapters provided allow for two fans to be connected to them, which in turn only requires one fan header on the motherboard. The common parts box also contains the manual, a very handy screwdriver (my previous one from the NH-U12P is one, if not the most useful tool I own having use much use in the past), the premium grade NT-H1 thermal paste, some rubber mounts for the fan, 4 fan screws and finally a metal Noctua case badge. The manuals come in a handy leaflet-like sachet.

The installation kit
Moving on to the installation kit box, we see two plastic packets, one labelled the Intel Set and the other one, not surprisingly, the AMD set. For more information on exactly what the installation kit is comprised of, check the installation page. Now is the chance for me to praise Noctua's dedication to provide ongoing support for maximum socket compatibility. The NH-D14 must be one of the first cooler to come with factory support of the latest Intel socket 1156. Along that, there's compatibility with Intel LGA1366/1156/775 and AMD AM2(+)/AM3, although another backplate is required for the AMD sockets.

The bundle
Here, we see the full bundle laid out.

An absolute goliath
Now for the cooler. Immediately, we notice all the features Noctua mentioned, the dual radiator design, the dual fan setup, the six heatpipes and the overall asymmetrical design for RAM compatibility.

And for comparison...
To fully comprehend the sheer size of the cooler, we need to compare the NH-D14 to its older brother the NH-U12P. While the NH-U12P already sports a hefty 70mm thick heatsink, the NH-D14 is comprised of 2 x 52mm thick radiators! That is sure a first sign of what we can expect from this cooler. With the fans installed, the NH-D14 absolutely dwarfs the NH-U12P! Both have very similar radiator heights although the NF-P14 fan does protrude slightly above.