First Noctua NH-D14 review is up!

[Clunk]

Compared to a TRUE, Megahalems and Noctua NH-U12P SE2, also tested with three fans.

[jim]

Compared to a TRUE, Megahalems and Noctua NH-U12P SE2, also tested with three fans.

Great review, although I have to say I'm a little surprised at the recommendation given the findings.

I still think it's too much money for not enough improvement.

[Clunk]

Which bit mate? I think the overall package is quite a pleasing one, and even though it's got a few compatibility issues, for the people that it's aimed at, it really is a cracking, high quality bit of kit.

The thing to remember about products like this is that the majority of people don't need them and won't see much benefit, but for the people that are maybe looking for some silent overclocking, they are the ones who will really appreciate it.

For the rest of us, there's much cheaper coolers that will do the job.

[amjedm]

Could this be the first cooler you need to buy a new bigger case for (so it fits)?

[Pob255]

The more I look at it the more I think Scythe Mine on steroids

[floppybootstomp]

Noctua are good.

I've had one cooling my AMD 6400 dualie 3.2Ghz for about 30 months now with a pair of Noctua 120mm fans in push/pull config on the cooler and another pair of Noctua 120mm fans in push/pull config within the Antec Sonata case.

Of my 4 machines, the coolest and the quietest, I have nothing but praise for Noctua.

And they'll communicate with you as well, which is a bonus.

Noctua products do cost more, they're up there with the 'Be Quiet' fans in terms of price (and quality).

Which may or may not be the reason we're seeing so many negative comments in this thread.

Sour grapes?

[Pob255]

Well the price has always been the sticking point for me.
Not used one of there cooler but I do have a NF-S12 fan
Are they nice, high quality things? Yes
Are they worth the premium . . . No
I say No because I've gone through quite a few brands and models of fan and while this one is high up the list I don't rate it above other high quaility fans that can be got for around £10, granted it's only £5 more but the difference between £10 and £15 is 50%/30% depending on which way you look at it and I don't think you're getting 30% more fan for the money.

I love the design of this cooler (not surpriseing as I loved the mine aswell) the main issue I have with this cooler is the target audience.
Thoes who are trying to push their day to day cooling and overclock as high as it will go will start looking towards water cooling at this sort of price or one of the self contained water loops.
So who is this aimed at? it's too expensive for mainy people just to get 1 or 2 degrees lower temps.

[jim]

Which bit mate? I think the overall package is quite a pleasing one, and even though it's got a few compatibility issues, for the people that it's aimed at, it really is a cracking, high quality bit of kit.

The thing to remember about products like this is that the majority of people don't need them and won't see much benefit, but for the people that are maybe looking for some silent overclocking, they are the ones who will really appreciate it.

For the rest of us, there's much cheaper coolers that will do the job.

I just think that at the end of the day, the point of a cooler is performance and nothing more.

You're paying a massive premium over other coolers that you've shown to be only 2 or 3 degrees worse off with the same fan arrangement.

I don't really see where the heatsink market is going to go in the next few years - ultimately you reach the thermal limits of metal, and then the only way you can make them better is to make them bigger, or put more, bigger or faster fans onto it. Which is precisely what Noctua have done.

Admittedly yes, some people will ignore the fact that it's oversized and overpriced, and take it purely because it's the best, but I'm not sure that they were the sole target market here.

[Clunk]

Well, by Noctua's own admission, it's aimed at the enthusiast, and we all know that most things aimed at "gamers" or "enthusiasts" generally get hit by the law of diminishing returns and are generally expensive. Unless something radical comes along to change air cooling, then it's just going to be the same tit for tat, 1c here and 1c there game that's been played for the last few years as far as the top performing heat sinks are concerned.

It's the same for every high end product out there really, take memory as a good example, does 2000MHz CAS 7 make a massive difference over a 1600MHz CAS 8 kit? Nope, does it make a small difference that can be used for benching, yes it does, and is there a market for this? Yes there is and that's all that the manufacturers are doing, exploiting that market, after all, many of the people that buy the NH-D14 are probably the ones that would have made do with the NH-U12P SE2 previously.

[floppybootstomp]

I just think that at the end of the day, the point of a cooler is cooling and nothing more.

And the Noctua I have, a NH-U12F, cools very well and very quietly.

Simple as that really.

Prior to using the Noctua I had tried the stock AMD cooler (rubbish) and a Zalman CNPS9500 (fair, quiet, but cooling not so good). So I was very pleasantly surprised with this huge new air cooler I had just bought.

It IS big, the one I have, blocks one of the four memory slots on my Asus M2N-Sli board, but Noctua say with this new model that won't happen.

Looking at the size of the new model, I am sceptical of that claim.

You pays yer money, you....

[vicar]

Any comments from someone who has one?

[Clunk]

Any comments from someone who has one?

All my comments were from someone who's got one

[floppybootstomp]

Another review, full of praise

Seems to me the main criticism here is from tightwads, lol

In this life, in most cases, you get what you pay for

[kmac]

Compared to a TRUE, Megahalems and Noctua NH-U12P SE2, also tested with three fans.

Nice review. I have the Megahalems (Socket 1156 version)
The temps of the Noctua and Megahalems with two 120mm fans are almost identical.
Cost wise the Megahalems with two 120mm Nexus (Yate Loons) is 45+10= GBP55
The Noctua is circa GBP 70, albeit with a 120mm and 140mm fan

I like Noctua as a company and have a couple of their fans as I like a really quiet rig.
But there seems to be only one degree between Notucs 120/140 and Megahalems 120/120
Not worth the extra money to me, especially with the issue about impedeing memmory modules
I think maybe after a little while the price will come down a bit making it more worth while

Happy with my Megahalems.

[Clunk]

They are very close, yes, but then again, if you look at the price of a Megahalems, plus a pair of Noctua fans it comes to about £80.

I just tested the Megahalems and NH-D14 with some huge CFM fans too, surprisingly, the NH-D14 still came out top.

[kmac]

Oh no question sounds like an excellent heatsink.
And I guess reasonably priced given the cost of Noctua fans on their own.