In late 2005 Noctua released their first CPU coolers; the NH-U9 and NH-U12. They immediately began to win awards from many enthusiast technology sites, including Bigbruin.com where each performed well enough to win the "Highly Recommended" award. Five years later Noctua now has five different CPU coolers on the market, and one of their latest releases is the NH-C14. This cooler features a downdraft setup, which has a horizontal design where the cooling tower and fans rest parallel to the motherboard. This is a little different than most other tower coolers, and the promotional image below provides a good illustration of exactly how this cooler is oriented.



Before taking a closer look at the sample provided for review, let's check out some of the published data on the NH-C14 CPU cooler taken from the official product page on the Noctua website.

Features:

C-Type top-flow design - The NH-C14’s six heatpipe c-type design allows for superb quiet cooling performance while maintaining a much lower profile than today’s tower-style coolers and providing excellent airflow over RAM modules and near-socket mainboard components.

Dual NF-P14 FLX fans - The NH-C14 comes with two of Noctua’s award-winning, premium quality NF-P14 140mm fans that can be fine-tuned according to the user’s needs via the supplied Low-Noise (L.N.A.) and Ultra-Low-Noise Adaptors (U.L.N.A.).

Low Profile Mode - Run with a single NF-P14 fan underneath the fin stack and with the top fan removed, the NH-C14 measures only 105mm in height, which makes it ideal for use in smaller enclosures and HTPC applications.

High Clearance Mode - The lower NF-P14 fan can be removed in order to provide additional clearance for chipset coolers or RAM modules with tall heat-spreaders. Run with a single fan on top, the NH-C14 provides a full 65mm of clearance.

SecuFirm2™ multi-socket mounting system - Noctua’s enthusiast grade SecuFirm2™ multi-socket mounting provides broad socket compatibility (LGA1366, LGA1156, LGA1155, LGA775, AM2, AM2+ and AM3) and meets the highest demands in safety, performance and ease-of-use.

Noctua NT-H1 high-end thermal compound - Noctua's much-acclaimed NT-H1 is a well proven pro-grade TIM solution that provides minimum thermal resistance, excellent ease-of-use and outstanding reliability.

Cooler Specifications:

» Socket compatibility:
   » Intel LGA1366, LGA1156, LGA1155, LGA775
   » AMD AM2, AM2+, AM3 (backplate required)
» Dimensions:
   » Without Fan: Height 105 mm, Width 140 mm, Depth 166 mm
   » With Fan: Height 130 mm, Width 140 mm, Depth 166 mm
» Weight:
   » Without Fan: 700 g
   » With Fan: 850/1000* g
» Material: Copper (base and heat-pipes), aluminum (cooling fins), soldered joints & nickel plating
» Fan compatibility: 140x140x25mm / 120x120x25mm
» Warranty: 6 Years

Fan Specifications

» Model: Noctua NF-P14
» Bearing: SSO-Bearing
» Rotational Speed (+/- 10%): 1200 RPM
» Rotational Speed with L.N.A. (+/- 10%): 900 RPM
» Rotational Speed with U.L.N.A. (+/- 10%): 750 RPM
» Airflow: 110,3 m³/h
» Airflow with L.N.A.: 83,7 m³/h
» Airflow with U.L.N.A.: 71,2 m³/h
» Acoustical Noise: 19,6 dB(A)
» Acoustical Noise with L.N.A.: 13,2 dB(A)
» Acoustical Noise with U.L.N.A.: 10,1 dB(A)