Noctua NH-D14 Review

[xartin]

After discovering the stock cpu heatsink that shipped with the Intel i7-920 D0 cpu I purchaced for my monster rig was putting the health of my system at risk due to 96 deg. celcius temps... That's close to 200 degrees Fahrenheit for my fellow imperial thermostat huggers

There was no alternative but order something that could cope with the high system demands I require, still fit on both my corsair 800D chassis and gigabyte X58A-UD5 motherboard. After some research noctua who's products i have personally never used supposedly came highly recommended for use with Intel socket 1366 i7 systems.

My idle load temps before installation were averaging over 65 degrees celcius or hot enough to boil water and warm a few pizza pops...

after installation with the chassis side removed averaging 10% cpu loads the Noctua dropped my temps by 20 degrees celcius immediately. in the bios it idles at 36 degrees... a monsterous temperature drop.

Politely excusing the "puke" colored 140mm and 120mm fans this bad boy ships with it hasn't failed to meet expectations thus far. If your as skeptical about new or unfamiliar brands as I tend to be this is certainly proven to be a worthy exception. Fortunately the fans on the NH-D14 are movable and can be attached with clips to the heatsink so if you have aftermarket memory with large heatsinks the 120MM fan can be mounted to clear your memory.

Noted I opted to use the 120MM fan to cool my lower hard drive bay instead due to the 800D providing a ginormous fan in the back of the chassis.

After reviewing the photos you might be asking yourself what the heck is an air cooled heatsink doing in a 800D with that monster Danger Den Black Ice 480 GTX radiator? the radiator fits but if I want to use it I need to find some 90 degree compression fittings for 1/2" ID tubing or remove my bluray burner... next time I build one of these monster water cooled systems the Black Ice 380 GTX will definitely be the wiser choice for a 800D chassis. Removal of my bluray burner is not an option i'm willing to accept

Anyone know where to find 90 degree compression fittings for 1/2" ID tubing?

That Noctua will be getting a back seat to the water cooling kit eventually however the NH-D14 has lived up to it's expectations.

After testing with 5 running wow clients with the case side closed the cpu temps never went above 60 degrees celcius! still a 30 degree temperature drop under load...

[Tim]

Hell yea that is some pretty damn good photoshooting there.

Quick question, I can't seem to figure out what you are liquid cooling, since it isn't your GPU or CPU?

[xartin]

I planned on doing the cpu and both gpu's but the radiator size blunder I made by ordering a 4x 120mm radiator instead of a 3x 120mm version has been a thorn in my plans. The radiator fittings are directly above the reservoir tank which kinks the water cooling hoses. I might sell the 480 GTX radiator and buy a 380 GTX instead before the end of summer.

[jincuteguy]

Wait you been using this whole beefy system with a stock cpu cooler? Gratz on the new DH14, that is one of the best air cooler for any overclocked cpu on the market right there. You can also buy the CoolerMastery Hyper 212+ cooler for $30 which performs about the same as this Noctua NHD14 but with $60 cheaper.

[xartin]

I hadn't recalled until I saw this video again but this cooler was also used by the guy that 'boxed 64 wow accounts!

YouTube - ‪Wow Multiboxing (64 accounts)‬‏

[Tim]

Very cool. Same guy did 74 accounts here: Dailymotion - Multiboxing 75 chamans - une vidéo Gaming

EDIT: I've done 77 on my PC before. I should make a video and become ULTRA sexy.

Oooor.... shoot for 100 WoWs on a single PC?

EDIT #2: That link above actually sucks, but still, 100x on a single PC would be fun.

[RavingNoah]

You guys are playing with fire. I expect any time now to hear about a vortex opening up and swallowing the Earth. XD

"Whaaaaaaat's haaaaaapppennnnniiing?!?" I screamed over the intercom, mashing the button and nearly breaking a finger.

The speaker crackled and at first only the soft buzz of white noise could be made out against the shaking and crashing noises as the building tried to tear itself apart. But then, a lone voice matter-of-factly responded.

"It was Tim and Xartin. They both each hit three hundred thirty-three simultaneous Warcraft accounts this morning, accidently activating Pi..."

XD Heh heh...can't you just see it? "This summer...Pwnageddon!

[xartin]

Originally Posted by RavingNoah

You guys are playing with fire. I expect any time now to hear about a vortex opening up and swallowing the Earth. XD

"Whaaaaaaat's haaaaaapppennnnniiing?!?" I screamed over the intercom, mashing the button and nearly breaking a finger.

The speaker crackled and at first only the soft buzz of white noise could be made out against the shaking and crashing noises as the building tried to tear itself apart. But then, a lone voice matter-of-factly responded.

"It was Tim and Xartin. They both each hit three hundred thirty-three simultaneous Warcraft accounts this morning, accidently activating Pi..."

XD Heh heh...can't you just see it? "This summer...Pwnageddon!

I need say nothing else but ROFL

In other news I finally got the 90 degree rotary fittings for my water cooling radiator... as soon as i get the nerve to disassemble my 480 GTX cards i'm going hydro