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Noctua NH-C14 Lower Noise Heatsink Review
Noctua NH-C14 Lower Noise Heatsink Review
  97%   
Abstract: UPDATED with new support bracket details. The Noctua NH-C14 is a big heatsink for sure, but remarkably by orienting the fans and aluminum fin stack in a top-down direction, Noctua keep the heatsinks' height to just 130mm. That's a far cry more compact than your typical 160mm tall tower heatsink, but that hasn't made the NH-C14 into a slouch.

 Manufacturer  Category  Published  Author 
Noctua   Cooling / Heatsinks   Feb 07, 2011   Max Page  

Home > Reviews > Page: 360° View - Noctua NH-C14 Heatsink

360° View - Noctua NH-C14 Heatsink


Information on Frostytech's test methodology is available here.

The top and bottom 140mm NF-P14 fans spin at 1200-750RPM but it's best to keep the speeds matched. Two 3-pin motherboard headers provide power, neither fan is PWM compliant. Looking at the top of the Noctua NH-C14 heatsink with the fans removed you can see two small open squares about half way up the fins stack - these are for the screwdriver to pass through when installing the heatsink. The aluminum fin stack is 140x137mm in size.

The Noctua NH-C14 heatsink stands 130mm tall, the bulk of it elevated 66mm over the CPU socket for clearance (37mm including the bottom fan). The six 6mm diameter copper heat pipes pass through the 140x38mm aluminum fins in an asymmetrical pattern. Each nickel plated aluminum fin measures 0.4mm thick and is spaced 1.5mm apart. Note the wire fan clips securing the two fans. A portion of the fin edges are given a saw-toothed profile.

The nickel plated copper base plate measures 40x38mm in size. The copper base plate is 2mm to 5mm thick. The six 6mm diameter copper heatpipes are soldered to copper base plate and aluminum fins along their entire length. A steel support column (center) helps protect the heatpipes from bending under the weight of the upper portion of this 1000 gram heatsink.

Base Finish and Flatness

Flipping a heatsink over to inspect the business end is often a simple indicator of overall cooler quality. More practically speaking, a heatsink is in many ways only as effective as the contact it makes with the processor - the flatter and smoother the better. Base finish is one of the criteria that Frostytech measure in the course of evaluating heatsinks, and it involves two distinct aspects. Surface Finish is the first; this is calculated with the aid of Surface Roughness Comparator that has a cross section of common machine surface finishes and their numerical surface roughness equivalents in microinches. The second is Surface Flatness. This is tested with an engineers straight edge or proven flat surface, in two axis.

The Noctua NH-C14 heatsink has a machined nickel-plated copper base with a surface roughness of approximately ~16 microinches, which is considered very good. The base plate is machined flat in both axis and very smooth. There is a slight ridged texture from the machining process.

Next up, let's see how this heatsink handles the heat compared to a selection of other heatsinks!

 Previous Page ° ° Next Page 

Table of Contents:

 1:  Noctua NH-C14 Lower Noise Heatsink Review
 2: — 360° View - Noctua NH-C14 Heatsink
 3:  Acoustic Sample and Heatsink Sound Levels
 4:  AMD Heatsink Temperature Comparisons
 5:  Intel LGA775/1156 Heatsink Temperature Comparisons

List all Noctua heat sinks that Frostytech tested?

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