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Noctua NH-U12S and NH-U14S CPU Cooler Review

Cooling/CPU Cooling by leeghoofd @ 2013-08-06

Austrian Cooler giant Noctua released a while back two new additions to their popular CPU cooling line-up. Two single slim design tower coolers in two different versions: the NH-U12S utilizing a 120mm fan and it's bigger brother the NH-U14S, sporting a bigger 140mm fan. Both coolers are designed for uncompromising performance, however not at the cost of mainboard and RAM compatibility. Unlike other cooler manufacturers Noctua isn't updating it's product range on the fly, a clear sign that the design and technology behind their products is reflected in great lasting performance and reliability. The latter statement is backed up by a 6 year warranty on the cooler and included Fan.

Noctua NH-U14S Unpacking

The bigger 140mm Fan equipped brother's package hardly differs from the NH-U12S. Again very classy packaging, Intel assembly in one box, AMD in the other one and the third box includes the accessoires.

Again the NH-U14S is ready to use out of the box, just install the mounting mechanism, apply the thermal grease and secure the cooler. The NH-U14S is with 165mm slightly taller then the NH-U12S sibling. Also is it wider (150mm vs 125mm) and the depth of the tower has increased from 45mm to 52mm.

Similar coating on the copper base plate for maxium and equaly heat diffusion over the six nickel plated copper heatpipes.

The specifications of the Noctua NH-U14S are:

Intel compatibility: LGA2011, LGA1156, LGA1155 & LGA1150
Intel compatibility: LGA1366 & LGA775 via optional NM-I3 mounting kit ( free of charge )
AMD compatibility: AMD AM2, AM2+, AM3, AM3+, FM1 & FM2 (backplate required)
Dimensions: 165 x 52 x 150mm (H x D x W)
Copper based heatpipes and base, aluminium cooling fins, soldered joints & nickel plating
Weight: 770g without fan

The included fan is the Noctua NF-F15 Focused Flow PWM. with a speed variation from 300 - 1200 RPM. Typical for a large sized fan is that the noise emission is lower than smaller version. The NF-A15 PWM is rated at just 19.2dB(A)

Something special about this cooler is that it's in fact a 150mm frame, with 120mm mounting holes. Noctua's AAO ( advanced Acoustic Optimisation ) has been used in the frame. On the Blades flow acceleration channels have been implemented to maximise the efficiency and minimise noise emission.

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