Noctua NH-U14S, Premium CPU Cooler with NF-A15 140mm Fan (Brown)

Keeps temps on my FX8320 as low as I want while being whisper silent. Was bigger than I thought though so be careful of your case.

Really good product. Love Noctua, always premium quality, packaging and service. This does a brilliant job, and really helps me overclock even further, the difference this makes to the CPU temp is amazing. using phenom x4 ii 965, Overclocked from 3.4GHz to 4.2GHz and running stable with this.

This Noctua CPU Cooler is tall and bulky (over 16cm tall) , I had to buy a new case to fit it. The Corsair PC Case 200R was compatible & it fitted nicely without touching the side panel. My CPU is now running between 31C when idle and 39C when gaming that latter temp is a serious drop from the previous cooler’s 52C. Installation was easy. The CPU Cooler fan runs on a lower speed than your BIOS may be aware of is ok for a minimum, so I had to disable the minimum CPU speed in the BIOS. Highly recommended.

Great performance, easy to install, great and complete packaging. Some might wish for more color options. I don’t care as my case does not have a window. If you want performance numbers check professional reviews online. As far I as can tell it is as capable as most say and very quiet.

Btw, if you look at reviews carefully, you will see this cooler basically makes twin tower coolers pointless. It performs very well with quiet fan settings and is much easier to fit.

Overall a very good cooler. A few comments:

1. It fit very well on my motherboard. Before buying it, I was fearing that there might be a problem with the RAM dimms but fortunately there wasn’t any. The RAM sockets on my Asus Deluxe motherboard are placed just enough away from the CPU socket so that this Noctua fan can sit all the way down and be next to the closest RAM DIMM instead of above it.
2. If my motherboard’s RAM sockets were any closer to the CPU socket the fan of this cooler would be sitting above them. And despite having low profile RAM dimms (Corsair Vengeance) if the fan had been above the RAM it wouldn’t be able to go all the way down and I would be forced to have the fan slightly lifted upwards instead (or install it on the other side of the cooling tower – although this is a suboptimal configuration too).
3. It is a tall cooler but it did fit well in my mid-tower PC case. If you have any of the Fractal Design Define S, R4 or R5 models you will be fine.
4. I would prefer the colour of the fan to be black, instead of poop brown but my PC case is a closed one so I don’t mind it.
5. The build quality is premium and you also get 6 years warranty.
6. The packaging is premium.
7. You get a very good thermal paste.
8. I used to have the Cooler Master Hyper 212 evo (which costs 25) installed in my system before. With the EVO 212 I was able to achieve a good moderate overclock on my Intel i7 CPU. With the same overclock settings, the Noctua managed to reduce the temperature by about 5C on each core. Now, after increasing the clock frequency by 200Mhz and the voltage by 0.07V, I am getting the same temps as I used to get previously with the moderate overclock and Evo 212.
9. At same overclock settings it is quieter than the EVO 212. At same temperatures it is still quieter than the EVO 212.
10. Very easy installation. It didn’t require me to take the motherboard out of the case in order to install it. And the instruction manual was very good too.
11. If in the future you upgrade your motherboard to one the CPU socket of which doesn’t exist at the tie of purchase, you can contact Noctua and they will send you the appropriate bracket. So when I upgrade my PC I will re-install the EVO 212 back to my current system and install this Noctua on the new one (after Noctua sends me the appropriate bracket).

If you are building a new PC and you plan to overclock it then definitely spend 27 more and buy this cooler over the EVO 212 (especially if your case is a non-windowed one and you don’t care about colour aesthetics). Even if you already have an 212 EVO (or something equivalent to it) installed on your system, you can still buy this and install it on your current system now and benefit from it and when you build a new PC you can re-install the EVO 212 back to your current PC and install this Noctua on your new build (as Noctua will send you a new bracket for your future motherboard). Overall I think this cooler for 52 is a great product and the sweet spot between cooling performance, quality, acoustics, ease of installation, size and price.

Excellent build quality and easy to mount. The fan is quiet, and load temperatures dropped by 10C compared to a Cooler Master Hyper T4 (this is on an i7-7700K).

Due to the size (150mm wide), make sure to check motherboard compatibility on Noctua’s site before purchasing. They have a compatibility guide with just about every motherboard you can think of.

Very well packaged, and all the tools needed to do the job.
I have the i7 4970K running at 4.4 and it runs in the 35-40c range. Very quiet and just about fits into the standard case.
Very well engineered. It’s the Rolls-Royce of coolers. Very well recommend.

Currently keeps my Intel i7 7700k clocked at 5Ghz at a cool ~27c idle and max of 80c under heavy stress testing. Mounting it was very easy. 6 year warranty :D. Loses a star for the fan colour and because of its height clearance in a case. Ram clearance seems fine with low profile ram for sure. Basically better performance than most liquid coolers at a lower price and less noise.

his is most definitely the quietest build i have ever heard. my i5 6600k is slightly over clocked and my rig is cool as a cucumber.

Did not get to actually use this fan. Let me emphasize a few points from having at least taken it out of the box in the process of
“about to use it”.

– It feels very well made.
– Very nice design in air-flow across cooling veins as well as enough pipes with good diameter to help pull heat from the processor.
– Nice distance from CPU convection point of heat transfer as compared to the fan and heat-sink location above it.
– Very large fan, spins very easily and can move a lot of air. Just gave it a flick with my finger and felt it moving air well.

So why not 5 stars and why didn’t I keep it?
– Close to fit but ended up like 4mm too large to get my case closed. We liked the unit so much we almost cut a hole in the case just to keep the cooling unit. Because of this, I can not speak honestly to its actual performance and therefore don’t want to mislead anyone.

Poor documentation. Luckily I found a youtoube video. However, a very good product otherwise.

This is a big guy but also very quiet coming from Noctua. The installation bracket (Intel) was a breeze and quite simply the easiest cooler to put on. The instructions were a tiny bit confusing since they don’t provide much text to explain what needs to be done, it’s all diagrams and arrows. Otherwise I can’t fault this unit.

I fitted this inside of a Define R5 case.

This is an extreme performance air cooler! I’m very much against water cooling because of the risk of risk of leaks, because radiators are difficult to clean and because fans need to be powerful and noisy. Custom loops are also very expensive and maintenance takes a lot of time.
I’m also against dual tower designs because they are too heavy and might damage the motherboard and/or CPU. Dual fan radiators are not allways better than this radiator.
This cooler keeps my very hot AMD FX-9370 (8x 4.7GHZ) at between 1 and 60 degrees C with the original fan. If more performance is need one can add two high pressure & speedy fans (which are usually noisy). I have a big case which is well ventilated. Room temperature is between 21 and 27 degrees C.
The included fan is not the most silent possible but the included adapter makes it very quiet (and less efficient of course). I’m not using this silencer.
The fan is also a tiny bit bigger than a 140 mm square frame fan.
The retention system is very well designed, almost perfect.
In conclusion considering price, quality, noise, performance, ease of installation, weight, durability, customer support: best CPU cooler EVER!
Possible improvements:
– for even better performance I wish it was slightly bigger because my case would accept a taller wider and longer heatsink;
– direct contact heat pipes or mirror finish for the contact surface might improve performance a tiny bit more
– wire holders for fans are much better than any other system I used before but still could still be improved

I had tried water cooling with the Swiftech H240 X2 and after two failures (a defective PWM Splitter, and a seized water pump) I decided to go back to the more reliable air cooling solution. After some research, this model struck me as a rock solid investment. I have an X99 Asus Deluxe mainboard with the I7 5930 CPU. The unit arrived on time and installed without a hitch. It really rivals the temps I was getting the water cooling kit! And it is QUIET as heck! My idle temps are around 28 for all 6 cores and at around 20% cpu load, temps never got to 40C.

The quality has got to be best in class. I cannot say enough as to the quality – from the way they box this unit to all parts. This is truly a quality build. There are no compatibility issues for the 2011 as to room for some RAM heat sinks. It comes with the extra hardware to add another fan for a push pull configuration. The footprint is small and fits my mid size cube like case without any issues.

It cost a bit more than others out there but few can compare to this jewel. Highly recommended.

What can I say about this beast that hasn’t already been said?
Its a fan-bloody-tastic cooler. Its very quiet while still retaining excellent thermal dissapation.
I cant find any fault with the cooler although it requires the space to fit. Had no problem covering any sockets however it is very close to my right hand side dimms and I purchased low profile memory to increase the clearance.

his is exelent, i would pay double the price and still feel i have a bargin.

To sum up the review in one word: Exceptional.

The cooling is extremely good and it is utterly silent, having used cheap, poor quality 10 coolers that rattle ever since I started building/using computers, it amazed me at just how silent it was, I use an i5 4690k OC’ed to a very modest 4Ghz currently, even when the CPU is close to maximum usage for 2 hours straight or longer (demanding games/full virus scan) the temperature never went past 55C for one core and 49C for the other three, while the variation in core temps is slightly worrying, it would be a CPU related issue and is thus unrelated to this cooler, however the cooler did a fantastic job and kept the CPU well below the safe maximum operating temp of 72C.

While this is absolutely no fault of Noctua, the reason I chose this model is because its generally smaller than their other coolers but still had very good cooling and a very secure grip on the motherboard, I was hoping this smaller model would not obscure the first RAM slot on my motherboard specifically (Z97P-D3) but sadly it did, if I’d have known this I would have gone with one of the larger, beefier coolers, however that doesn’t mean this cooler is bad, it’s still fantastic and I would still recommend it.

It is worth noting that even if this is one of their smaller models, it is still very large and tall if you’ve only ever used cheap, small coolers, I still use an old Antec 902 mid-tower case and I had to remove the side fan plastic housing as it prevented the case from closing, even with it removed there is less than 1cm clearance between the side panel and the top of the fan, a bit too close for comfort so make sure to check if your case can fit it properly with space to spare.

Great noctua quality, If you have room for this thing i can’t recommend it enough. Just check measurements as it only just fitted inside my case. Comes with lots of accessories. Will always use Noctua products from now on.

Really good fan but there are two things you need to be aware:
1. In my ASUS ROG Maximus VI I have Kingston HyperX Beast RAM that I had to move to slots 2 and 4 since I was not able to use them due to a size of Noctua 14.
2. Your BIOS (as mine did) can actually report CPU fan issue and create panic attack. The cure is to lower down the minimum amount of rotation per minute in your BIOS for fan monitoring since this one is “little bit” bigger and needs less spinning. You can set it to 200 or 300 RPMs.

An amazing cooler…

Pros:
– Very Quiet! Cannot hear it over GPU fan at 20%
– Cool, idling around 28-30 degrees running 3 monitors (2 GPU 1 CPU) Gaming haven’t seen it reach above 55 degrees…
– 100% Fan speed (Highly unlikely it will be used) is noticeable however the fan never sees above 70% as I set it to that speed if the CPU gets to 70 degrees. Therefore making it quiet.
-Build Quality is amazing really sturdy and heafty.

Cons.
-(Debatable) Largish size (Very nitpicking right now)
Nothing Else.

So overall for the price I would recommend this cooler over any Stock Intel fan (Previous CPU cooler I had) as well as recommending it over the Hyper 212.

Works amazing! Keeps CPU extremely cool. I have a Intel i7 4790Kand even though I heard it runs very hot, I have had no issues with even getting close to overheating. Even on games like battlefield 4, and Grand Theft Auto 5, it doesn’t even get close to getting to warm. It was my first time building a PC, and I found that the fan was a little hard to connect on properly. Also, its VERY big! Make sure you have sufficant space in your case.

Fantastic piece of gear. Well worth every penny. Recommended.
However, I do not love it. What a silly way to describe a relationship with a computer part!

Excellent cooler, bought to replace Corsair H100i water cooler. It’s quieter, cools very nearly as well and it works without any software being needed. I added a second fan and it dropped the temps by a couple of degrees. The colour is a bit of a Marmite thing, but inside the case it’s out of site, unless you have a windowed side panel.

Decided to go with air instead of liquid cooling even though I have an i7-4770K overclocked to 4.4Ghz so like all Haswell chips, they run hot anyway. I almost purchased the Noctua NH-D14 but I am glad I didn’t. After researching CPU Coolers during the process of picking out parts for my new build, I found that the NH-U14S had great results in comparison to some larger, twin tower heat sink coolers like the NH-D14 or the Dark Rock 3 Pro. This is a very large heat sink itself and weighs 1.7lbs with the fan which I am as of now, only running one 140mm fan on it. At idle, my CPU is stable @ 30C – 31C on average at it’s stock speed of 3.5Ghz and 35C at 3.9Ghz. This is after installing a Geforce GTX 770 (also at 31C – 32C idle) and I thought clearance might be an issue but it turns out I have about one inch or so which is more than I actually expected. Mounting this CPU Cooler is VERY simple and the brackets used are well designed, it will NOT move.

I will be putting another 140mm fan on but it is not because the CPU is reaching extremely high temperatures even at 100% load when I was testing it using various stress/blend testing software. It reached a high of 65C @ stock 3.5Ghz and 78C +/- 2C when overclocked to a stable 4.4Ghz with a +0.001V offset. My ambient room temperature is around 21C or 70F just to use as a control.

Basically, this CPU Cooler is worth every penny and rivals it’s twice the size big brother NH-D14 and even liquid cooling to a point. I have never liked liquid cooling because even if it is securely hooked up, one mess up and everything is ruined. I looked at the Hyper EVO 212 and am glad I did not purchase it. It simply can not keep up this with cooler at all. Once I put another fan on there (I may go with the redux version from Noctua) I will not be expecting a dramatic decrease in temperature but enough to warrant the purchase and the redux versions have an even higher performance rate.

I would definitely suggest this CPU Cooler to ANYONE who wants to go with air cooling instead of liquid. Even with liquid, don’t expect more than 3C – 5C difference… just not worth the money nor risk to me, sorry. I must also say that the thermal paste which comes with it, the NH-T1 rivals Arctic Silver and IC Diamond. It has zero curing time and very little goes a long way. I used it on my old box and was astonished at a 14C decrease in temperature. However, that was applied to a stock cooler so it was expected to improve but I didn’t realize it would do so by that much.

A couple of things to keep in mind if you do purchase this CPU Cooler… you will probably lose your first PCI slot on your motherboard and it’s height can cause issues with a lot of cases. I have a Fractal R4 so it is a large mid-sized ATX case and I have plenty of room to spare so make sure you have a wide case, take measurements!!. It cleared ALL RAM slots however only by enough to stick a piece of paper between them so even though I don’t use high-profile RAM, you could probably get by with Corsair vengeance RAM but the heat shrouds will stick up far enough to block about an inch of the fan so I would definitely research everything before making a final decision.

Anyway, I took a gamble on a very nice CPU Cooler that has nothing but great reviews and was not disappointed at all. The benchmark temperatures were dead on accurate but it also helps that I have a large case and all my case fans are 140mm Fractal silent series fans.. it is absolutely silent. I hear the GPU fans over anything else and because my case is has silent proofing foam and even with a window, you simply can’t hear it unless you are sitting in dead silence. The CPU fan produces the least noise of all however. Simply put… the Noctua NH-U14S is an awesome cooler and handles my i7-4770K like a champ at stock and overclocked although I do not run it at 4.4Ghz except for certain times.

Watch Dogs was the first game I tested the CPU with and it didn’t get over 47C (I believe that number is correct.) What is correct is that for $60, I would use this cooler on any build as long as the case dimensions allow for it!

It’s magical! Everything that needs to be said about this has already been covered in most reviews. Mounting was the only issue – I had a little trouble keeping opposing screws in to the point where I needed an extra hand to hold one end down while I fastened everything. I probably had poor technique to begin with – but with a little patience I got this piece of art up and running.

I can easily over clock an i5 4670K (3.5GHz stock) to 4.2GHz in an AC room. It hits around 70-80C at 4.2 and if not for stability issues, I can push it past this point. In other words, temperature is not my limiting factor at the moment.

–with respect to external factors–
I’m using an ASUS ROG Hero (VI) board and the ASUS fan controls work well with this fan. I can make it go from silent to turbo jet via the OS. (btw: At full RPM this thing moves ALOT of air – not that you need it too but it makes fun to see how low the temps can go)

The whole configuration sits in a Coolermaster HAF XM – I’m not sure how much the airy nature of the case helps the performance. (I initially had this open air and there wasn’t much of a difference between in the case and out — I’m beginning to believe you don’t need a case that provides a turbulent ferocious air current for good cooling again – just keep cable clutter down and keep it clean)

Overall I’m very happy with this purchase.

I’m running a 4770k at 4.2 with this now and it barely gets up to 46-48 full load. I’ve had it at normal 3.5 and it would barely hit 40 at full load on games. On the stock cooler, I couldn’t even run it at full speed, I had to keep it at 2.2 just to keep the temps down because it would hop to 90-100 C within seconds. I am running it with dual fans, however.

It was really easy to install, I tried it with the case standing up and it didn’t work, but when I laid the case down, it was very easy. Took me little time to install all of it and have it running.

BEWARE though, that it may interfere with your top PCIE slot. It didn’t interfere with mine since it was only PCIE and I have no cards for that socket. It did get within an inch of my first graphics card, but no big deal. It was kind of hard to manage all the cables in my Phantom case but I made them look decent. The heatsink itself originally made it where I couldn’t plug in the CPU power cable but I found a way to. It is rather large and I almost couldn’t fit my door over it but it worked.

Tl:dr: It is a great heatsink and fan, no matter the price. While it may be expensive, it is fully worth it. I even recommend buying a second fan, but most only need one fan.

Wow what a cooler, just purchased it together with the i7 4770k and the asus maximus hero vi and it all slotted together bang on.

As they all say though this is a BIG piece of kit so make sure of space available to you, mine fitted in to my HAF 932 case, which is a very large case, with just mm’s to spare ( height wise ).

But what a gorgeous bit of kit and so easy to fit, and so much quieter than my previous cooler , I think this is down to the larger fan size and running much slower though, so slow infact that I had to alter the bios to accomodate it, as on boot up I was getting a ” slow fan ” error on the cpu fan reading.

The ram i also got was the gskill Ripjaws and they fitted a treat, even using the closest slot.