- Review -

26.05.2010 Frostytech.com

With a 150W heat load applied by the Intel LGA775 version of FrostyTech's synthetic thermal test platform, the Noctua NH-D14 heatsink maintains an excellent result of 14.5°C over ambient with both fans operating at full speed (1300/1200RPM respectively, 48.1 dBa total noise). After both the NF-P12 and NF-P14 fans were reduced to a speed of 900RPM, the test was run again while heat load was maintained at 150W. In this scenario noise output decreased to 30.8 dBA while CPU die temperature only increased to 17.0°C over ambient! For such a quiet operating level the Noctua NH-D14 heatsink was able to keep test temperatures remarkably low. Noctua's NH-D14 heatsink was then tested on the Frostytech Mrk.II synthetic thermal test platform with an 85W heat load; akin to an Intel Core 2 Duo or Core i5 processor . As the integrated heatspreader on a Core i5 CPU is the same size as the CPU test die used for the LGA775 synthetic thermal test platform, the 85W results can be considered indicative of LGA1156 heatsink performance. In the 85W heat load test the Noctua NH-D14 heatsink had no difficulties maintaining temperatures at an extremely low 8.7°C over ambient with both fans operating at full speed, and 10.3°C over ambient with both fans operating at 900RPM. Again, excellent performance cooling for just 30.8 dBA noise output when the fans are spinning at 900RPM.

"Noctua's NH-D14 is one of very few heatsinks that Frostytech has tested to yield such a small increase in temperatures between maximum and minimum operating fan speeds. By configuring both the NH-D14's fans to spin at 900RPM we saw near silent operation without sacrificing more than 2-3C in cooling performance. That quite frankly is fantastic. Bottom line, the Noctua NH-D14 heatsink is an excellent lower noise cooler for both Intel/AMD platforms if your PC can accommodate its large footprint. Highly recommended." (Max Page, Frostytech.com)