- Review -

08.05.2013 TweakTown.com

What is there that I can't say that leaves this larger member of the NH-U series of coolers painted in a positive light? Well, to be honest, there isn't anything I can rightly complain about. When you have a cooler that is taking what other manufacturers have tried and failed, leaving them to resort to using a dual tower or a super thick single tower, and still some cannot compete at this level. Noctua has proven to me, once again, why I hold them in such high regard. They took the basic idea everyone has used for years, and with a few tweaks to the fin designs, figuring out the best method of heat pipe dispersal, and equipping the cooler with a 150mm fan that just kicks ass doesn't hurt things one bit either. With just one fan on the NH-U14S there are only two coolers that were better on our charts, and from what I recall both of these coolers cost more when they were released. In all honestly, we are talking about a measly two degrees across all three of these air coolers, and if you want to spend an extra $25, you can get the second NF-A15 PWM fan and run right with the big dogs on the list. The one thing you will get with the NH-U14S, that neither the Silver Arrow SB-E nor the Thermaltake Frio Extreme offered, is peaceful silence. Where the other option would dig deeper into your pockets, and also make your ears bleed, Noctua takes them head on and shows you can have the best of both worlds. The icing on the cake is that you can run just behind the big dogs for less than $80. It seemed for a while there that no company was able to produce a top tier cooler that could take on the twin tower monsters that were such a success, but at the expense of just about everything on the top half of the motherboard. Noctua increased the size of this cooler not to get in the way too much, but allowed enough to be both cost effective and very efficient at removing heat from your CPU. I see absolutely no reason why I can't fully support and recommend the new NH-U14S, as it kicks ass and takes names, and like a ninja, silently takes on the competition, until it is left on the top of the pile after the successful battle. Noctua may be a little outside the box for some, but they have proven to me that this cooler is where it's at currently, and should be a great selling cooler, once stock does arrive on shelves.

"The NH-U14S is a complete success! It took on the best of the best and can do the same job with much less cooler, and much less noise than anything comparable that I have tested to date." (Chad Sebring, TweakTown.com)