Noctua NL-LC1 360mm and 420mm CPU liquid cooler Review
Thermal Testing – Cinebench R24
OC3D CPU Cooler Stress Test
We want to push CPU coolers to their limit, and that requires a workload that will place maximum load on our i5-14600K CPU. Why didn’t we choose an i7 or an i9? The simple answer is that we want to test various CPU Cooler options. If we put the hottest CPU we could in our system, only the best of the best CPU coolers would even pass our testing procedures. Since not everyone uses such a power-hungry CPU, we decided to tone the wattage and thermal loads down by using an i5-14600K. Even so, this CPU consumes a lot of power and generates a lot of heat under all-core workloads. Note that our CPU is operated with a fixed voltage to deliver higher levels of thermal consistency between CPU coolers.
For testing, we have used Cinebench R24. This is an all-core workload that places heavy strain on all available CPU cores. This load pushes CPU thermals higher than any other and does so consistently. We use Cinebench R24 for 30 minutes to see how hot our CPU gets over that time. If CPU temperatures rise to 100 degrees Celsius or over, that CPU cooler has failed our testing. This is part of the reason why there are more coolers on our higher fan RPM cooler charts. Some coolers will pass our thermal testing at higher fan RPMs but fail at lower fan RPMs.
1,000 RPM
I’ll be honest, I was a bit shocked by how well Noctua’s NL-LC1-42 (420mm) cooler performed. At 1,000 RPM, the cooler outperformed everything else we have ever tested on our current test system. Because fan speed and fan noise correlate, this positions Noctua’s NL-LC1-42 as the best-performing quiet CPU cooler on the market. The cooler even delivered strong cooling performance with its fans running at 700 RPM. Noctua’s fans don’t require crazy speeds to deliver good airflow.
One thing to note: Noctua’s new coolers offer several pump speed profiles. Our standard results use Noctua’s quiet profile (2100 RPM), while out “Max Pump” results use a higher 3400 RPM speed. Noctua’s maximum pump speeds are much louder than Noctua’s standard pump speeds. While far from insanely loud, it isn’t what we consider “Noctua quiet”. Noctua also has an intermediary “Balanced” pump mode that runs at 2600 RPM.
The NL-LC1-32 (360mm) model also performed well. It still ranks among the best coolers we have tested, and many of the coolers that beat it (at quiet pump speeds) have 420mm radiators. Another solid result for Noctua, but it clearly shows that size matters with these coolers.
1,500 RPM
At 1,500 RPM, Noctua’s new liquid-cooling solutions continue to deliver strong results. The 420mm model continued to deliver best-in-class performance, while the 360mm model continued to deliver strong results. One thing to note is that Noctua’s designs have less pump noise than competing liquid coolers (when using their default quiet profile), giving Noctua’s coolers an advantage in overall system noise levels.
Max RPM
Since Noctua’s coolers don’t use crazy-high maximum fan RPMs, it makes sense that Noctua’s new CPU coolers fall down our charts when competing with 2000 RPM+ monsters when using their quiet pump profiles. The fact that Noctua’s coolers still compete favourably here shows that Noctua’s fans don’t need ultra-high RPMs to deliver strong airflow. With their lower maximum fan RPMs, Noctua’s fans deliver lower maximum noise levels. However, there is the option to raise pump speeds to further improve cooling performance, albeit at the cost of noticeable pump noise.
