Noctua NH-U14S Review

 

Up Close:  The Cooler

With our small rant about the colour of the fans out of the way let’s take a closer look at the cooler itself.  Standing 165mm tall the NH-U14S is actually taller than the D14 (didn’t see that coming did you?)  However even at 165mm it should fit fine in most enthusiast cases, and should you need just that little bit more room, you can always mount the fan a little lower. 

    

 

The six heat pipes are well dispersed within the 51 element fin stack, which should help them dissipate their heat most effectively.  The sides of the fin  stack are closed for the most part again better to aid the air flow through the cooler

    

 

The contact plate is of reasonable size although not as large as some we’ve seen of late, with the Nickel coated copper heat pipes being closely sandwiched together.  Build quality is as you would expect of Noctua with no evidence of solder splatter or bluing being seen