CPU Cooling by jmke @ 2011-04-19
Today we test the most high-end heatsink from Noctua. It comes with two fans pre-equipped and will fill up all but the largest eATX cases. Dubbed the NH-D14 this beast comes with a 120mm AND 140mm fan which are spec'ed for low noise operation. Can it handle the heat of an overclocked Core i7? Time to find out.
Today we test out the most high-end heatsink from Noctua. It comes with two fans pre-equipped and will fill up all but the largest eATX cases. Dubbed the NH-D14 this beast comes with a 120mm AND 140mm fan which are spec'ed for low noise operation. Can it handle the heat of an overclocked Core i7? Time to find out.
We start of by listing the specs:
Most interesting features are most likely the total heatsink weight: 1.240Kg, full platform compatibility (AMD/INTEL) and the inclusion of a ULNA adapter (ultra low noise adapter). Let's take a closer look
Noctua looked at their previous high-end tower heatsink and beefed it up to match it up to larger fans. The NH-D14 will easily fit up to 3x140mm fans, although the third fan you'll need to find your own clip-on gear as the D14 comes with clips for max 2 fans (sized up for 120mm mounting holes). The heatsink with all the standard fans installed is quite intimidating and much larger than most mainstream tower heatsink we've tested in the past.
You can see a total of 6 U-shaped heatpipes and the base already has two mounting screws pre-attached. Other thing of note is the connector for the fans, each one 3-pin. Next to the heatsink you'll also find the following goodies inside the box:
Three bags, one for AMD-only platforms, the other Intel-only platforms, a common parts bag, which also includes thermal paste, the Ultra-Low-Noise adapter and a Y-splitter for two 3-pin stock fans. A metal phillips head screwdriver is included if you don't have a long screwdriver lying around... luckily we have such a tool and did not have to use the Noctua provided tool, it's there if you need it. The manual is very clear for all installation steps and comes with good illustrations.
A closer look at the heatsink without the fans reveals pre-installed anti-vibration strips for both fan-mounting positions. In the middle picture you can see the identical size of both towers.
Other areas of note is the smooth nickel plated copper base and the custom fan mounting brackets which rely on a small plastic insert to fix the fan in place. This also implies that only "open-flanged" fans can be installed with the provided clips.
When we tested silent CPU coolers in 2004 we thought we had seen it all when Swiftech launched some heavy flower-pin design heatsinks. How innocent and naive we were back then...
The Swiftech, on top of its packaging, is not even taller than the NH-D14... the photo on the right futher illustrates how much extra heat today's heatsink need to be able to dissipate if they want to be called "silent cooling solution".
Installation of the NH-D14 is very straight forward, choice the right mounting holes for the backplate and use the thumbscrews to secure two metal strips in place; you can turn these bars 90° to change the heatsink orientation. Inside an ATX tower case the ideal setup is to have the airflow going front -> rear;
Installation went butter-smooth, the system is well though out with the mounting screws&spring already secured to the heatsink, a perfect installation every time with very little wiggle-room to do this the wrong way. Removing the heatsink and replacing the CPU is a matter of minutes, you don't need to remove the motherboard for this as the backplate is secure in place. Seeing as this heatsink is geared towards enthusiasts, Noctua made sure the installation process required the last amount of steps while delivering a high pressure mount, I think they've succeed.
To give an idea of how the tested heatsinks perform a variety of heat outputs we performed our tests with the CPU overclocked (and overvolted) at 3 settings. The test setup consisted of the following gear:
- Intel Core i7 920
- MSI X58 Motherboard
- Geforce 7900 GT with Zalman VF900 @ 5v
- 3x1 Gb DDR3 RAM
- Laptop 5400rpm HDD
- Coolermaster HAF922 (Default fan config, 200mm Front and Top, 120mm in the back, all at 12v)
Windows XP was installed and LinX 0.6.4 used for creating 100% CPU load. When comparing different software tools, we measured the total system draw at the wall socket, with the Core i7 920 at stock speeds:
- Prime95 (8 thread): 155W
- K7Burn (8 instances): 167W
- LinX: 200W !
Than we overclocked/overvolted the CPU to 3.4 and 3.7Ghz, to create these three profiles:
1) 2.67ghz - 133Mhz - default vcore - 200W
2) 3.41Ghz - 170Mhz - +0.05v vcore - 250W
3) 3.71Ghz - 185Mhz - +0.2v vcore - 362W
The last is brutal and only the high end CPU coolers can survive this test, hitting 100°C CPU temp caused the thermal throttling to kick in and so if you see a heatsink with CPU temp results of 100°C = FAILURE.
The ambient room temperature was 22°C during testing. Noise readings of the CPU coolers and fans was done outside the system, with the dBA meter placed diagonally at approximately 20cm. Ambient noise recorded was 32dBA.
Intel's stock cooler you receive with Intel Core i7 920 CPU.
We test each heatsink with its default fan, and if we can fit a reference fan we will use the following depending on the fan size:
- Vantec Tornado 92mm (4800rpm)
- Titan 120mm (2900rpm)
- Delta 120mm (3200rpm)
- GlobalWin NCB (1300rpm)
We start of with the Core i7 at stock speed, first interesting result to note is that the NH-D14 without any fans offers equal thermal performance as the stock Intel cooler, without adding any noise to your system, a worthy result. Next we see that the default duo of 120+140mm fan is quite good at cooling the CPU at an acceptable noise level; you can undervolt without worry of the CPU overheating if you want to make the cooler less noisy. When swapping the stock fans with the single GlobalWin fan performance is not stellar, same goes for the results with the 2900rpm Titan fan and the ridiculously loud Delta screamer, the D14 trails the single tower cooler here.
After turning up the heat we don't see much movement in the overall ranking, the stock NH-D14 fans still offer a very good performance/noise balance, but beat by the Megahalems/NCB combo. With the high speed fans (Titan & Delta combo) the performance is only 2°C better compared to the stock, not really ideal when you look at the noise level.
This is the torture test, only the best heatsinks out there can survive this heatload without reaching the 100°C mark.The Noctua NH-D14 passes this test with easy, granted that you stick with their winning 120&140mm fan combo. Going with a single 120mm fan the NH-D14 is bested by the Megahalems.
After running the NH-D14 through our series of performance tests we can safely say this high performance heatsink is a force to be reckoned with. The high weight and big size proves beneficiary for low noise computing, which the D14 is capable of out of the box by use of the stock fans, included low noise fan adapters and soft rubber mounts.
At the high end of the scale, inside a case, the NH-D14 trailed the competition when both were paired with the same high RPM/CFM fans, but then again, if a 5°C difference in CPU temperature means the difference between a stable and unstable system, you might be pushing your luck with the CPU overclock. We're sure that outside a case on a test bench this heatsink will perform beautifully, with the ability to mount 3 fans on this monster construction (might need to get a bit creative for the third fan as clips for only 2 fans are provided).
Installation gear is another high point of the NH-D14, while you do need to remove your motherboard for installation, the steps for getting the D14 on your CPU are few and they are straight forward, with help of thumbscrews and pre-mounted screws/springs on the heatsink you won't have much difficulity (re-)installing this heatsink multiple times, each time a perfect fit.
Last but not least is the price of the NH-D14, this is its biggest drawback, if it carried a €50 price tag this heatsink would come heartily recommended, as it stands though at €70+ it's hard to call this product good value, as there are cheaper alternatives out there which offer better, or at least, on par performance. If you want one of the best silent air cooled heatsinks out there, the Noctua NH-D14 fits the bill perfectly.
We like to thank Jakob from Noctua for allowing us to test their latest products.