Cooling prowess as massive as its dual heatsinks.
When we reviewed the first-edition Noctua NH-D14 back in 2010, we praised its quiet performance, but our then-current test bed didn’t put out enough heat to best showcase its cooling chops. Fortunately, our new one does. This coincides nicely with Noctua’s release of the NH-D14 SE2011, which includes (gasp) LGA2011 support and updates the D14’s two fans to include PWM, or pulse-width modulation.
If you own an earlier Noctua cooler, the company will send you the LGA2011 mounts for free.
The new NH-D14 is just as massive as the old one. With both fans attached, the heatsink stands 6.5 inches high, 6.2 inches deep, and 5.5 inches wide and weighs more than two pounds, 12 ounces. The cooler’s six heat pipes rise into two sets of cooling fins, each the size of a lesser cooler’s entire allotment. A 12cm PWM fan clips to the front and a 14cm fan clips between the two sets of fins, both using Noctua’s wire clips, which are easy to install and remove. Installation is easy; just remove the center fan, mount four double-sided thumbscrews to the unified backplate, install two mounting bars over those, secure them with thumbscrews, and tighten the two spring-screws on the D14 onto the posts on the mounting bracket.
Because it’s so massive, the NH-D14 blocks some RAM slots; we had to use low-profile RAM in order to fit the 12cm fan onto the cooler. But once that was accomplished, the NH-D14 achieved the lowest CPU burn temps of any air cooler in our roundup, at just over 72 C. When we added the resistor cables, the temperature increased to 76 C, but fan noise became almost imperceptible—certainly quieter than the case fans.
Of the air coolers we’ve tested on LGA2011 thus far, the NH-D14 takes the crown. If it weren’t quite so massive, it’d be even easier to recommend, but it still garners our firm approval.
| Dimensions HxDxW (inches, with fans) | 6.5x6.2x5.5 |
| Weight | 2 lbs, 12.8 oz |
| Heat Pipes | 6 |
| Stock Fans | 1x 12cm, 1x 14cm, PWM |
| Add’l Fan Support | 1 |
Massive performance; quiet; easy installation.
Massive footprint; front fan can interfere with RAM heat spreaders.
$85, www.noctua.at
The latest Zalman heatsink looks cooler than it is
The CNPS12X might be Zalman’s most eye-catching cooler, with two arrays of black-nickel-coated cooling fins and three 12cm fans to push air through them. And it is massive. It’s 6.1 inches tall, 5.25 deep, and more than 6 inches wide, and weighs two pounds, four ounces. It’s so big it overhangs the inner four RAM slots on our Asus P9X79 Deluxe test motherboard, requiring the use of RAM without tall heat spreaders. The six direct-contact heat pipes rise into two sets of cooling fins, with the front and rear fans nestled into their respective fins, and the middle fan in between the two sets. All three fans are controlled via a single 3-pin power connector.
Installation of the CNPS12X is a pain. Zalman has adopted the common mounting system of two parallel mounting bars with a perpendicular crossbar that bolts to each mounting bar and keeps the cooler in place. Alas, Zalman’s system is flimsy and uses the same skinny hex bolts we complained about in our 9900MAX review, which require a special (included) hex wrench. The bolts are hard to access thanks to their position directly below the center fan, and don’t seem to be able to apply much pressure to the heatsink
Whether because of this or simply the nickel finish on the entire heat exchanger, the CNPS12X performed poorly on our overclocked system, getting the CPU to just below 78 C. Lest we base the score on an isolated incident, we installed the cooler several times over several days and got the same performance.
Without the included resistor cable, the CNPS12X is quiet. It’s very quiet with the resistor cable, and so if you’re not overclocking, the CNPS12X is an appealing and beautiful cooler. But given the flimsiness and frustration of the install process, we can’t recommend it for overclocked LGA2011 cooling.
| Dimensions HxDxW (inches, with fans) | 6.1x5.25x6 |
| Weight | 2 lbs 3.8 oz |
| Heat Pipes | 6 direct-contact |
| Stock Fans | 3x 12cm, 1x 3-pin connector |
| Add’l Fan Support | No |
Beautiful looks; quiet fans.
Frustrating install; lousy retention mechanism.
$100, www.zalman.com
Comments are closed on this article
Baer
January 28, 2013 at 6:13pm
So, I spend about a half a grand on a cpu, perhaps twice that on a pair of GPU's a couple hundred on a high end PSU, more on memory Etc and I really care about saving twenty five bucks on a cooler and 250 pennies on thermal paste?
Yes, that should be part of the review but if this is really still MAX PC it should not carry any weight as far as PERFORMANCE ratings go.
I have always had great results from AS-5 but the Tuniq TX-4 pared with the H100 sounds like a good choice for my next build.BTW, a lot of tedious work went into this matrix of tests and this review, thank you!
xXSINS OF WARXx
January 28, 2013 at 1:00pm
I would have loved to see the phanteks ph-tc14pe added to this review.
Still think The Hyper EVO is the best bang for your buck. Spending +$30-50 for 2-4 degrees celcius is not worth it IMO. That price range, liquid cooling should be the only option relevant.
And3rs0nTX
January 27, 2013 at 8:55pm
I'm using a corsair H60 at the moment and I couldn't be happier with it especially since I got it for only $60.
iplayoneasy
January 28, 2013 at 6:22am
I've always been a fan of those. I grabbed the cheesier h40 for $45 on sale once and had an AMD 965 Black @ 4.2GHz for the last 2 years.
iplayoneasy
January 26, 2013 at 11:32am
Considering I got a high watt, high temp FX 8320 clocked at 4.7 GHz, I'd have to say the $30 hyper 212 is the best deal out there. 59C prime95 after 6 hours.
Meat_Juice
January 25, 2013 at 10:58am
These coolers are for pussies. A water loop is the only way to go for a real MaxPC enthusiast.
Penterax
January 25, 2013 at 11:59am
Yah, and I bet your Daddy's name is Piston, and claims to have 7 pecs instead of 2.
nsvander
January 25, 2013 at 9:43am
A year after the socket comes out, you do a review on coolers? I am still using my Thermalrite TruBlack 120 that I had from the 1336 days, bought an adapter and happy as a clam with it.
nedwards
February 01, 2013 at 10:56am
I did this roundup for the print magazine a year ago. I'm not sure why it's being posted now.
cmasupra
January 26, 2013 at 6:49am
New coolers can come out after the platform is released. In fact, many have. It's a valid review.
Penterax
January 25, 2013 at 12:04pm
Socket 2011 is rumored to be good through another CPU release (Ivy Bridge-E), but regardless, it's a popular overclocker platform good for testing coolers.
I would like to see an updated thermal paste test suite that includes my current fav, Phobya HeGrease Extreme.
kiaghi7
January 24, 2013 at 7:48pm
Big though it may be, I still gotta give it to the NH-D14, on hotter ambient it cooled to lower than all but the H100, and even then the difference was negligible at idle and very modest at burn-in.
While its size can be an encumbrance, the nice thing is that the "front" fan that could potentially interfere with RAM can readily be raised up over its level and lends additional air-flow over the RAM.
The caveat obviously though is that it is BIG in every since of the word, so most "mid towers" and smaller need not apply... It's just not intended for tight spaces.
Bullwinkle J Moose
January 24, 2013 at 5:59pm
The Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo is the highest performing cooler for the price AND weight (Only 1 lb, 4.6 oz)
So, what is the highest performing sandy bridge and Ivy bridge chips that can be cooled with this WITHOUT THE FAN?
Just Curious
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