The Noctua NH-C14 might win the title of Noctua’s best performing cooler, but it wasn’t meant to. What it does offer is the ability to get high-end air-cooling into smaller cases, while not sacrificing on clearance of motherboard components or noise.

The NH-C14 lives up to the Noctua reputation in terms of packaging and included accessories, with a full tube of thermal paste, two NF-P14 fans, and even a screwdriver to install it with. Build quality is as high as ever, and the mounting system leaves no rooms for flaws through user mounting error.

In terms of performance, it does well to fall only a couple of degrees behind the Noctua NH-D14, as that cooler is a lot bigger than its sibling and has separate heatpipe sections for more heat dissipation.

Where the NH-C14 does fall down though is on price. Currently available for £65 it means it is more expensive to buy than the already established NH-D14 (available for £60), which given a choice would be the better option in most cases. If you don’t have the room to fit such a tall cooler in your case though, the NH-C14 might be you’re only other option for high performance air cooling. There’s also the possibility that its price will too drop once it becomes more established.

If you are in need of a good cooler to fit in a smaller case, this might be right for you.

Pros

• Quiet
• Low profile
• Quality construction
• Included accessories

Cons

• Fiddly to install from in a case
• Expensive

Reality Check: The Noctua NH-C14 might win the title of Noctua’s best performing cooler, but it wasn’t meant to. What it does offer is the ability to get high-end air cooling into smaller cases, while not sacrificing on clearance of motherboard components or noise.

Reviewed by Dan

Thanks to Noctua for supplying the cooler for review