The NH-D14 cooler installs using Noctua’s patented SecuFirm2 mount system, that uses a backplate and arms on top of the cooler for two secure mounts to attach the cooler to the motherboard securely with even pressure.

Since publishing our review of the Noctua NH-D14 cooler, Noctua contacted us expressing concern over the poor performance of the sample they sent us vs their own NH-U12P. Naturally we agreed something was wrong, as the unusual performance was noted in our own review, so Noctua kindly offered to send us a second review sample to re-test against the other coolers.

Updated Testing

Everything was run the same as before with the exception of the using the new cooler.

Here is the test rig, and testing methodology:

• Mainboard - Asus P6T Deluxe V2
• CPU - Intel Core i7 920
• GFX - EVGA 9800GTX
• CPU Cooling - On Review
• Memory - 3GB 1333Mhz DDR3 Patriot Viper
• Disks – 500GB Samsung F3
• DVD burner - Stock DVDRW
• Case – Modified Antec P182
• PSU – Lian Li 750W Maxima Force
• On Review - Noctua NH-U12P LGA1366.

Testing and Results
The coolers were measured at idle and at load, the idle temperatures were taken after the computer had sat at the desktop doing nothing for 30 minutes, and the load temperatures were taken while running ORTHOS for 30 minutes. Temperatures were recorded using SpeedFan

The results were then calculated as the difference (delta) between the ambient temperature and the idle/load temperature to erase differences in room temperature affecting the results. Delta Temps Explained Here

It’s clear that the second sample is working much better than our original unit, and quite happily pulls ahead a couple of degrees from the NH-U12P. Perhaps our original unit was damaged during shipping, as it obviously wasn’t performing up to par.

At load we see that the same performance is true, the NH-D14 pulls ahead by an impressive 4oC. This performance is much more in line with what I was expecting the first unit to produce.

Next Page – Conclusion