Noctua NH-C14S is a top-flow CPU cooler, featuring deep fin stacks and uses Noctua’s NF-A14 fan. This is single fan CPU cooler that provides similar cooling performance to its dual fan predecessor.
SPECIFICATIONS
| MODEL | NH-C14 |
| DIMENSIONS | 140×163×140mm (L×W×H) |
| COMPATIBILITY | Intel: 115X/1200/1700AMD: AM4/AM5 |
| MATERIALS | 7x 6mm copper heat-pipes, copper base (nickel plated), aluminium cooling fins |
| WEIGHT | 1015g (with fan) |
| FANS | 1x NF-A14 PWM (SSO2-Bearing), 300~1500RPM (+/- 10%) |
| RAM CLEARANCE | 70mm (45mm in Low Profile Mode) |
Installing the fan on top of the heatsink, gives the cooler a max height of 140mm, while installing the fan underneath (low profile mode), gives a total height of 115mm. The offset layout of C14S allows it to clear the top PCIe slot on most motherboards. The Noctua C14S uses SecuFirm2 multi-socket mounting kit, and includes NT-H1 thermal compound and six years manufacturer’s warranty.
TEST SYSTEM
Testing is carried out on BC1 Mini v2 (open testbench), using the following hardware, in 20°C ambient room temperature. We noise normalised the cooler fan speed to 35dB(A) at distance of 50cm. This helps eliminate brute force cooling from higher RPM fans.
| CASE | BC1 Mini v2 (Open Testbench) |
| MOTHERBOARD | Rog Strix B650E-I Gaming WiFi (paid link) |
| CPU | R5 7600X / R7 7700X (paid links) |
| CPU COOLER | Noctua NH-C14S (paid link) |
| PSU | Extreme 850R (paid link) |
| RAM | 32GB Gskill Ripjaws S5 DDR5, 6000MHz, CL30 (paid link) |
THERMAL BENCHMARKS
We use Cinebench R23 multicore (stability test), for period of 30 minutes. This provides worse case scenario for a given CPU. CPU coolers are tested across range of CPU’s for data validation and to reduce risk of errors in testing. This also helps account for variables between CPU platforms.
CONCLUSIONS
We use the Noctua C14S is on regular basics in our ITX PC builds, due to its low profile design and thermal performance. The C14S is easily installed on AM4 & LGA1700 motherboards. The only issue we encountered was the offset design made the NH-C14S incompatible with some Mini-ITX cases. The cooler would overhang the left side of the motherboard and interfere with case panels etc. In cases that use PCIe riser cables, the cooler can be mounted with the heatpipes facing the PCIe slot with use of Noctua’s NM-AM4 mounting kit. This can help with cooling in some cases where airflow would normally impact the cooler finstack instead of flowing across. We would like to see the required brackets included by default with the NH-C14S in further.