Noctua NH-U14S CPU Cooler Review

The front of the Noctua NH-U14S is dominated by the aesthetics of the NF-A15 PWM fan.

The Noctua NH-U14S measures in at 52mm thick, on the heatsink, and 25mm thick on the fan for a total combined thickness of 78mm. This makes it 100% RAM compatible with most CPU sockets on the market. This will all depend on how much space you have between the CPU socket area and your RAM area. On our motherboard (ASUS P8Z77-V LGA 1155) we saw 100% RAM compatibility as there was an extra bit of spacing between the demarcated LGA 1155 socket area and RAM slots. On smaller motherboards (such as micro-ATX and mini-ITX) this extra space may not be there and this could cause the NH-U14S to overhang onto the first DIMM slot.

From the other side we can see all six of those glorious nickel plated heat pipes in action. It is also worth noting you can mount an additional fan on this part of the heatsink.

From the top we can see the six 6mm heat pipes of which they all appear to be capped reasonably neatly. The Noctua logo is also present here.

The base is impressively flat and machined. It is fully nickel plated copper, the nickel plating reducing degradation over time that copper easily experiences. You can also see part of the mounting kit is installed.

The Noctua NH-U14S comes beautifully presented with the accessories, AMD mounting parts and Intel mounting parts all in separate boxes.

The included accessories are all high quality and quite luxurious inclusions namely the full tube of Noctua NT-H1 and the metal case badge sticker. Extra fan clips allow you to do push pull.

The AMD mounting parts include a manual, brackets and screws.

The Intel kit includes the backplate, universal-Intel brackets and LGA 2011/LGA 115X mounting components. Instruction guides are also provided which are excellent and easy to follow.