Noctua NH-D14 CPU Cooler
The monster…. |
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Yep…. I said it. This thing is an absolute monster! Svelte, thin home theater cases and small form factor enclosures need not apply. But before we get to the details on the heatsink, first you have to get one! And, I must say that this box redefined how a heatsink is shipped. For a massive heatsink, you have to have a more massive and well thought out shipper. The heatsink alone weighs in at 900 g, add in the 2 fans to it and you are looking at 1240 g. The shipping box must account for that weight *plus* the additional mounting brackets, TIM, screws, manual, and packing material. But, if you are going to warranty the unit for 6 years, like Noctua does, you had better make sure that you don’t have to RMA these things because of shipping damage! That would get expensive really quick! So, the best way to avoid that is to make sure it never becomes an issue. Here’s a quick one for you…. “no styrofoam”. None, nada, zilch. The entire container is recyclable cardboard! Now, if the whole kit is cardboard, how well does it keep the unit secured? Like a doctor’s glove, baby! Check this out! The top, when you open the container, you are greeted with a top white box. This contains the mounting hardware, instructions and the TIM. This top box is snug. No wiggle. You gotta kind of work your fingers to the side of it to allow air under it to remove it.
Second level is the top of the “square donut” as I call it. The heatsink is “capped” and completely surrounded by this outer shell box. You have one on top, and one on bottom, and together they act as a cardboard shroud for an inner box that holds the heatsink.
You see the finger holes in the top. You pick it up like a six pack of drinks, and the top “cap” come off revealing an inner box that holds the heat sink.
With the top cap removed you have access to the inner most boxing that houses the heat sink.
I raised the flaps so that you could see the box-inside-box treatment that this cooler gets. If you remove the center most box, it unfolds, giving you complete, unobstructed access to the item.
When transporting something big, you need solid packing that won’t be crushed by the weight of the item inside. Noctua’s thinking caps created a great solution for shipping that is very green and recyclable.
And there it is! I believe the heat dropped in the room 8 degrees just from it being unboxed! This heatsink is imposing folks. For those that want to wick the heat away from a CPU, this thing confidently flexes it’s muscles just looking at it. It’s not a question of “if” it will work, it’s more of a question of how much heat do you want to feed it! I took it to work to show my co-workers… and they all laughed! They are not acutely familiar with how much heat can be put out by today’s CPU’s. Until I explained the market for this heat eater…. then they nodded in comprehension. My boss wanted to put it on one of his racing cars as a component cooler! There you have it! It looks like it could do SO much more than cool a CPU. Putting this into your computer is both scary and sexy at the same time. Kinda like Angelina Jolie with a shotgun pointed at you, you just have to marvel at it’s expected effectiveness, as well as just how good looking the thing is!
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