Noctua promised us a top down cooler that could compete with tower coolers and for the most part it delivered. At stock speed, it competed with the likes of Thermolab, Alpenföhn, Coolink and outperformed the once flagship NH-U12P. The benefit of the cooler is also quite clear when we look at the lower Northbridge temperatures, even besting the NH-D14. Noctua have also ensured their cooler to be as flexible as possible to meet the demands of different people. The three fan modes can provide performance, memory clearance or a low profile setup for HTPC users. In all three configurations, performance exceeded that of the older NH-C12P SE14 by 2-3C, so Noctua definitely have a winner on their hands.

The problem lies in its overclocked performance. Unfortunately the NH-C14 couldn’t cope with the heat despite the older model being able to so. For a cooler that wasn’t designed to sustain such overclocks, it would be unfair to put a lot of emphasis on its performance at 4GHz. Nonetheless, overclocking wasn’t impossible and a healthy final clock speed of 3.9GHz was attained. The slight pulsating vibration during operation was also perturbing on first observation but it wasn't significant to cause any problems.



On the whole, the NH-C14 is still a very good cooler and comes highly recommended. The overclocked performance leaves a bit more to be desired but excellent stock performance, the inclusion of two premium NF-P14 fans, its compact size and brilliant mounting mechanism makes it one of the best top down coolers available on the market. HTPC users should also rejoice because its low profile increases compatibility and best of all, the fans remain quiet even without the low noise adapters. The price is higher than the average tower cooler but it reflects on the premium quality Noctua are famed for. Considering the price of the individual NF-P14 fans, the whole package doesn’t isn’t a bad deal at all.

**Update**

After changing the orientation of the cooler and retesting, it becomes clear that the Noctua NH-C14 does exactly what Noctua set out to achieve. It was intended that the top down cooler would compete with tower coolers and that it did. In its default two fan configuration, it kept up with the Prolimatech Megahalem which many consider a high end tower cooler. Even with a single fan, it outperformed the highly popular NH-U12P. The additional support bar also reduced vibrations so another thumbs up to Noctua for their support


With the new tests taken into account, the Noctua NH-C14 highly deserves the Vortez Gold Award.