The NH-C14 has retained the 6 heat pipe design but the shape has changed from being hook like to claw like. As mentioned previously, it is to accommodate the lower fan. Based on the orientation of the cooler once it is installed, they shouldn’t coincide with neighbouring components. The heat pipes all spread out from the base and into the heatsink where the heat is dissipated evenly on each fin.
The base of the cooler is fairly flat but lacks a perfectly mirror finish but this is due to the nature of CPUs not being flat either. The base has micro grooves that help disperse high viscosity thermal pastes to create a uniform layer. The ends of the heat pipes are tightly packed in the base, making the most of the space available to help transport heat away. We can also see the pre-installed mounting bracket that attaches to the Secufirm2 kit.
The base of the cooler is fairly flat but lacks a perfectly mirror finish but this is due to the nature of CPUs not being flat either. The base has micro grooves that help disperse high viscosity thermal pastes to create a uniform layer. The ends of the heat pipes are tightly packed in the base, making the most of the space available to help transport heat away. We can also see the pre-installed mounting bracket that attaches to the Secufirm2 kit.
Once installed, the quality normally attributed to Noctua is reflected immediately. It doesn’t take a lot of the motherboard’s real estate, unlike most tower coolers we get to test here. The coupling of the 140mm NF-P14 fans and the heatsink compliments each other well. The fan manages to cover a large surface area of the heatsink so more heat can be dissipated away. During installation, it is very important to orientate the heatsink the correct way (unlike myself on the first try…). The cooler can be physically mounted in 4 different orientations; the heat pipes vertically facing either up or down or horizontally facing the right and left. Noctua advise NOT to mount the cooler such that the ‘C’ bends point upwards in a tower case. Instead, the bends should point downwards or the heat pipes should lie horizontally to avoid reduced cooling performance (as I found out). Unfortunately on the Rampage III Extreme, the CPU socket lies closer to the top of the motherboard than most boards so I couldn’t orientate the cooler to have the bends facing downwards. The latter may prove more efficient so that chassis airflow can be directed through the fins.
