Review: Noctua NH-D15S and NH-C14S CPU Coolers
Premium Asymmetrical Coolers
Noctua prides itself on creating products of the utmost quality. Love or hate their signature brown and beige color scheme, it has easily become synonymous with quality, innovation and most of all: silence. Naturally, when you have such high success, it becomes easier to remain complacent and just coast off your already great designs. But, that isn’t what Noctua has done. Instead, they’re constantly iterating and improving upon its existing designs in order to push even higher performance, compatibility, and the overall user experience.
Today we’re taking a look at a pair of coolers which perfectly display that mentality. The Noctua NH-D15S and NH-C14S are both asymmetrical designs that improve on an existing design in order to increase compatibility with a larger variety of systems and configurations.
The NH-D15S is a modified version of the dual-tower NH-D15 cooler. It features only a single fan in the package and an offset, asymmetrical design to improve compatibility with certain motherboard and RAM configurations. If you’ve ever used memory with a tall heat-spreader with a cooler like the NH-D15, then you’ll know exactly what the NH-D15S is for. The NH-C14S is based on the NH-C14, which is a top-flow CPU cooler. The new design again forgoes the second fan but features an improved fin stack and newer NF-A14 140mm PWM fan. These changes allow the cooler to match the performance to its predecessor while also improving memory compatibility.
Noctua NH-D15S and NH-C14S Specifications
| Model | NH-D15S | NH-C14S |
|---|---|---|
| Materials | Copper (base and heat-pipes), aluminium (cooling fins), soldered joints & nickel plating | |
| Dimensions | 6.3″ (H) x 5.9″ (W) x 5.3″ (D) (without fan)
6.5″ (H) x 5.9″ (W) x 5.3″ (D) (with fan) |
4.5″ (H) x 5.5″ (W) x 6.4″ (D) (without fan)
4.5″/5.6″ (H) x 5.5″ (W) x 6.4″(D) (with fan) |
| Weight | 2.16 lbs. (without fan)
2.53 lbs. (with fan) |
1.8 lbs. (without fan)
2.2 lbs. (with fan) |
| Fan Size | 140mm (NF-A15 PWM) | 140mm (NF-A14 PWM) |
| Fan Bearing | SSO2 (self-stabilising oil-pressure bearing) | |
| Fan Speed | 1500 RPM
1200 RPM (with low-noise adapter) |
|
| Noise Level | 24.6 dB
19.2 dB (with low-noise adapter) |
|
| Airflow | 82.5 CFM
67.9 CFM (with low-noise adapter) |
|
| Connector | 4-Pin PWM | |
| Compatibility | Intel LGA2011-0 & LGA2011-3 (Square ILM), LGA1156, LGA1155, LGA1151, LGA1150 & AMD AM2, AM2+, AM3, AM3+, FM1, FM2, FM2+ (backplate required) | |
| Warranty | 6 Years | |
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