Introduction

As processors obtain faster speeds with each generation then it usually brings a greater amount of heat-due to the limitations of the silicon itself. Many manufacturers have self-proclaimed ‘their’ processor cooling fans to be the best in a myriad of environments and being able to do so quietly. This is by no means an easy feat when it has to fit a number of differing motherboard and system configurations. Getting the right combination of cooling and noise can be very difficult to get right. One such manufacturer whom believes that they have the right combination is Noctua.

Company Background

“Designed in Austria, Noctua’s premium cooling components are internationally renowned for their superb quietness, exceptional performance and thoroughgoing quality. Having received more than 1000 awards and recommendations from leading hardware websites and magazines, Noctua’s fans and heatsinks are chosen by more than a hundred thousand satisfied customers around the globe.

Noctua comes from a cooperation of the Austrian Rascom Computerdistribution Ges.m.b.H. with the Taiwanese cooling specialist Kolink International Corporation, pooling more than ten years of experience in the development, manufacturing and marketing of high-end cooling components. Established in 2005, Noctua took the international silent enthusiasts’ hearts by storm and quickly developed into one of the most acclaimed suppliers of premium quality quiet cooling products. Today, Noctua is present in more than 30 countries across the globe and working with several hundred sales partners. Chosen by noise conscious PC users, system integrators and industry clients alike, Noctua has become synonymous with impeccable quality, excellent customer service and class leading quiet cooling performance.

The little owl, Athene noctua, is the symbol of the Greek goddess Athene, who represents wisdom, science and strategy. She has a marked preference for the most clever among the Greek heroes, like Odysseus, who endure their adventures by the use of savvy consideration instead of mere force. Until today, the owl symbolises intelligence and prudence, its manlike face emblematises attentiveness and communication. We from Noctua follow the suit of its calm and accurate observation in the dark, its soundless flight as well as the effective, economical use of its powers and precise attack.”

]]> http://www.overclockerstech.com/noctua-nhc14-cpu-cooler-review/feed/ 0 http://www.overclockerstech.com/noctua-nhc14-cpu-cooler-announced/ http://www.overclockerstech.com/noctua-nhc14-cpu-cooler-announced/#comments Tue, 23 Nov 2010 23:44:01 +0000 Lvcoyote http://www.overclockerstech.com/?p=4984

Noctua today officially introduced its new NH-C14 CPU cooler. Sporting an exquisite, uniquely flexible 140mm dual fan setup of two Noctua NF-P14, the NH-C14 is a highly customisable, premium-class top-flow solution that further boosts the renowned quiet cooling performance of the company’s much acclaimed NH-C12 series. “Our NH-C12 coolers are renowned to rank among the most capable top-flow cooling solutions on the market, so we’re truly proud to offer a further substantial improvement in quiet cooling performance with the new NH-C14″, says Mag. Roland Mossig, Noctua CEO. “This model really closes the gap to good tower coolers while being much lower in height and ensuring better component cooling.”

The NH-C14′s six heatpipe c-type design with two NF-P14 FLX 140mm fans brings top-flow cooling performance to a new level while maintaining a much lower profile than today’s tower-style coolers and providing excellent airflow over RAM modules and near-socket mainboard components.

The two supplied NF-P14 premium fans can be installed on top and underneath the fin-stack to configure the cooler for maximum performance in dual fan mode and either lower profile or maximum component clearance in single fan modes. Run with a single NF-P14 fan underneath the fin-stack and with the top fan removed, the NH-C14 measures only 105mm in height, which makes it ideal for use in smaller enclosures and HTPC applications. Run with a single fan on top, the NH-C14 provides a full 65mm of clearance for chipset coolers or RAM modules with high heat-spreaders.opped off with a tube of Noctua’s award-winning NT-H1 thermal compound, Low-Noise and Ultra-Low-Noise Adaptors (U.L.N.A.) as well as the professional SecuFirm2â„¢ multi-socket mounting system (LGA1366, LGA1156,

LGA1155, LGA775, AM2, AM2+ and AM3), the NH-C14 forms a complete quality package for the highest demands.

Follow the Links below for more information on Noctua’s web site

PRESS RELEASE

DETAILS

SPECIFICATIONS

PHOTOS

We recall from last year a question that many pondered – just how far can air cooling go? Air cooling can only go so far and it won’t be long until we hit the limit. We’ve already seen some companies take to water cooling solutions with all-in-one kits – some more successful than others. It won’t be long until some of the bigger names start to find new ways to adapt air cooling for the masses and take it to a new level. There are already rumours of vapour chambers and TEC’s in the future. However, one such company that we are reviewing today has taken a step ahead of the big rivals and taken air cooling to a whole new level – liquid metal.

About

Many people will be unfamiliar with Danamics and wouldn’t have known they produce CPU coolers. Founded on the principle of providing manufacturers of electronic hot spots the very best in cooling, Danamics started in 2005. Since then, Danamics has worked on developing, manufacturing and commercializing their core technology, which centres around the principle of using liquid metal as a heat remover. Danamics were keen to improve on their earlier cooler; the LM10. Much hyped and talked about, it proved to be only average and couldn’t keep up with the very best standard air coolers, let alone justify such a high price tag! They redesigned the whole cooler from the ground up but have kept the same Sodium Potassium Alloy used for cooling.

Liquid Metal you say?

Sodium Potassium Alloy (aka NaK) is a top substance for heat transfer. However, reading through the nice detailed warning booklet, it is highly reactive to air and water. Something that puts many people off due to the fact that if the substance were to leak, well, watch out for an explosion! This NaK is pumped around the cooler’s nickel plated heatpipes via the electromagnetic pump which is silent and features no moving parts. This pump is a REV.2 (PowerBooster 2) over the previous LMX Pump, which Danamics has told me is smaller, cheaper and more effective. Note – this does get very hot so be careful! Moving parts are totally eliminated as the magnetic force is created within the particles of the liquid metal causing it to flow.

See the image below for the step-by-step of how this electromagnetic flow works:

Step-by-step

When you think of CPU cooling on air, many will say it’s not all that great. This is why we have forms of cooling better than air/passive, like water cooling, TEC, Phase, DICE, LN2 and so forth. However, choosing one of the latter can be rather expensive. So what you need is the best value for money that air cooling can give you.

Of course you can buy the “all in one” water-cooling solutions from the likes of CoolIT & Corsair for a decent price of approx £50-60. The problem is that although they are good and effective, a top of the line CPU air cooler like some we are reviewing today may beat them and defeats the purpose of going water-cooling. If you want to water cool your CPU, you’re better off doing it right and having a custom built setup instead. You can’t go cheap on water-cooling. A custom low cost water cooling loop is featured in the review.

The Heatsinks

Meet today’s contenders. The Mega Shadow from Prolimatech is considered by many on the enthusiast scene to be the best air cooler on the market. Coming in at approx £60, it’s quite expensive for an air CPU cooler. When you consider the fact you need to buy a decent fan for it, we’re talking £70.

Our two other coolers featured today include Thermalright’s successor to their previous king (the Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme, or TRUE); the Venomous X. Priced around £47, it could be something special. 47 aluminum fins, six heatpipes and a pressure mounting system. What more do you want?

Last, we have Noctua. We all know and love their quiet cooling solutions giving us the best airflow to noise ratio, but this time we see Noctua surprise us a little with one beastly looking cooler; the NH-D14. 6 heatpipes, dual radiator design, support for all current platforms right out of the box (no more buying that mounting kit you need, mainly AM3, that they don’t supply) 2 fans included‚ 1x 120mm and 1x 140mm. This baby comes in at a jaw dropping £70. However, given the price of the Mega Shadow which doesn’t include 2 fans, let alone 1, or even an AM2/AM3 kit included, Noctua priced it about right. Will the design work? Keep on reading.

In today’s world of hot, heated hardware, there is a product for just about every price zone which can either been seen as an advantage or, to many who are inexperienced with the latest tech churning out by many companies, a huge headache. Trying to find the best value for the money can be challenging even for the avid hardcore techie. Coolink is a company that hopes to rectify things and make it a lot easier for you, the consumer, with their products as their branding stands for “an effective conjunction of no-frills performance, excellent quality and attractive pricing”.

About Coolink

“While Coolink held a strong presence in the Asian market ever since the late 90ies, it was not until 2005 that the brand was introduced to the European market on a large scale. After the launch of Coolink-Europe.com in late 2005, Coolink quickly became a well recognised brand for high-quality cooling components in Europe too.”

“Kolink International Corporation is a cooling specialist established in 1996 and well known among industry insiders. Throughout the years, Kolink designed and manufactured many top-performing heat-sinks under various brand names that succeeded in international markets. An experienced R&D team and ultra-modern production plants in Taiwan ensure continuous progress, efficient manufacturing conditions and strict quality standards.”

Fans

From this reviewer’s perspective, Coolink isn’t a brand to normally associated with top performance and/or quiet cooling. Their latest SWiF2 fans have been around since as early as July, yet we had not heard of them. Rather being over shadowed by some top name brands of the likes of Noctua, Sharkoon, Scythe, and many more. However, with regard to the latest SWiF2 fans we will be reviewing today, Noctua has personally handled their marketing and product – which to many readers’ eyes can only be something of a great benefit we hope?

Company CEO Statement

“ With more than a hundred thousand satisfied users, our Silent Whisper Fans have created a huge following among those looking for true high-end fans at a reasonable price”, says Timothy Chu, Coolink CEO. “Today, we’re thrilled to revive the series with new, further improved models as well as an exciting new colour scheme. Of course, the new SWiF2 family remains true to our vision of linking excellent quality with attractive pricing.”

Featuring an all new 11-blade impeller design, the design goal for the SWiF2 120mm fan was to improve its airflow and airflow to noise ratio, making it suitable for a broad range of applications. Thanks to its unique blade design, the SWiF2 120mm improves upon its successful predecessor’s airflow to noise ratio by up to 40% at low fan speeds.

Cooling

Cooling. Where do we start? If you’re like this reviewer, fans & upgrading go very much hand in hand. It wouldn’t be surprising to find that your avid hardware enthusiast would go through 20+ different kinds of fans, brands, types & sizes in 12 months. Why would we, as consumers, go through so many in what many feel as such a short period of time you may wonder? It may well have something to do with a lot of marketing, word of mouth, reviews and too much time on forums.

You can understand then it is a very hard task indeed from a company’s perspective to sell products like fans to what would be considered an already controlled area by top branded companies. For instance, you as a reader and purchaser come to learn, know and love a brand such like Noctua from reading far too many reviews and listening to far too many ‘fanboys’. Why would you swap your (expensive) fans out for something that boasts the same when you already know that (what you perceive) is already the ‘best’? It’s a hard decision to make and something all companies try to compete for – your mindset and values. Can we manipulate your views today with Coolink’s new SWiF2 fans? Let’s have a go.

Case Cooling Diagram