Noctua NH-U14S, Premium CPU Cooler with NF-A15 140mm Fan (Brown)

The item is clearly well made and very good quality. It replaced a much smaller fan - this one is huge, the heat-sink takes a large amount of space inside the tower, but it is well worth it as the cpu now runs significantly cooler. I dare say my original heatsink and fan was not up to the job as the cpu temperatures were running higher than I would have liked and the fan was noisier than it was when I ran a lesser processor. Having upgraded the processor and not the heatsink fan, I have had time to realise the difference that this, often overlooked and arguably unsexy part of a pc can make. My pc is now whisper quiet with cpu temperatures cut by half or more and surprisingly, I have a substantially faster pc after the upgrade that suddenly met the criteria for Windows 11! Honestly, the difference was that great, and the first time after installing this and booting my pc, it gave me the option to upgrade (previously Microsoft had said that I did not meet the criteria).Set aside about an hour to read the instructions and become familiar with what you have bought before installation. You will need to see both sides of the motherboard to mount the heatsink as the mounting bracket fits on the back of the motherboard using pins that then go through the board and secure the heatsink. If you can imagine, the processor and motherboard are sandwiched between the mounting bracket and the heatsink. Building pcs is not my job, so many people might be more familiar with this concept, but my old one simply clipped in place. Once I'd realised the difference, it was a quick job and if I had to do it again, I think it would take me no more than 15 minutes. One other small word of advice would be to use some 99.9% isopropanol alcohol to properly clean the processor prior to installation as a new tube of high quality thermal paste comes with the product and you will want to make sure that it is applied to a clean surface.

This is an extreme performance air cooler! I'm very much against water cooling because of the risk of risk of leaks, because radiators are difficult to clean and because fans need to be powerful and noisy. Custom loops are also very expensive and maintenance takes a lot of time.I'm also against dual tower designs because they are too heavy and might damage the motherboard and/or CPU. Dual fan radiators are not allways better than this radiator.This cooler keeps my very hot AMD FX-9370 (8x 4.7GHZ) at between 1 and 60 degrees C with the original fan. If more performance is need one can add two high pressure & speedy fans (which are usually noisy). I have a big case which is well ventilated. Room temperature is between 21 and 27 degrees C.The included fan is not the most silent possible but the included adapter makes it very quiet (and less efficient of course). I'm not using this silencer.The fan is also a tiny bit bigger than a 140 mm square frame fan.The retention system is very well designed, almost perfect.In conclusion considering price, quality, noise, performance, ease of installation, weight, durability, customer support: best CPU cooler EVER!Possible improvements:- for even better performance I wish it was slightly bigger because my case would accept a taller wider and longer heatsink;- direct contact heat pipes or mirror finish for the contact surface might improve performance a tiny bit more- wire holders for fans are much better than any other system I used before but still could still be improved

I actually managed 4.7ghz overclock on my i5 4670k and running the usual games for hours on end it was fine.. The temps was fine even at the full speed without the quiet adaptor its audible but not annoyingly loud this is in a case without the side on it. Its quiet so quiet compared to a reference cooler. If your unsure about going with water cooling go with this.ONE NOTE THAT NO REVIEWERS HAVE SAID IN THEIR YOUTUBE VIDEOS, IT COMES WITH AN X PLATE AND REQUIRES PUTTING ON THE BACK OF YOUR MOTHERBOARD!!Instructions seem simple enough. Maybe a little confusion for a moment thinking its not going to sit right but it does look at the picture and that. I have the fan facing towards the ram because it pulls air onto the heatsink which then goes out the back of the case where the exhaust fan is at.Honestly the stuff you get in the box and the quality. It also looks better in person i will recommend this everybody it is an absolute beauty and a beast. Very quiet very high quality. Once you go noctua you don't go back. Ignore your hate for the color scheme when you buy it, it doesn't look too bad. It may stick out if your all nit picky about colour schemes but nothing will serve you as good as a noctua.Another note the U14s i think stands for 140mm this is the one 140 and the U12 will probably be 120mm this is the fan size. The 140 will generally give you slightly lower temps and/or less noise due to the amount of air it shifts.It is a little on the big side check if you have room or just go without the side panel on the case like i did. Its not like its a bother.