Noctua NH-C14S C-Type Premium Cooler Review

Performance

Stock performance on the NH-C14S is very impressive, clocking in as one of the best air coolers we’ve ever tested, beating out a lot of water coolers and, well, a lot of coolers in general.

Overclocked performance obviously put a lot more strain on the cooler, but this is still very impressive, beating out the rather fantastic be quiet! Dark Rock 3, which is certainly something to be proud of.

This is insane, the cooler is so quiet, it wouldn’t even register above ambient system noises on our decibel meter. I had to put my ear right to the cooler to try to hear something… not one whisper!

When overclocked, the fan noise was still virtually silent, I couldn’t hear a thing. Of course, when at load, we gained a few dBa, but even then it was mere air turbulence and there was zero mechanical noise from the fan. This is by far one of the quietest coolers I’ve ever heard. Just to put that into perspective, it’s a little cooler and a little quieter than the Dark Rock Pro 3.