When setting the fans to 50% of their maximum capacity sound became much more pleasing to the ears while stay keeping things cool. The CPU reached a maximum of 66.4°C which is just 0.4°C higher then before! the minimum was 35.0°C and the average noted 51.5°C on the the CPU. Sound dropped significantly in front of the case with an average of 33.6dB in and a max of 37.4. This equals the sound of someone whispering. NF-A14 Chromax at 30dB You might look at the NF-A14 industrialPPC fans and think that they are the same as the regular NF-A14 fans but just in a different color scheme. Next, the direct output. Measurement of a fan’s output is a matter of some discussion. You can find some mighty fancy gear designed to measure a fan’s output, but little of that is devoted to measuring computer fans. So, I thought about it and I looked at the tool I had to measure airflow. It is an Extech AN100, which has a 72 mm measurement head which contains a small fan that is driven by the airflow you are measuring. It actually measures velocity, but multiplies that by the area of the duct you are measuring. While the anemometer was built to measure the wind in big ducts, it will measure airflow in small ones too. It then averages ten readings and outputs in CFM.

PWM support and Low-Noise Adaptor –The NF-A14 premium fan supplied with the NH-C14S supports PWM for convenient automatic speed control through the motherboard. In addition, the maximum fan speed can be reduced from 1500 to 1200rpm using the supplied Low-Noise Adaptor for even quieter operation. monitor the temperature of the CPU and Prime95 (Large FFTs) will be used to deliver the full load to the CPU for 20 minutes. The NF-A14 is one of the best selling fans from Noctua. It is very suitable as a radiator fan for liquid cooling systems but also does very well as a casefan. The price might be a little bit steep but in my opinion they are worth every penny because you are getting a high quality product that performs just as you would expect and on top of that, you have a 6 year warranty.And here's an image that I took of the NH-D15 heatsink with two NF-A14 iPPC-3000RPM PWM fans on it. I have tested the Noctua NF-A14 in a 6 fan setup. This means I had 3 fans as intake, 1 outtake and 2 on my top-mounted radiator. Ive tested the fans on full speed, 50% speed and at a 30 decibel level. Measurements were done with HWinfo64 and Cinebench R20. Pictures of the temperatures measured can be found here I have tested with a 5900x processor cooled by an Arctic Liquid Freezer II 280. The case used is the Phanteks P600s with the solid top and front panels removed, using the mesh covers. 3x 140mm NF-A14 Chromax as intake fans AIO with 140mm NF-A14 Chromax Noctua's new flagship CPU cooler currently holds the cooling performance crown in our bench tests and you can read our review of the Noctua NH-D15 here.

The industrialPPC fans are conceived for industrial heavy duty applications so Noctua has made them entirely from fibre-glass reinforced polyamide construction. Noctua was founded in 2005 and since then, they have taken the silent enthusiasts' hearts by storm and have released high quality products one after another. From all the CPU coolers that we have in our lab, our first configured NH-D15 with two NF-A14 iPPC-3000RPM PWM sits at the top with the highest fan speed. When compared to the Arctic P14 the Noctua’s fall 1°C behind in my measurements on average. You could argue the Arctic is a better choice because these are quite a bit cheaper then the Noctua fans. But there are still some differences that favor the Noctua fans. The Noctua fans feel of higher quality build. The blades and frame feel more secure. I also noticed that the Noctua fans spin absolutely straight. The Arctic fans all wobble around while operating. This makes me think Noctua spend more time and effort in making a high end product that will last long. The biggest win for me is the sound though. While both fans can achieve real low sound levels while still keeping things cool, the Noctua wins for me. This might seem a bit strange as according to measurements made the Arctic produces less sound at the same speed setting. Well there is one thing that causes this for me; The Arctic fans all have a very irritating humming noise. I have to find specific settings for each fan not to produce this humming sound. For me this is a big win for Noctua and a personal argument for me to choose these over the Arctic fans. Conclusion You don’t have to buy an additional fan to get the most out of the NH-C14S. However, buying a second NF-A14 PWM and running them both with Low Noise Adapters can reduce the noise they make to almost nothing while keeping up the cooling. NH-C14S ProsNoctua’s AAO (Advanced Acoustic Optimisation) frames feature integrated anti-vibration pads as well as Noctua’s proprietary Stepped Inlet Design and Inner Surface Microstructures, both of which further refine the fans performance/noise efficiency. Stepped Inlet Design The other accessory set that Noctua has introduced is the NA-SRC7 which consists of three fully sleeved NA-RC7 Low-Noise-Adaptors. This is a much more stronger material that can withstand temperatures of up to 140°C and makes the fans even more robust and break-proof.