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NH-D14 or H70?

Which one?

  • Total voters
    18
ebolamonkey3

ebolamonkey3

New Member
Joined
Apr 9, 2010
Messages
773 (0.14/day)
Location
Atlanta/Marietta, GA
System Specs
System Name Norbert
Processor Intel Core i7 920
Motherboard Gigabyte X58A-UD5
Cooling Corsair H50 with 2x Scythe GT AP-14
Memory 3x 2gb G.Skill 1600Mhz C9 DDR3
Video Card(s) MSI Twin Frozr II GTX 465 GE & EVGA GTS 450 SC
Storage 2x 1Tb Samsung Sprinpoint F3 7200rpm
Display(s) Dell U3011, Dell 2408WFP, Samsung 2693HM
Case Lian Li V1020R
Audio Device(s) Creative X-Fi Titanium
Power Supply Seasonic X-750
Software Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
Hey guys, looking to replace my H50 here since I want to overclock my i7 950 to 4ghz, and it's just not gonna cut it.

So NH-D14 or H70? I've read reviews and it seems that the Noctua performs a bit better, and is actually quieter (than the stock fans on the H70 anyways). But it's huge and will block some of my ram slots.

H70 reviews show that temps will go over 70C and maybe 80C even with both fans on high, which is definitely too loud for me.

I have plenty of aftermarket fans and will definitely ditch the stock fans on the H70. Will probably keep the ones on the Noctua and add one more to have 3 fans :p (Fans I have: 2x 1450rpm Scythe GTs, 2x 1850rpm Scythe GTs, and 2x SanAce H1011s, and various S-Flex fans).

So what do you guys say? Noctua or H70? NH-D14 will be $70 for me and the H70 will cost me $96.
 
D-14....much less noise, HUGE, may have memory issues (with tall spreaders)

H70...LOUD at full load, on par with most great air coolers, less of a installation concern.

IF noise is a big deal I would opt for the noctua personally as you arent giving up performance to gain silence. I have had many, many coolers, and it took full water to make me jump ship from my D-14. I use an H70 in her rig with the i5 750 and its OK, but noting great. With the BitFenix case, it keeps the noise lowered though.
 
I read a review where it pitched the Thermalright Silver Arrow versus the D14 and the SA came out quieter & cooler.
 
sneekypeet said:
D-14....much less noise, HUGE, may have memory issues (with tall spreaders)

H70...LOUD at full load, on par with most great air coolers, less of a installation concern.

IF noise is a big deal I would opt for the noctua personally as you arent giving up performance to gain silence. I have had many, many coolers, and it took full water to make me jump ship from my D-14. I use an H70 in her rig with the i5 750 and its OK, but noting great. With the BitFenix case, it keeps the noise lowered though.
Click to expand...

Yea, that's why I had doubts about the H70. It looks awesome in the Corsair 800D, but performance and noise doesn't really justify its high price :\

Kantastic said:
I read a review where it pitched the Thermalright Silver Arrow versus the D14 and the SA came out quieter & cooler.
Click to expand...

Are you talking about the xbit article? Man, now I gotta look into the silver arrow more!

Do you think I'd make a difference if I swap out the 120mm fan on the NH-D14 out to another 140mm? I have a spare Noctua 140mm fan lying around.
 
Noctua NH-D14, so much faith in Noctua coolers for doing a fantastic job while staying whisper quiet.
 
The Thermalright Silver Arrow should also be on your list. Xbit's testing indicated slightly better raw performance than the D14 and significantly better acoustic performance (sorry but Noctua fans are overrated). The deciding factor for me between the Arrow, Venomous X and D14 was the fans, better than the D14's and the inclusion of them offset the price difference between the Venomous X.

The Arrow also supposedly has better clearance around the CPU socket than the D14 but the sheer size of either heatsink can make installation tedious. As sneekypeet mentioned the H50 and 70 have a major advantage in ease of installation.
 
Xbit's article prove one thing: the D14 can do it loud or quite and still be cool.

Are you using all 6 dimms? Unless you are you can turn the Noctua 90* (so the fans face the PCIe slots) and not have interference problems with the dimms with only 3.

Three fans are overkill for the Noctua and gain you next to nothing. The cooler can do a lot with only the 140mm in the middle and slowed down with the ULNA included with the cooler.

The benefit I see with the TR is the ability to run a 32mm fan in the middle. Even with the new pressure hold down they have I still like the Noctua version. Though I do want to get the TR Silver Arrow just to see how good it is with a slow 32mm fan in the middle.

How much voltage you putting through the 950 for 4Ghz? With 1.2v with llc I can run 3.8Ghz on my 920 with the D14 passive fwiw. Though that is in a HAF and a case with good airflow is the only way to make that happen at least when stressing.
 
I just dumped my H50 for a Venomous X Black in a push pull setup. Much better for overclocking my 1055t.
 
Yea, looking at the Silver Arrow too. I'm using 3x 4gb of Mushkin silver, so no clearance problems :)

Don't know how much volts it's gonna take, the build's not done yet :\
 
mastrdrver said:
Xbit's article prove one thing: the D14 can do it loud or quite and still be cool.
Click to expand...

In all fairness though the arrow is slightly better at all fan speeds and quieter at the same RPM's. Considering the arrow and D14 are the same price the choice should be easy.

The only thing I didn't like about my arrow is the mounting system, you need to very careful with the tension.
 
If you do not have sufficient room for a large cooler then the h70 is the way to go. However, I wouldn't go from an h50 to an h70. You are better off either getting a NH-D14 or saving up a little more and going for a real Watercooling setup. If regular watercooling isn't an option, then: I also would try getting your current h50, cutting the tubing and putting a mini-reservoir and custom tubing on. That would be a ~$30 dollar modification and get you similar if not better performance than the h70 for far less. Just my 2 cents.
 
If you stick with air, maybe a Scythe Mugen II? It fits on your socket and is doing well in the reviews afaik. However it is quite a large cooler so check whether it fits in your case.
 
i ask this question to myself before a month, and i find d14 is better for and i pic one
other thing i see water cooling it's some kind of fashion, clean with less space and nice look
so the different is if u think to push more in clocks D14 will be the chose, other wise if want stick with 4Ghz H70 will be more than enough for u
 
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