Noctua NH-D14 CPU Cooler Review

The NF-P14-FLX 140mm Fan

While we knew what to expect with the NF-P12-1300 (for a good overview of this fan check out or last review of the Noctua C12P) the real star of this show is the all new NF-P14-FLX. A 140mm fan is about as large as you can get for air based CPU coolers and we were very interested to see if this bigger brother of the P12 was just as good as its smaller sibling.

Noctua states this fan’s maximum RPMs is slightly lower than the P12’s at 1200rpm (vs. 1300); however at this speed it does move more air (but at lower static pressures) than the smaller 120mm variant. The official specification for this fan at 1200 is 65CFM with 1.21mm of static pressure which is quite impressive.


As expected, this fan comes wrapped in a nice tight rubber sheath which sure helps improve its love it or hate it looks. Also on the positive side, Noctua includes a Y adaptor so that both fans can be plugged into your single CPU fan header on the motherboard.

We also have to remember that Noctua is very sensitive about noise levels so the P14 FLX also comes with Low and Ultra Low noise adaptors. With the Low Noise adaptor in place the reduced maximum speed is 900RPM at which it can still move 49CFM with a meek 0.77mm of static pressure. With the Ultra Low noise adaptor in place its top speed is reduced to 750RPM but it still moves 42CFM but with a very disappointing 0.53mm of static pressure.

Since this fan has longer blades than the NF-P12, it does exhibit more blade flex, but this is to be expected. To be honest, the NF-P14 is just as tight and just as good as its little brother. In fact, it produces fewer vibrations and is even quieter than the venerable P12!

It should also be said that we are not going to rehash the age-old Noctua colour debate since what we care about is how these things perform, not how they look in a closed case. To put this another way: we think that form should never take precedence over function.


All in all, this fan is a winner as a case fan but we have doubts about its abilities as a CPU cooler fan. It may be bigger and slower, but we are worried about its lack lustre static pressure numbers. One way or another, it is big, yet quiet and does move an impressive amount of air for having such a slow rotational speed.