Previously, I had an NF-P14 that was pulling double-duty in the middle of my old NH-D14 heatsink (the other fan that was originally with it currently resides in the case's exhaust slot directly aft of the heatsink). This setup worked fine during winter months, but in recent weeks has resulted in intermittent overheating due to the warmth of the room.
Rather than restore the heatsink's stock configuration, I opted to simply beef up the heatsink's fan and move the NF-P14 to the case front to supply it; I'd been intending to replace the low-end Cooler Master fan I had there anyway. As both high airflow and high static pressure were needed...this fan was a bit of a no-brainer, even if it is pricy.
First off: if you too have an NH-D14, rest assured that this fan will fit. It won't fit as intended (the original mount kit was designed for 120mm-mount fans, the NF-A14 has 140mm mounts), but the heatsink is wide enough to support the fan, and you'll have a bottom overhang for RAM/VRM/etc cooling as with the original NF-P14. Just make sure that there aren't any components extruding from the board that will interfere with the corners. See attached pictures for my super-exotic mounting method.
Secondly: despite Noctua's best efforts, this fan is definitely not quiet at higher speeds. Even throttled at 50%, it's quite noticeable, though it's not unbearable. At 100% (which comes to ~2750rpm on my board...something I find slightly worrying actually), as noted in other reviews, it sounds akin to a small vacuum cleaner. If you plan to run it in a gaming PC, make sure you figure out what speed you need for adequate cooling, and stick to that under load. Look up your CPU to find its maximum safe temperature, and set your fan curve to have it kick up to 100% ~5 degrees before that. The fan has PWM control for a reason...use it! There's no reason to deafen yourself under light or no load.
Noctua's site lists the minimum speed as 800rpm, however, my board's minimum PWM setting is able to run it at ~400rpm. I wasn't able to test at what point it becomes "silent", but it certainly is at the lower end. I'd expect it to be no louder than the NF-P14 up to 1300rpm, and I never had a problem with that fan's noise.
Finally...it's a solid fan. Noctua, in my experience, makes high-quality stuff; this fan is no exception. The price of it made me handle it carefully, but it didn't feel fragile at all. Even the blades, thin as they are, feel solid...I would recommend not putting your fingers anywhere near them while the fan is running.
The box is quite nice, but what you actually get is just barely above OEM-level; the fan and wide-thread screws for plastic fans, nothing more.
I imagine that the common user would be disappointed by lack of low-noise adapter and/or splitter, but consider: the fan is PWM (a control method far superior to resistive/voltage-based control), and is rated for more than half an amp at full load. It seems to be commonly accepted that motherboard headers shouldn't be loaded above 1 amp, which would be easily exceeded by pairing two of these at full speed on a single header. I would guess that the cost of including a splitter in every box is a drop in the bucket for Noctua, but they chose to not include one to protect themselves if users decided to overload motherboard headers and potentially burn them out.
They can't be held responsible if the user finds a splitter elsewhere and decides to risk it, after all.
In summary,
It's an expensive fan, costing as much as an 8gb stick of DDR3. But for the price you get a fan that performs well and quietly for day to day use, and unlike Noctua's consumer-grade offerings, can go full-out balls-to-the-wall if high levels of static pressure and airflow are needed. It can be made to fit an NH-D14 with the mildest of adaptation, and (according to reviews and Noctua specs) will directly fit an NH-D15. The included accessories are...well, non-existent, but with a proper setup you won't need them anyway.
William R · 2017-02-22 · via amazon
★★★★★High quality air movement.
I bought two of these puppies to get some good airflow going into my computer case. Holy cow these things move air. They’re loud, only when they get up to high speed. If you’ve got smart fan controls, you can dial in a good fan curve and it will keep your stuff cool. Very high-quality, with some rubber at the mounting points and scientifically wonked air grooves on the fan blades. Look no further.
Matt Duncan · 2026-04-05 · via amazon
★★★★★Extremely quiet! Just need to configure them properly
I love these fans! I was hesitant to order them because of some reviewers saying they're horribly loud and others saying they were quiet. I was willing to take the risk and bet on the fact that those complaining they were too loud just didn't take any time to configure them, and I am so glad I did!
I installed 4 of these 140mm fans and 3 120mm in my new rig and I absolutely love them. I have 2 140's as front intake, a 140 as rear exhaust, a 140 as bottom intake next to PSU, 2 120's on my H100i radiator and a third 120 next to the radiator as exhaust. They all come with rubber brackets and I installed all but the radiator fans with Cosmos rubber rivets. Super easy! They all come with rubber sleeved cables that aren't too short and aren't too long. I did have to run a y-splitter for my two front fans because I ran out of pins on my motherboard, and it was enough of an extension to help them make it across the huge case to get them plugged in. If you have a large case and intend to put these near the front of your chassis, you will most definitely need extensions so plan ahead! I'd rather have to extend one set of fans than have 7 fans with super long cables cluttering things up.
After the quick and easy installation, I powered everything on and I was shocked at how loud it was. It was loud enough that my 10 year old and I had to raise our voices to hear each other clearly when sitting 4-5 feet away. HOWEVER, using ASUS' UEFI on the Maximus VII Hero motherboard, I was able to use the built in Qfan to quiet them down enough to the point that I could tolerate sitting near it while I installed the OS.
Once Windows was installed, I installed AI Suite (included with my motherboard, you may need to locate another fan controller if you don't have an ASUS board) and went into fan setup. It has 4 predefined modes to choose from with further customization possible if desired. Silent mode literally turns off all fans except the CPU fan, which it turns down considerably and the entire rig is dead quiet. Standard mode is a step up but still extremely quiet, even when sitting only 2-3 feet away. When on the other side of the room playing games on the TV, I don't hear it at all. The other two settings include turbo (around 1500 rpm) and full power. When all fans are running at top speed (about 2700-2800 rpm), it is extremely loud. Turbo is tolerable. The sweet spot is around 900rpm, which is enough to keep an EVGA GTX 980 Ti under 60 degrees while gaming and keeps my i7-4790k under 40 degrees, even under load. The result is a very stable, quiet and cool rig. I haven't found anything that can cause this system to break a sweat and I attribute it largely to these fans.
I am so very pleased with these fans, I can't say enough good things about them. They are roughly twice as expensive as other popular fans, but I'd much rather take the cool, quiet performance of Noctua fans than have fancy loud LED fans in my rig. I'll definitely be picking up more Noctua's when I build my husband's rig next month.
