Noctua NF-A14 FLX Silent Heatsink & Radiator Fan Unboxing & First Look Linus Tech Tips
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2013-05-07
·
1,742 words · ~8 min read
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as you guys probably know I'm a huge fan of noctu a fan so I'm super excited to
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check out the NF A14 flx now as you know
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we've got a wide variety of different 120 mm cooling fans available from nocta
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including their FS series and their P series which are optimized for radiators
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and heat sinks because they're very pressure optimized with the F series The
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F12 actually having a directed Cyclone
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of air coming away from the exhaust side of it now this doesn't have that
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functionality but this is a 140 mm version of what would be very similar to
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a p12 fan but with some additional technology so if you come in here and
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have a look at the actual features that are available on it we've got a square
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140 mm frame this makes it ideal for Cas
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in r ah yes well you can see nocta puts
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right here what what it's for case and radiator cooling flow acceleration Chann
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AO frame stepped Inlet design inner surface micro structures integrated anti
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vibration pad smooth commutation drive to basically what noct was trying to say
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is their drives are engineered to the point of it being kind of obsessive so
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come in here and have a look at the uh fan itself and the accessories so unlike
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the 120 mm fans the 140 mil fans come
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with not only a low noise adapter low noise adapter right there which uh down
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volts the fan to 7 volts but also an
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ultra hold on a second okay well one of these is ultra
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low noise one of them is low noise so one of them is 7 volts and one of them is 5 volts also comes with a Molex to
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three pin adapter very nicely sleeved all of them right up to the connector so
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you're not going to see any unsightly colored wires we've also got extension
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cables this is fantastic see just a simple three pin extension cable
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mounting screws although usually you won't use those you'll use the rubber
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ice ating antivibration mounts I mean you can though because
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you've got more antivibration mounts here the only problem with using the
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metal screws is because they have to drive into hard plastic and they will
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transfer some vibration to the case that way even with these rubber isolators so
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if you use these rubber isolators up against the case with these rubber
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isolators Bridging the hard plastic with the hard metal of the case itself then
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you've got no room for vibration to be transferred from the fan to the chassis
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when it's spinning not to say that KN to a fans actually create a whole ton of
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vibration when they're spinning because they really don't the fans all come with
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short cables love this because it means that no matter where you install them I
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mean really a case is only so big usually where you install it there's
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going to be a fan header somewhere nearby if there isn't they've included
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the extension that you need to run it wherever it needs to go that makes it
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more like a normal fan wire length love
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this too check this out this is a newer feature that they've started adding to their fans see these right here I
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couldn't figure out what they were for at first I thought they were just for
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sort of mounting the uh the rubber noise isolators then what I realized is these
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are probably for cable management check this out so whenever you you know when
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you wrap a wire around the outside of a fan maybe they're not for that but
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whatever you can use them for that all you got to do is put them under these
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little rubber pieces and they will generally stay there very very cool
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stuff like you know when you take a fan and you mount it kind of like here at
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the back of your chassis and then you want to wrap it here down to here and then run it to a little W awesome for
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that so I want you to have a closer look at these rubber isolators you can remove
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them if you want you don't have to keep them on you know say in the odd case
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that it causes some kind of a compatibility issue with your case or your cooler or anything like that you
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don't have to worry about it so let's have a look at some of the technologies
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that NOA builds into the fan number one is the six-year warranty um so basically
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what they're saying is 150,000 hours or
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something like that is the meantime between failure for this thing and yeah
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there you go meantime between failure of greater than 150,000 hours so they're
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pretty much saying yeah it's not going to die but if it does we'll deal with it
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without adapters it runs at 1200 RPM with an adapter this is the wrong fan uh
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with an adapter this one also runs at 1200 RPM but low noise adapters at 1050
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ultra low noise at 900 RPM so at 900 RPM
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this thing will be darn near
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silent all right technology wise these guys right here these stepped inlets
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apparently reduced the amount of noise that is here we go stepped Inlet design
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stepped Inlet design is Advanced aerodynamic design blah blah blah with
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first with the F12 the F12 was one of their most advanced fans ever by adding
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turbulence to the influx facilitates the transition from laminer turbulent flow
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so similar to The dimple structure of the golf ball leads to better flow
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attachment to the frame which allows the impeller to suck in more air and helps improve overall air efficiency they also
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use a very Advanced bearing that is completely sealed so you won't get any
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micro inside they use flow accelerator channels on the blades themselves which
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is there's lots of complicated stuff here generally
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speaking I am not an aerodynamic engineer I think you guys know this
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you've watched enough of my videos to know that that's not the case what I do know is that these fans are extremely
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well regarded even by those who have very
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advanced Advanced Equipment for testing fans I know this because I spent some
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time using their equipment testing Noctua fans and they were just like yeah
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they're they're really good fans they're they're just really good um I do know
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that they last over the long term I've been using Noctua fans for a very long
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time on some of my quiet optimized systems and what I also know is that
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they're darn silent now guys there's more to it than just the RPM the CFM and
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the static pressure and the deciel ratings there's more to it than that
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there's how gracefully does it undervolt so some fans yes you can undervolt them
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but they start to develop a grind or a tick that doesn't necessarily get picked
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up by a decimeter so so yeah you know
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it's there an audible noise but it's more about how annoying is that noise
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nocta fans don't make annoying noises they you know sure maybe they look kind
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of distinctive
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but that's their branding you can always
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tell a no to a fan when you see it so this guy right here perfect for
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radiators perfect for heat sinks oh yeah why is it perfect for radiators good
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question cuz nocta has 140 and 150 mm
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fans that use a round frame which is not for radiators because you'll lose the
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seal around the edges and in the corners like that which causes it to be less
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efficient this way the fan gets to go right up against this is a 120 mil rad
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I'm just using it for illustration purposes gets to go right up against it
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and causes a seal so that pressure optimized design actually gets to push
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air through the fins of the rad or the heat sink rather than worrying about it
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spilling around the edges you can see an example of where this wouldn't matter in
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this computer right here come on in closer because here we're going to have
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leaks around the edges no matter what so as long as we have reasonably good
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directed air flow through the fins we're going to be fine so you could use
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something like their A5 instead of their A14 it wouldn't be necessary to have
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that square shaped uh fan Arrangement so
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let's just make sure we don't miss any of the other Technologies they include so we got the flow acceleration chance
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with the advanced acoustic optimization frame stepped in inner surface micr
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structures so these flow separation from the suction sides which reduces reduced
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blade passing noise and improved air flow and pressure efficiency the anti
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vibration pads we covered running smoothness by
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eliminating torque variations and switching noises this is actually
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something that's uh that's really good to know about so guys the circuitry and
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the design of the of the fan motor as well as the pwm or actually these aren't
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pwm fans but they do have pwm fans these guys are makes a huge difference in
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using thirdparty fan controllers on fans so the more optimized it is and the more
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well the higher quality the components that are used the less likely you are to
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develop any sort of weird vibrations ticking or whining noises okay three
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speeds ultra low power consumption and six-year warranty metal bearing shell so
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Poss highest possible degree of manufacturing Precision minimum uh
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tolerance and excellent long St stability CNC mil bearing shell made entirely from breast okay so there you
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go quality fans yeah they're expensive but you get what you pay for thanks guys
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for checking out my unboxing and first look at the nf14 flx from nocta don't
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forget to subscribe for more unboxings reviews and other computer videos