Noctua NH-C12P SE14 Review

Testing:

To put the latest performance heatsink from Noctua, the NH-C12P SE 14, to the test, I will be making a comparison of the temperatures at idle and under load. Both will be made while the CPU is at the stock voltages and clock speeds, as well as when the CPU is overclocked and 'over-volted'. This will help to show what kind of cooling performance that this monster of a heatsink has to offer, when compared to other socket 1366 compatible high-performance heatsinks. These heatsinks will be tested head-to-head as they are delivered from the manufacturer. I could throw in a bunch of testing variables, but it is not what the products are capable of as delivered. To test the idle temperatures, I will allow the computer to stay idle for 30 minutes and take the idle temperature at this point. For the load testing, I will use Prime95 version 25.9 and choose the blend testing and allow the processor and memory controller to heat up to the maximum temperatures. The time frame is a four-hour run, to allow the temperature to peak - usually in the 14K test. I will use Real temp 3.0 to take the high and low temperatures and average the temperatures generated over the four cores as my reported temperatures.

Testing Setup:

• CPU: Intel Core i7 920 133x20(Stock) 166x20 Overclocked
• Motherboard: MSI X58 Eclipse
• Memory: Mushkin HP3 12800 7-7-7-20
• Video Card(s): Nvidia GTX 260-216
• Power Supply: Mushkin 800 watt Modular Power Supply
• Hard Drive: 1 x Seagate 1TB SATA
• Optical Drive: Asus DVD-R
• OS: Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit SP1
• Chassis: ThermalTake Armour +

Comparison Heat sinks:

• Noctua NH-U12P SE 1366
• Thermalright TRUE
• Noctua NH-D14
• Noctua NH-U9B SE

While all of these heatsinks perform within a three to four degree envelope at idle, both stock and overclocked, it's what they deliver under load that sets them apart. When compared to the NH-D14, the NH-C12P SE-14 delivers temperatures that are eight degrees warmer under load at stock speeds and nine degrees warmer when overclocked - the differential stays pretty consistent. Compared to the TRUE and NH-U12P SE 1366, the differential shrinks to four and five degrees, which is a pretty fair accomplishment to get that close.