PC Building

[rtbh99]

A few weeks ago, my ID-Cooling AIO started to make some pump noise, so I figured it might be time to move on from it since its over 2 years old at this point. Being a filthy hipster and Noctua whale, I couldn't choose just any cooler, it had to be something that isn't used very often. That rules out the nh-d15, which would be too large for my case anyway, and I couldn't find any other manufacturers that made rotated mounting brackets for AM4. As attractive as the NH-U12A was with its dual a12x25 fans, I figured the NH-U14s would be a better look for my case, plus it was thirty dollars cheaper(including the white cover!). Temperatures are fantastic, even with the chaotic airflow in my case, with my R9 3900x hitting 75.7c in cinebench, and hitting 18k points in score, whereas on the AIO it would peak at 77c and struggle to break 17k points. The only alteration I really made was swapping out the stock beige fan with a black Noctua fan I was using as a desk fan. This change means the corner of the fan hits my RAM modules, which arent quite low profile, which means the case door doesn't close. Perhaps in the future I will drop 60 dollars on chromax round frame fans, but until that day comes my pc door has a 3mm gap.

Onto the pictures...Mid installation. Had to leave my 6800xt plugged in while doing it.Installed with the stock brackets, the cooler touches my 6800xt. I got impatient looking at the box and installed it like this lolMade for a great display shelf! Additionally, the case door closed completely despite the chromax cover saying it increases the cpu cooler height beyond the cooler clearance of my case.Eventually my vertical brackets arrived, in a not very premium padded envelope.A Thermalright AM4 retention bracket. Partially compatible with Noctua mounting hardware, it has to be slipped under the mounting bars before tightening any of the screws down.Retention bracket having done its job, preventing my cpu getting pulled off by the cooler. Great purchase for only 4 dollars and it came with a tube of thermal paste lolI had some inlet spacers from Noctua as well on my radiator, i moved them behind the fans, used the included rubber anti-vibration fan mounts, and also put my Noctua fan gaskets on the front for decoration.Nearly finished!Note that this isnt the stock fan that comes with the U-14s, it is a 140mm Noctua fan i was using as a desk fan. Also note the case door doesn't close like this...The fan that came with it is now my desk fan 🙂

[GreatnessRD]

Saucy build, pimp! I love the look of the Noctua heatsink cover. It's so clean. If I wasn't running this bequiet-ish theme, I would definitely grab their Dh-15s cooler, lol. 

Nice build again.

[rtbh99]

thank you bud 🙂

[Anonymous]

I like nh u14s, single tower cooler that can compete with dual tower coolers.

[BigAl01]

It looks nice.  I would probably start looking at a larger case though, as the airflow through the case must be tough for your video card.

[rtbh99]

i have a larger case selected, actually. this thing that is basically a larger version of my current case. i dont need to pull the trigger on it yet though, as i dont yet have need for a larger case. im waiting for when i get a longer gpu to get it. for airflow, the gpu is next to the three intake fans, and with the new big 140mm fan, and removal of the AIO radiator, it is being helped along quite well.

[BigAl01]

I like full tower cases.  Those are the ones I usually purchase if I don't build a case from scratch.