Introduction

Technology moves at the blink of an eye and component upgrade cycles occur much faster for PC enthusiasts compared to other hobbies. Those who want the fastest and the best often find themselves spending thousands of dollars on motherboards, processors, video cards, memory and storage just to keep up with the latest trend. Thankfully, there are some components that can be used through several system life cycles, especially when chosen carefully. For example, a highly efficient power supply can last several years, considering power requirements will only lessen with future technologies and power supply form factors will remain static for a while. A spacious and durable chassis is also a worthy investment, for it requires very little "upgrades" in order to house the latest and upcoming PC components. Lastly, an effective CPU heatsink with dedicated manufacturer support in the face of ever-changing motherboard mounting sockets could pretty much last long enough to be passed on to your children.

In the case of Noctua's line of CPU coolers, this has been proven to be true, as their heatsink line uses a universal mounting system which gets an update whenever a new motherboard socket comes out. Noctua focuses on products dedicated to CPU air cooling and, although their line is conservative in number compared to other CPU heatsink manufacturers, they all are designed to fit a specific niche and different types of user. At the top of this lineup sits the Noctua NH-D14 CPU cooler, the crowning achievement of not only Noctua's engineers but air cooling in general. The Noctua NH-D14 has won several awards and has been the benchmark for CPU cooling for quite some time now. Technology moves forward however and new demands come up as new enthusiast-class processors are introduced, hence the need for a new SE2011 version.

The Noctua NH-D14 SE2011 edition heatsink is aimed at users running the latest Intel Sandy Bridge-E systems. The Noctua NH-D14 SE2011 CPU cooler retains the same award winning design as the original NH-D14 but comes with a new SecuFirm2 mounting tailored for LGA2011 motherboards, as well as having PWM versions of the NF-P12 and NF-P14 fans. These fans paired with the NH-D14 SE2011 heatsink are designed to push a lot of air while maintaining very low noise during operation. Just in case you want to further lower the sound output, you can attach the pair of low noise adapters Noctua has included in the accessory package. Those with a non-SE2011 version of the NH-D14 could still use the heatsink on their new Intel X79 system as Noctua provides a free SecuFirm2 LGA2011 mounting kit to those who are eligible and have their NH-D14 receipt on hand.