We have been working with Noctua for many years now and every time they come out with a product it ends up to be nominated for best performance. Every product they make comes with premium quality seal and has approval of many review sites like ours. Today we are going to take a look at latest fan from Noctua, NF-P14 FLX. NF-P14 FLX promises to deliver best performance under low noise levels. Its fan blade design is highly aerodynamic which helps to push maximum amount of air. Let us take a closer look at NF-P14 FLX and see what else it has to offer.

About the Product

Following information is taken from the Noctua website.

Following in the footsteps of the successful NF-P12, the NF-P14 is a highly optimized, premium quality 140mm fan with Vortex-Control Notches for superb quietness and outstanding aerodynamic efficiency. Metal reinforcements, SCD2 technology and Noctua’s premium grade SSO-Bearing guarantee exceptional running smoothness and excellent long-term stability. Using the same hole-spacing as common 120mm fans and achieving a superior airflow/noise ratio, the NF-P14 is ideal for upgrading 120mm CPU or case fans. More information: NF-P14 Blade Design 120mm & 140mm Mounting NF-P14 Metal Reinforcements

Size 140x140x25 mm Bearing SSO-Bearing Blade Geometry NF-P14 Blade Design with VCN Rotational Speed (+/- 10%) 1200 RPM Rotational Speed with L.N.A. (+/- 10%) 900 RPM Rotational Speed with U.L.N.A. (+/- 10%) 750 RPM Airflow 110,3 m³/h Airflow with L.N.A. 83,7 m³/h Airflow with U.L.N.A. 71,2 m³/h Acoustical Noise 19,6 dB(A) Acoustical Noise with L.N.A. 13,2 dB(A) Acoustical Noise with U.L.N.A. 10,1 dB(A) Static Pressure 1,29 mm H2O Static Pressure with L.N.A. 0,77 mm H2O Static Pressure with U.L.N.A. 0,53 mm H2O Input Power 1,2 W Input Current 0,1 A Voltage Range 12 V MTBF > 150.000 h Scope of Delivery Ultra-Low-Noise Adaptor (U.L.N.A.) Low-Noise Adaptor (L.N.A.) Adaptors for 140mm mounting 4 Vibration Compensators 3:4-Pin Adaptor 4 Fan Screws Warranty 6 years

Now that we got basic information out of the way, lets take a closer look at NF-P14 FLX.

Closer look

Front Shot		Rear Shot

Not much changed from the packaging of Noctua fans. Thesame ol design with the open front window for the buyer to see what's inside. On the back of the packaging We found multiple languages describing the product inside. Also on the right side we found brief descriptions of some of the signature specifications regarding NF-P14 FLX.

Highly Detailed Information		Out of the box

Inside of the insert we found more detailed information about the unit. What is impressive here is the engineering of the actual blades. Noctua engineers work on the blade design which makes their fans unique. By having specific blades they manage to obtain most air volume and yet having quite fans. The actual unit is packaged in the clear plastic container which keeps everything in the place.

Contents		NF-P14 FLX

NF-P14 FLX comes with couple of mounting methods. You can either mount NF-P14 FLX by using old fashion screws or with help of four Vibration Compensators. These come in handy when you are trying to build a nice a quiet case. If you are looking for a quietest case possible then you should look at the adapters NF-P14 FLX comes with. Ultra Low Noise Adapter (750 rpm), Low Noise Adapter (900 rpm) and standalone speed (1200 rpm). Depending on what you want from your case and fan, you might utilize these adapters for best performance.

SSO Bearing		Unique Blade Design

NF-P14 FLX comes with SSO Bearing which prolongs the life time of the bearing and produces virtually no sound while in rotation. This is the core of the NF-P14 FLX and it being so quiet. As you probably noticed this is not a 120 mm fan but 140 mm so the mountings for NF-P14 FLX has been adjusted to fit 120 mm holes. This is the first time we see this kind of mounting design with 140 mm fan. As we mentioned, Noctua fan blades are very uniquely engineered for best performance as you can see from the picture above.

Profile Shot

This fan, just like any other fans on the market is marked with the directional markings. This indicated the air flow of the fan, very useful when you are performing installation. One thing you might find unusual here is the mounting hole and the side of the fan. The fan is 140 mm fan but the mountings are for 120 mm. You need to have alot of empty space. Every case we have doesn't have enough space to fit this fan inside. We have tried in the front of the case and in the back, nothing would work. The supplied mounting don't work here either since they are for mounting 140mm fans. So unfortunately we couldn't test this fan to the fullest.

Conclusion

NF-P14 FLX is a great product with alot of potential. With newer cases which coming out this year installation and use of this particular model would be a great benefit. Noctua is famous for its fans and fan blade design and again they have made another beast. No change in the color of the unit. No LEDs or anything like that, just pure performance. By having multiple adapters, you can set the operating speed of the fan. This would reflect noise and of course air movement in or out of the case. The acoustical noise with Ultra Low Noise Adapter is as low as 13 db(A). This is very quiet and can barely be heard with a human ear. Earlier in the article we included a decibel chart for reference. The was one thing that we found which was annoying. The mounting of NF-P14 FLX required for you to have extra room in your fan slot. We had a great difficulty installing this fan in our 120 mm slot. Overall experience with NF-P14 FLX has been more than pleasant. It gives me a great pleasure to award NF-P14 FLX with 9/10 rank!

Some pros we found:

Very quiet in operation even at higher speed.

SSO bearing.

Unique blade geometry for better airflow.

Multiple speed adapters.

Vibration compensators.

Some cons we found:

Difficult to install in a regular 120mm space.