Noctua, a leading supplier in air cooling, is one of a few makers of CPU cooling systems with no closed-loop cooling systems in its lineup. And perhaps the company doesn't need them, as its latest air cooler, the NH-U14S DX-4677, is capable of cooling Intel's 56-core Xeon W9-3495X — which consumes 700W of power.
These days, most enthusiast-grade desktops and workstations use all-in-one (AIO) liquid cooling systems, which are more efficient than air coolers and better able to handle modern CPUs (which can consume well above their rated thermal design power when working in turbo boost mode, albeit for short periods of time). But while liquid coolers are efficient, a large air cooler can also do the job pretty well, as Noctua's demonstration shows. The company's new NH-U14S DX-4677 is able to cool down Intel's 56-core Xeon W9-3495X under load when it consumes over 700W and does not throttle.
"Would you say 700W on air cooling is impossible," the Noctua tweet reads. "Here's our NH-U14S DX-4677 cooling the Intel Xeon w9-3495X at a continuous load of more than 700W!"
The company did not disclose whether the CPU was overclocked (or at what clock speed it was running), but in the video the temperatures remain below 100°C. We suspect its power limits were increased in UEFI BIOS to demonstrate the capabilities of the cooler.
Would you say 700W on air cooling is impossible? Here’s our NH-U14S DX-4677 cooling the Intel Xeon w9-3495X at a continuous load of more than 700W! @intel @ASUS @Seasonic @SKhynix pic.twitter.com/35HCtIxL30April 11, 2023
The Noctua NH-U14S DX-4677 is a large, aluminum tower cooler featuring a nickel-plated copper base along with six thick, U-shaped, nickel-plated heat pipes. The cooler measures 6.5 x 5.9 x 4.4 inches (165 x 150 x 111mm) and weighs 2.5lbs (1.14kg), including two Noctua NF-A15 HS-PWM fans, so it may not fit into compact PC cases. The heatsink fins are slightly curved to maximize surface area and optimize airflow.
The cooler features a total fin surface area of more than 6000cm², which makes it one of the largest air coolers available. Noctua says that the two 140mm fans generate airflow of around 140,2 m³/h and produce up to 24.6 dbA noise.
The Noctua NH-U14S DX-4677 was specifically designed for Intel's Xeon processors, and it offers both impressive cooling performance and reliability with a six-year warranty (and an MTTF of 150,000 hours on the fans).
