Finally, after a long wait by the customers and an equally long time in R&D by the Noctua design team, they have released the new generation of 140mm fans taking over the legendary NF-A14 PWM fans. Say hello to NF-A14x25 G2 PWM fans. First announced back in September, these fans are built on the NF-A14 footprint yet incorporating the technology of NF-A12x25 PWM fans. These fans are available in 4 options:
- NF-A14x25 G2 PWM Single Fan Pack costing USD 39.90
- NF-A14x25 G2 LS-PWM Single Fan Pack costing USD 39.90
- NF-A14x25 G2 PWM Sx2-PP Two Fans Pack costing USD 76.90
- NF-A14x25r G2 PWM [For Noctua NH-D15 G2 coolers)
The LS-PWM is a low speed edition of the regular NF-A14x25 G2 PWM fans making it suitable for case ventilation in particular. Other than that, it has same design as of the regular G2 fans. The S-2xPP fans come with two NF-A14x25 G2 PWM fans operating in offset speed to reduce harmonic phenomena like intermittent vibration or humming coming from interference. This offset is ±25 RPM.
I am testing NF-A14x25 G2 PWM fans in this content and will be testing these against the NF-A14 PWM fans to see the generational improvement in thermal and noise performance.
Specifications
Packaging and Contents
The fans are shipped inside cardboard-based packing boxes.
The Sx2-PP fans come in a large-size packing box. These fans are placed parallel to each other in this box and there is an accessory box sandwiched by the fans. All editions have standard accessories.
The single fan editions have one fan and accessory box in a box. Noctua has printed important technological updates on these fans. Beneath each fan, there is a leaflet giving users guidelines on the pressure mounting of these fans over the radiator.
The NF-A14x25 G2 PWM box comes with
- 1x NF-A14x25 G2 PWM fan
- 1x NA-RC16 Low-Noise Adaptor (L.N.A.)
- 1x NA-YC1 4-pin PWM splitter cable
- 1x NA-EC1 30cm extension cable
- 4x NA-AV2 anti-vibration mounts
- 1x NA-AVG2-LR anti-vibration gasket [Installed on the fan]
- 4x NA-AVP1-LR load-relief anti-vibration pads
- 4x Fan screws
Closer Look
The new generation NF-A14x25 G2 PWM fans are designed on the building block of NF-A14 PWM and NF-A12x25 PWM fans, hence they carry the same technologies and design as on the NF-A12x25 while retaining the basic footprint of the frame from NF-A14 PWM fans.
This is why Noctua did not opt for a new name; instead used G2 showing the second generation of the NF-A14 PWM fans. This would also help in the easy identification of the desired fans.
There are plenty of keynotes when it comes to the design of NF-A14x25 G2 PWM fans which is obvious given they follow the design of NF-A12x25 in that sense. Each fan has 9x impellers. They are progressive bend impellers featuring flow acceleration channels and winglets.
These blades are swept backward close to the hub and progressively bent forward further out. These work in tandem with the centrifugal Turbulator hub to improve the lift and uniform loading across the blade surface.
The winglets are introduced in an attempt to reduce the tip vortices. The NF-A14x25 G2’s winglets are fine-tuned to work with other features of the frame for consistent efficiency.
Noctua has used LCP (Liquid Polymer Crystal) material for the impellers as we saw on the NF-A12x25 PWM fans. Noctua was the first brand to start using LCP and ultra-low tip clearance with others following in the same design footprint.
Noctua is using the same AAO (Advanced Acoustic Optimisation) frames that are on the NF-A14 PWM and NF-A12x25 PWM fans. These frames use integrated anti-vibration pads, Noctua’s proprietary Stepped Inlet Design, and Inner Surface Microstructures. All these work together to provide the best possible performance and reduce noise output.
These fans come with 4x NA-AVP1-LR load-relief anti-vibration pads pre-installed on the front side of the fan. The NF-A14x25 G2 has an NA-AVG2 silicone gasket installed on the rear of the fan out of the box. This gasket is useful for radiator and surface mounting providing a tight seal with the fan.
Since the gasket covers the entire border of the fan’s frame, it helps to dampen vibrations and to reduce air loss between the fan and the radiator for optimal cooling performance. The Anti-vibration pads serve a similar purpose.
There is a Noctua branding on one side of the frame.
There are arrow markers providing a direction guide to the user. These show the direction of airflow through the fan and the direction in which blades spin.
The backside of the fan has an inward slope on the four sides. There is a 4-arm assembly connecting the motor hub with the frame. The fan draws 0.19A at 12VDC using 2.28W power. You can see a full gasket that comes pre-installed.
The NF-A14x25 G2 PWM fans use optimized SSO2 bearings in which the rear magnet is placed closer to the axis for stabilization. Noctua has employed a CNC milled bearing shell made of brass material providing long-term stability with minimum tolerance.
Noctua has used the NE-FD6 motor drive system in these fans that are combined with the theSupraTorque technology. This motor provides better energy efficiency. This motor has a Hall Effect sensor for precise commutation performance. Speaking of commutation, these fans have Noctua’s Smooth Commutation Drive 2 technology. The aim here is to reduce the motor noise to the extent possible.
The SuporaTorque technology allows these fans to maintain the same RPM even when employed on the surface with high back pressure.
Noctua has managed 0.7mm tip clearance between the blades and the frame. This design helps in reducing leak flows through the gap between the blades and frame. This would improve the performance efficiency even with a high resistant surface.
Safety Data
These fans come with safety features/protections that include:
- Reverse Polarity Protection
- Over Voltage Protection
- Over Current Protection
These protections make these fans suitable even in challenging electrical environments. You can have a peace of mind.
Testing
Alphacool sent us a new CPU water block for testing. It is a good opportunity hence I set up a loop so that fans and block can be tested at a time.
- Intel i7 13700k (Stock, Auto, Power Limits Removed]
- MSI MEG Z790 ACE MAX
- XPG Lancer RGB 32GB @ 7200MHz CAS 34
- GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 3060 VISION OC [For Display]
- XPG Rocket 4 Plus 1TB NVMe SSD [For OS]
- Fractal Design ION+ 2P 860W PSU
- Thermaltake Core P6 TG Snow Edition in an open frame layout
- Alphacool Core 1 LT aRGB Clear Water Block
- Alphacool NexXxoS HPE-45 Full Copper 420mm Radiator
- Alphacool Eisbecher Aurora D5 Acetal/Glass – 250mm
- Alphacool VPP APEX Pump
- Alphacool EPDM tube 16/10 Black
- Alphacool HF 16/10 screw-on nozzle 90° rotatable G1/4
- Alphacool HF 16/10 screw-on nozzle 45° rotatable G1/4
- Alphacool Eiszapfen 16/10mm screw-on nozzle
- Alphacool HF sleeve G1/4 female to G1/4 female
- Alphacool Eiszapfen quick release coupling set G1/4 AG
- Alphacool Eiszapfen temperature sensor G1/4
- Alphacool Core ATX 24-pin jumper plug
- Noctua NF-A14 PWM Fans
- Noctua NF-A14x25 G2 PWM Fans
- Noctua NT-H1
The fans are tested at full speed.
Result
The NF-A14x25 G2 PWM fans provide 2ᵒC better cooling than the NF-A14 PWM fans. Not only that but they also produce less noise output. When NF-A14 PWM has been unrivaled for quite some years when it comes to noise-to-performance ratio, the new generation NF-A14x25 G2 PWM fans have raised the bar yet again making it difficult for the competition.
Conclusion
The wait is over as Noctua releases next-generation square frame and round frame 140mm size fans taking over the NF-A14 PWM and NF-A15 PWM respectively. Mainly, these fans are the next generation of ever-popular NF-A14 PWM fans. The new NF-A14x25 G2 PWM fans are available in four editions including the ‘r’ version for the NH-D15 G2 coolers.
The two fans edition named Sx2-PP comes with two NF-A14x25 G2 PWM fans set to operate at an offset speed of ±25 RPM to overcome the humming and turbulence that may come with both fans operating at the same speed. Then there is the LS-PWM version which is a low-speed variant that you can particularly use for case ventilation. A key benefit of this version is low noise out of the box.
The building block of NF-A14x25 G2 PWM fans comes from NF-A14 PWM and NF-A12x25 PWM fans from their design and technologies. These are Noctua’s first 140mm size fans to use Liquid Polymer Crystal (LPC) material for blades. Noctua is a market leader when it comes to innovation and they showed that with NF-A12x25 PWM fans.
I am not going into the details of the technology and design of these new fans. I am going to list them below. You can read the content for more details and even can find more details on the Noctua website:
- AAO (Advanced Acoustic Optimization) Frame
- Stepped Inlet Frame
- Inner Micro Structure
- Sterrox material derived from LCP (Liquid-Crystal Polymer) used on the impeller
- Gap of only 0.7mm between the impeller and the frame
- Additional brass structure to reinforce the axle mount
- CNC milled bearing shell
- Flow Acceleration Channels and Winglets on the blades
- Further Improved SSO2 bearing
- etaPERF Motor with NE-FD6 Motor IC
- Commutation Drive 2 System
- SupraTorque
- PWM Regulation with auto stop function on 0% PWM
- Safety Protections for challenging electrical environments
- 6-Year Warranty
- Low Noise Adapter and Extensive Cabling Options
- Integrated anti-vibration pads and gasket
- Progressive-Bend Impeller
- Centrifugal Turbulator Hub
I was interested to see the generational gap between the NF-A14 PWM and NF-A14x25 G2 PWM fans in terms of thermal and noise performance. The fans were tested on Intel Core i7 13700k with power limits removed. This would make i7 soar and roar and can easily thermal throttle. For that end, a custom loop was set up.
Our testing shows that NF-A14x25 G2 PWM fans have roughly 2ᵒC better cooling performance and 1.6 dB(A) better sound output compared to the NF-A14 PWM fans. I also kept an eye on the coolant temperature during this testing. The maximum coolant temperature was 28ᵒC when tested with NF-A14 PWM fans. It was 26.5ᵒC when tested with NF-A14x25 G2 PWM fans.
Noctua has again raised the bar not only for itself but for the competition alike with the NF-A14x25 G2 PWM fans. If you have NF-A14 PWM fans, I would suggest staying with these unless you want to try the new fans and use them for many years. But if you are due for an upgrade in 140mm size fans and are not easily distracted by A-RGB/RGB show then Noctua has got the best-performing fans for you.
