 As you guys probably know I'm a huge fan of Noctua fans so I'm super excited to check out the NF-A14FLX. Now as you know we've got a wide variety of different 120mm cooling fans available from Noctua including their F series and their P series which are optimized for radiators and heatsinks because they're very pressure optimized. With the F series, the F12 actually having a directed cyclone of air coming away from the exhaust side of it. Now this doesn't have that functionality but this is a 140mm version of what would be very similar to a P12 fan but with some additional technology. So if you come in here and have a look at the actual features that are available on it we've got a square 140mm frame. This makes it ideal for case and... Ah yes well you can see Noctua puts right here what it's for. Case and radiator cooling, flow acceleration channels, AAO frame, stepped inlet design, inner surface microstructure, integrated anti-vibration pads, smooth commutation drive too. Basically what Noctua is trying to say is their drives are engineered to the point of it being kind of obsessive. So come in here and have a look at the fan itself and the accessories. So unlike the 120mm fans, the 140mm fans come with not only a low noise adapter, low noise adapter right there which downvolts the fan to 7 volts, but also an ultra... Hold on a second. Okay well one of these is ultra low noise, one of them is low noise. So one of them is 7 volts and one of them is 5 volts. Also comes with a molex to 3 pin adapter, very nicely sleeved, all of them right up to the connector so you're not going to see any unsightly colored wires. We've also got extension cables, this is fantastic. Just a simple 3 pin extension cable, mounting screws although usually you won't use those, you'll use the rubber isolating anti-vibration mounts. I mean you can though because you've got more anti-vibration mounts here. The only problem with using the metal screws is because they have to drive into hard plastic and they will transfer some vibration to the case that way even with these rubber isolators. So if you use these rubber isolators up against the case with these rubber isolators bridging the hard plastic with the hard metal of the case itself, then you've got no room for vibration to be transferred from the fan to the chassis when it's spinning. Not to say that Noctua fans actually create a whole ton of vibration when they're spinning because they really don't. The fans all come with short cables, love this because it means that no matter where you install them, I mean really a case is only so big, usually where you install it there's going to be a fan header somewhere nearby. If there isn't, they've included the extension that you need to run it wherever it needs to go. That makes it more like a normal fan wire length. Love this too, check this out. This is a newer feature that they've started adding to their fans. See these right here? I couldn't figure out what they were for at first. I thought they were just for sort of mounting the rubber noise isolators. Then what I realized is these are probably for cable management. Check this out. So you know when you wrap a wire around the outside of a fan? Maybe they're not for that, but whatever, you can use them for that. All you've got to do is put them under these little rubber pieces and they will generally stay there. Very, very cool stuff. Like you know when you take a fan and you mount it kind of like here at the back of your chassis and then you want to wrap it here down to here and then run it to a little bit. Awesome for that. So I want you to have a closer look at these rubber isolators. You can remove them if you want, you don't have to keep them on. Say in the odd case that it causes some kind of a compatibility issue with your case or your cooler or anything like that. You don't have to worry about it. So let's have a look at some of the technologies that Noctua built into the fan. Number one is the six-year warranty. So basically what they're saying is 150,000 hours or something like that is the mean time between failure for this thing. And yeah, there you go. Mean time between failure of greater than 150,000 hours. So they're pretty much saying, yeah, it's not going to die, but if it does, we'll deal with it. So the low-noise adapters, it runs at 1200 RPM with an adapter. This is the wrong fan. With an adapter, this one also runs at 1200 RPM, but low-noise adapters at 1050, ultra low noise at 900 RPM. So at 900 RPM, this thing will be darn near silent. All right, technology wise. These guys right here, these stepped inlets apparently reduce the amount of noise that is, here we go, stepped inlet design. Stepped inlet design is advanced aerodynamic design, blah, blah, blah. First with the F12. The F12 was one of their most advanced fans ever. By adding turbulence to the influx, it facilitates the transition from laminar to turbulent flow. So similar to the dimple structure of the golf ball, leads to better flow attachment to the frame, which allows the impeller to suck in more air and helps improve overall air efficiency. They also use a very advanced bearing that is completely sealed so you won't get any microdust inside. They use flow accelerator channels on the blades themselves, which is, okay, there's lots of complicated stuff here. Generally speaking, I am not an aerodynamic engineer. I think you guys know this. You've watched enough of my videos to know that that's not the case. What I do know is that these fans are extremely well regarded, even by those who have very advanced equipment for testing fans. I know this because I spent some time using their equipment, testing Noctua fans, and they were just like, yeah, they're really good fans. They're just really good. I do know that they last over the long term. I've been using Noctua fans for a very long time on some of my quiet optimized systems. What I also know is that they're darn silent. Now, guys, there's more to it than just the RPM, the CFM, and the static pressure, and the decibel ratings. There's more to it than that. There's how gracefully does it undervolt. Some fans, yes, you can undervolt them, but they start to develop a grind or a tick that doesn't necessarily get picked up by a decimeter. So yeah, there's an audible noise, but it's more about how annoying is that noise. Noctua fans don't make annoying noises. Sure, maybe they look kind of distinctive, but that's their branding. You can always tell a Noctua fan when you see it. So this guy right here, perfect for radiators, perfect for heat sinks. Oh yeah, why is it perfect for radiators? Good question. Because Noctua has 140 and 150 millimeter fans that use a round frame, which is not good for radiators because you'll lose the seal around the edges and in the corners like that, which causes it to be less efficient. This way, the fan gets to go right up against, this is a 120 mil rad, I'm just using it for illustration purposes, gets to go right up against it and causes a seal so that pressure optimized design actually gets to push air through the fins of the rad or the heat sink rather than worrying about it spilling around the edges. You can see an example of where this wouldn't matter in this computer right here. Come on in closer. Because here, we're going to have leaks around the edges no matter what. So as long as we have reasonably good directed airflow through the fins, we're going to be fine. So you could use something like their A15 instead of their A14. It wouldn't be necessary to have that square shaped fan arrangement. So let's just make sure we don't miss any of the other technologies they include. So we got the flow acceleration channel, the advanced acoustic optimization frame, stepped in their surface microstructures. So these flow separation from the suction sides which reduces, reduced blade passing noise and improved airflow and pressure efficiency. The anti-vibration pads we covered. Running smoothness by eliminating torque variations and switching noises. This is actually something that's really good to know about. So guys, the circuitry and the design of the fan motor as well as the PWM, or actually these aren't PWM fans, but they do have PWM fans. These guys are. Makes a huge difference in using third party fan controllers on fans. So the more optimized it is and the more, well the higher quality the components that are used, the less likely you are to develop any sort of weird vibrations, ticking or whining noises. Okay, three speeds, ultra low power consumption and six year warranty. Metal bearing shell. So highest possible degree of manufacturing precision, minimum tolerance and excellent long-sturbs ability. CNC milled bearing shell made entirely from brass. Okay, so there you go. Quality fans, yeah they're expensive, but you get what you pay for. Thanks guys for checking out my unboxing and first look at the NF-A14FLX from Noctua. Don't forget to subscribe for more unboxings, reviews and other computer videos.