Noctua NH-U12A chromax and i9 14900k?

Simon Belmont · 8 Sep 2025 at 13:32

I have a Noctua NH-U12A chromax with a i7 13700k and wanted to upgrade to a i9 14900k. The cooler should be enough right? Not overclocking.

mattyfez · 8 Sep 2025 at 14:00

Depends I guess.. try it but prepare to fit a big AIO if nessesary - what peak temps are you currently hitting with the current chip and cooler?

Tetras · 8 Sep 2025 at 14:18

It depends on what you mean by "enough".

Enough for gaming? Sure. Enough for 24/7 fully multithreaded load? Probably not, but would depend on your power settings (PL1/PL2) and case airflow.

I wouldn't recommend an air cooler for this CPU if I was doing a spec.

Simon Belmont · 8 Sep 2025 at 14:23

Tetras said:
It depends on what you mean by "enough".

Enough for gaming? Sure. Enough for 24/7 fully multithreaded load? Probably not, but would depend on your power settings (PL1/PL2) and case airflow.

I wouldn't recommend an air cooler for this CPU if I was doing a spec.

Just for gaming. I have a fractal design torrent nano mini itx. aio won't fit. Perfer air coolers anyways. Noctua nh-u12a is i9 14900k compatible.

mattyfez · 8 Sep 2025 at 14:25

Simon Belmont said:
Just for gaming. I have a fractal design torrent nano mini itx. aio won't fit. Noctua nh-u12a is i9 14900k compatible.

Compatible, yes it's the same socket ... Whether it will cope is another question, i9s are kinda notorious for heat.

You might be looking at new case and an AIO ...

...mini ITX and a gen14 i9 is generally not a good combo - what are your current peak temps?

Simon Belmont · 8 Sep 2025 at 14:28

mattyfez said:
Compatible, yes it's the same socket ... Whether it will cope is another question, i9s are kinda notorious for heat.

Noctua NH-U12A chromax is a great air cooler though. Just not sure in the i9 14900k for this cooler? It needs to be air. Wonder what air cooler would be better? Noctua are the best, but my cooler is the max size I could fit in this case

Tetras · 8 Sep 2025 at 14:30

Simon Belmont said:
Just for gaming. I have a fractal design torrent nano mini itx. aio won't fit. Perfer air coolers anyways. Noctua nh-u12a is i9 14900k compatible.

Then it'll be fine, don't worry about it.

However, if your motherboard runs the CPU power unlocked it'll probably instant-throttle when compiling shaders or something like that. Not a big deal though.

mattyfez · 8 Sep 2025 at 14:32

Simon Belmont said:
Noctua NH-U12A chromax is a great air cooler though. Just not sure in the i9 14900k for this cooler? It needs to be air. Wonder what air cooler would be better? Noctua are the best, but my cooler is the max size I could fit in this case

I think you'll struggle but try it it guess?

Again what are your current peak temps?

I have a noctua nh-d15 on an i5 in a much bigger 'mid tower' case and it still gets toasty when I'm beasting it.

They are great coolers but they can't change the laws of thermodynamics.

EDIT - if you start throttling due heat, it kind of defeats the purpose of getting an i9 in the first place.

Simon Belmont · 8 Sep 2025 at 14:58

Tetras said:
Then it'll be fine, don't worry about it.

However, if your motherboard runs the CPU power unlocked it'll probably instant-throttle when compiling shaders or something like that. Not a big deal though.

I have a MSI z790i edge. Just updated the bios today. I never overclock don’t know is the cpu power is unlocked?

I was looking at the cooler master nr200p max newer version. It has a 850 W psu I have a 5080FE and this i9 14900k. That comes with a AIO cooler. I’d rather stay on the case I’m with. Don’t know what air cooler would be better?

Tetras · 8 Sep 2025 at 15:00

Simon Belmont said:
I have a MSI z790i edge. Just updated the bios today. I never overclock don’t know is the cpu power is unlocked?

hwinfo can give you that information about what pl1/pl2 is set to, or you can just look in the BIOS. I suspect that itx boards will use Intel's power limits.

Simon Belmont said:
I was looking at the cooler master nr200p max newer version. It has a 850 W psu i
have a 5080FE and this i9 14900k. That comes with a AIO cooler. I’d rather stay on the case I’m with. Don’t know what air cooler would be better?

I wouldn't bother changing, if you're only gaming the Noctua should handle it.

Simon Belmont · 8 Sep 2025 at 15:03

Tetras said:
hwinfo can give you that information about what pl1/pl2 is set to, or you can just look in the BIOS. I suspect that itx boards will use Intel's power limits.

I wouldn't bother changing, if you're only gaming the Noctua should handle it.

That’s what I’m thinking as well. I don’t stress the CPU only with gaming.

I have some thermal grizzly kryonaut. Just shoved that on and see how it goes? I don’t know about the power limits. I never really looked into that?

Tetras · 8 Sep 2025 at 15:47

Simon Belmont said:
I don’t know about the power limits. I never really looked into that?

You can see the impact in this review, though the difference in power consumption for gaming is very mild.

Simon Belmont · 8 Sep 2025 at 15:48

It was on intel default. I set it to performance. Or should I put it on Unlimited settings?

Tetras · 8 Sep 2025 at 15:50

Simon Belmont said:
Or should I put it on Unlimited settings?

No, there's no need for that kind of power usage for gaming. If anything, you want the lowest limits available.

Simon Belmont · 8 Sep 2025 at 15:52

Tetras said:
No, there's no need for that kind of power usage for gaming. If anything, you want the lowest limits available.

The Intel and msi performance seem to same.

So just leave it on msi performance? Same power limit

Tetras · 8 Sep 2025 at 15:55

Simon Belmont said:
The Intel and msi performance seem to same.

So just leave it on msi performance? Same power limit

Yeah.

Simon Belmont · 8 Sep 2025 at 15:55

Tetras said:
Yeah.

Thanks for your help.

Cheers matey

Simon Belmont · 9 Sep 2025 at 21:40

Tetras said:
No, there's no need for that kind of power usage for gaming. If anything, you want the lowest limits available.

I installed the i9 14900k and this is when playing Battlefield 2042 with a RTX 5080 FE.

Goes in between 75c and 82c.

Tetras · 9 Sep 2025 at 21:42

Simon Belmont said:
I installed the i9 14900k and this is when playing Battlefield 2042 with a RTX 5080 FE.

Goes in between 75c and 82c

Fairly hot, but sounds reasonable. What is the power usage?

Rroff · 9 Sep 2025 at 21:47

Probably OK for gaming but for heavy multithreading apps you'll probably see it hitting 105C and thermally throttling down to around 14700K performance or maybe even slightly lower - hence why I went for the 14700K with air cooling rather than the 14900K.