Noctua NH-D15 chromax.black, Dual-Tower CPU cooler (140mm, Black)
chromax.black design
The NH-D15 chromax.black is black from head to toe: Featuring a black coated heatsink, black fans with black anti-vibration-pads, black fan clips and black mounting parts, it’s right at home in all-black builds and easy to integrate with other colour schemes.
I am not a fan of AIO due to more points of failure. I’ve owned the Noctua D14 previously, but this is clearly superior. Better temperatures, and is very quiet under regular use. Cannot be beaten.
A sick cooler I bought for my i5 13600KF. Its alot more beefy than the picture portray it to be or thats just me. High quality product that comes with amazing accessories for itself!
bulky heatsink with 2 fans, will keep your processor cool but it is MASSIVE, I had to move a fan to the back of it because it was too big and got blocked by 2 of my RAM cards
This is one massive cooler!
Its quite bulky but once in place it’s easy to attach to the motherboard and the fan cables are long enough to reach headers in most places on the biggest of boards.
Keeping my 5950x very cold.
This is paired with the Ryzen 9 5950x and keeps it cool at as low as 40 and lower in standby and when gaming at high maxed out graphics it hits around 60 max.
It also keeps my cpu cool when using it for extremely intensive workloads in designing modelling and keeps things cool with intense tasks on unreal engine 4.2
I got this after my AIO died. While it comes with all of the problems which come with having a big ol’ cooler bolted to your CPU (RAM clearance, harder to route cables e.t.c.), it’s extremely effective. I’m getting idle temps around 38-45c.
Buy this you won’t regret it. It’s the best cooler for the money. It’s not pretty but it does cool your pc like anything else, and it’s quiet. I’ve had a Lian Li Galahad for 2 years before it shat itself and it was very noisy and inefficient.
Buy this you won’t regret it. It’s the best cooler for the money. It’s not pretty but it does cool your pc like anything else, and it’s quiet. I’ve had a Lian Li Galahad for 2 years before it shat itself and it was very noisy and inefficient.
What else is there to say about the best air cooler on the market?
It’s a bit pricey but it performs exceptionally. My only concern is the weight of it hanging off the motherboard but hasn’t broken it/fallen off ye
I was hesitant to go back to ‘ugly’ air coolers after using NZXT’s kraken AIO for a couple of years.
After upgrading to a 7700x, I was disappointed in the AIO performance. Idle was anywhere between 42 and 45, while gaming temps were hitting high 60s – mid 70s. Not too bad you may think, but the AIO was also quite loud.
Having switched to this, I can honestly say wow. Idle is sitting at 38 and gaming temps barely hit 70. It also looks great, which I know isn’t important functionally but still, that’s good for me.
Also, there was a very small patch of moisture on my motherboard near the CPU socket when I removed the AIO. I don’t know if it was coolant or thermal pad grease, but glad to have made the change.
The fans are quiet and the cooler was very easy to install.
All this rambling to say get it! You don’t be disappointed.
I’m so glad I bought this, because my last cooler was loud and just wasn’t cooling down my CPU fast enough. Ever since I switched to this, not only was it easy to mount in the PC, but it has bee incredibly quiet compared to my Case Fans!
Honestly, well worth the price if you’re looking for a really good cooler for your AMD CPU
It was very clear and easy to mount to the motherboard, my only wish is that the ” chose your mounting position ” instruction came before the ” how to mount ” intstruction. Would have saved me some time.
beyond that, its so quiet you’d think it wasnt running at all, but its so good my pc doesnt go above 40 degree’s so far, and im running one of intels hottest cpu’s.
Bought to use with AMD Ryzen 3900X 12-core 105-watt CPU and Fractal Design Define-7 case.
Effectively silent when CPU is idle. Noticable under full load when encoding video, but stilla big improvement over AMD’s stock cooler – less noise, lower temperatures, and higher boost clocks.
Would heartily reccommend.
I’ve used Noctua fans on previous PC builds. The fans in my old Windows 7 PC were still working properly after near 12 years of heavy operation.
The NH-D15 is large and helps fill the medium sized PC case I chose. It is straightforward to instal if the instructions are followed carefully.
This CPU cooler kit is almost completely silent.
I would recommend, if you choose this cooler, fitting its mounting plate that is located beneath the motherboard before installing the motherboard in the PC case.
I bought this to replace an AIO liquid cooler that was noisy and inefficient. The Noctua delivers impressive temps on my overclocked Intel 11700K, around 28 degrees C at idle and rarely exceeding 60 under load. It’s virtually silent except when pushed hard, and build quality is pure class, with installation a doddle.
I love the way it looks – sleek and understated – but it is huge, so make sure you’ve got adequate clearance in your case.
Didn’t know what to expect when I got this cooler and the cpu. However I’ve never seen my 5800X3D higher than 73c. Synthetic benchmarks will hit the high 80’s but these are unrealistic for most, if not all real life applications. For gaming it is perfect! 10/10
…it’s so huge it can block the entire airflow through your system. Also, I found that the bottom fins sat too close to the backplane of my (then) GTX 1080Ti, causing it to gain temperature that was previously wicked away by the case’s front-to-back airflow. Also, the left-side fan was only an inch or so away from my case’s rear exhaust fan, which wasn’t ideal. Basically, if you have a HUGE case, this will be an ideal choice.
Great build quality, quite possibly the best air cooling setup you can get. Noctua also support their products far longer than most, by supplying mounting kits to allow their older coolers to be used for newer socket types, so probably one of the few components that will be reusable in your future pc builds. Fan quality is also second to none, very quiet even at high rpm and I have never had one of these fail even after many years of heavy use. Highly recommended.
When it comes to cooling, there’s no one like Noctua.
They offer incredible performance for the price with incredibly silent acoustics.
The mounting system was a pleasure to use compared to other competitors which aren’t as user friendly. This was simply a breeze!
Size wise, this cooler is HUGE! But it looks hella cool in your finished build. As long as you make sure that you can enough clearance (in my NZXT H440i with Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro Ram which is quite tall, it only about 0.2mm clearance with the glass panel so a extremely tight squeeze if you’re planning on using both fans supplied).
I am very pleased that Noctua has chosen to make a Chromax Black edition as I personally have always been put off by their brown design, so if it wasn’t for this I would of never got it!
This incredible cooler has killer looks, with killer performance that beats many AIO’s which in itself doesn’t have the risks of a failing water cooler.
For those stuck being choosing AIO and Air Cooling, I would go with Air as you don’t have the risk of water coolers and failure rates.
If you’ve got the money and space in your case, Noctua is simply the way to go!
I am using it will a Ryzen 5 7600x, pretty over kill but not seen temps higher than 55c in real world and 75c in synthetic loads even with an over clocked CPU with I would say an estimate tdp of 120w.
The mounting can be abit fiddly but generally very easy to put on.
The pictures are from afew weeks back when I first built my system before testing.
I recently upgraded my rig to an am5 build and was sceptical on air cooling after being with liquid for so long. But it cools my r9 7900x brilliantly, idle temps of between 47-52 degrees and no throttling whatsoever on stress testing. Mounting is the easiest I have ever had with a cooler, and considering the bulk of thing that came as a surprise.
Before ordering I would advise going to the noctua website and checking compatibility with your board and ram, as clearance can be an issue especially with rgb ram.
You may need to contact noctua for the 12th gen bracket if yours doesn’t have it. But it’s super handy and fast to sort that part out. Other than that, it is a very nice cooler that is able to spread a lot of the heat!
Took my peak high load temps of over 85 degrees with the stock Wraith cooler down to 65 degrees max. Can’t ask for any more than that! Just make sure you have room in your case, it’s a beast!
This maybe the biggest heatsink I seen in my build, it definitely does the job it needs to do and can say it definitely works as it intents for the price of this cooler.
This is a great cooler. I use it for my Ryzen 5 3600. I run massive parallel computations, all CPU cores maxed out. I had 45C idle CPU temperature with the stock cooler, now it is 35-38C. CPU was running 85C with the stock cooler on full load, with this cooler it is 65-70C. The fan is quiet and has a low RPM.
I installed only 1 fan, as I can not fit the other fan due to the RAM module, but this cooler works nice with 1 fan only as per instructions. Installation is a bit tedious, due to the huge size of the cooler.
Big cooler which performs brilliantly, easy to install ;fans are little fiddly to clip on but once you figure it out it’s easy. Currently idling at around 30c, nice and quiet too.
Worth every penny – I previously had an AIO water cooling system that failed after 2 years. The Noctua NH-D15 was very easy to install, and the temperatures I’m getting, are just as good as when I had a brand new AIO (that was twice the price)
Quiet fans, beautiful construction, highly recommended!
Cooling performance is on par with an aio but this is much less noisy little tricky to install if like me you have massive hands and a smaller case but other then that it’s absolutely flawless will only be running noctua from now o
Working great. My idle temps are slightly higher than when I was running an AIO (by about 5c) but my load temps are averaging 65c (5c lower than my old load temps).
If you want the best of the best when it comes to air coolers, look no further! I replaced my 360mm water cooler AIO with this and have seen better performance, without the pump wine!
Keeps my CPU under 50C even during heavy loads. Just barely fits in my case, so make sure you’ve got the necessary clearance!
It has better cooling than most AIO, keep in mind.
This cooler has worked wonders for my CPU when running games under load with my CPU being overclocked too 4.5Ghz the temperature never runs above 70c so certainly loads of room for overclocking. The cooler emits next to no noise with the fans on my case being louder that the actual cooler. However, when installing ensure your case is big enough because even with a standard size casing the cooler fits well and has a little room its quite tight and can make plugging in the fans above the cooler an absolute pain so ensure you plug the fans in before installing this otherwise you will spend half an hour trying to fit your hand in the gap and plug the fan in. Otherwise this thing is a beast and I would reccommend spending that little bit more for a cooler than will pretty much beat or be on par with water cooling but without all the hassle.
Bought this to replace a failing AIO liquid cooler on my gaming PC. Running high graphic games my i9 is only hitting around 45-50C; even when running multicore 100% tests in keeps the temperature to about 80C.
Also, I have never built a PC/replaced something like before and I was able to do it with no problems; really clear instructions
Great quality and quiet fan. I learned a valuable lesson that for optimal cooling the size of cooler makes a big difference. I paired this with a 12600K, replacing the much smaller NH-D9L that I installed originally and it brought my temps under load down from 100C to 75C. A little undervolting and I’m now getting 65C temps under load. A huge improvement and I had no idea that such a difference could be had by upgrading the cooler.
Huge cooler that is the business. I’ve a Cooler Master H500 mesh and it fits with just enough space. I’m only cooling a Ryzen 3600 for now but it has improved the air flow in the case and it’s AM5 compatible. At full tilt it’s definitely noticeable but consistent. All the extras that come with the cooler made the upgrade super easy, it’s easy to install and remove, very satisfied!
Purchased one of these to cool a Ryzen 9 5950x as I was weary of liquid cooling, being the first time I would have used something like an AIO. The cooler is HUGE and can make installation a hassle in some scenarios. If you ever have to remove a GPU with one of these things installed, be sure to have something like a wooden chopstick to put pressure on the release latch – the gap between the bottom of the heatsink and the back of the GPU is very, very small on ATX boards.
The mounting system was easy enough, little bit of a squeeze in my PC case but it was doable. Read the included instructions and it’s relatively simple, though having someone else around might make it easier, as they could potentially hold things in place while you install them. The clips used to attach the fans to the cooler are a bit stubborn and somewhat confusing if it’s your first time using a cooler like this, but was also easy enough to figure out. I would recommend looking up a video guide to make this part easier.
Aside from that, though, it certainly holds up to the high expectations of a Noctua cooler – it was managing to keep the 5950x from overheating in most situations and only started to struggle during all core stress testing. For CPU’s that aren’t silicon infernos, this thing will do the job and do it incredibly well.
Although I did switch to a 420mm AIO for this CPU, I will absolutely be using the Noctua NHD15 in the future for just about every build that doesn’t necessitate some form of water cooling, as the performance is absolutely fantastic and, being a Noctua product, was very quiet while gaming.
Replaced a failed MSI water cooler which always ran hot and noisey with this.
The best decision I ever made as the i9-12900k now idles at around 30 deg C and only gets to 70 deg C when bench testing.
If you have a big case and an i9-12900k buy it, you will not regret it.
My home boiler is currently broke, and is stuck on, and even with this being on and 29c outside, my pc (which is also in a 15 year old case which I had to remove one fan off of this cooler and place it – with a create my own style, on the back of the tower idea) still keeps my pc running at 54-60c. I looked online thinking this maybe hot, but turns out for a 5800x and 6600xt, 90c is considered ok to run at, amd said 90c was normal…. so I was shocked to see how cool my gpu is running, considering I forced it into an old (15 year old pc case) as I loved this case to much throw away and removed a fan, and from this cooler and placed it on the back….. it keeps the temps down awesomely.
So if anything, it’s too powerful, albeit I do not see it like that as I think for longevity reasons, keeping a cool gpu is a must. So I would highly recommend anyone who does not have money to burn, but wants to make a decent upgrade, this cooler is the way to go for anything from high end 5600x’s and up. Not sure if theh work with intel, but if so, unless your running a high ene icore7, or more, this may be a bit extreme for anything lower and expensive. But I am super happy with this brand and cooler.
I was a bit skeptical at first because I’ve only ever used liquid cooling systems before but boy this one is a game changer. The fans are so quiet, I can barely hear them. Temperatures are good too; sure not as good as liquid cooling systems but it’s really good for the low noise levels. Compared to this my previous cooler sounded like a jet engine. Its actually a little annoying because my desktop has no lights and I used to rely on the fan noise to tell me when it had switched off. Now I have to peek around the back to see if the fans have stopped moving so that I can switch off the main power on shutdown 😀
Installation process was super easy. The package comes with everything you could possibly ever need to install this and is very straightforward if you just follow the guide.
10/10 will install again on my next desktop computer.
I buy these for every CPU under Intel 12th gen (almost nothing can cool an overclocked 12th gen enough, because they’re so inefficient).
This is one of the best coolers on the market and outperforms water cooling on most systems. It is also one of the quietest.
You will need a thick PC case to put it in though, so check your clearances!
I’d also advise only pairing it with a GPU that has a blackplate, as the fins of this cooler will be way too close to a naked GPU back to trust if there’s any wobble during movement of the PC case.
I must admit, I am a huge “fan” of Noctua and this black model is great for those that want a stealthier system. No RGB… no signature “owl-brown / poop” colour (that they’re known for)… its gorgeous!
I use this to cool an AMD 5900X – it does a tremendously good job.
The mounting plate is very easy to fit, and everything feels very solid.
My case is relatively small (Corsair 275R), but this just fits nicely. The tight fit does make installation a little tricky – but super happy with the finished build.
Good quality thermal paste (N1-H1) and a a fan splitter cable are also included in the box.
Overall, I’d say this is great value for the performance and rock solid build quality.
I’d definately not hesitate to look at other Noctua products in the future.
Second Noctua cooler I own, and its even better than the first one. Mounted on a 5950x and it cools it adequately even when all cores running at full blast. I have a large case, and it needs it, but I think that’s the only way to make air cooling effectively work.
What more can I say. My PC was throttling under extreme load (Prime95 – yes, I know not real, but stress nonetheless), and the temperature was spiking significantly and quickly under small bursts of load.
After installing this, the resting temp reduced by 3-5 degrees C and went from an almost instant 100 degrees under Prime95 to taking 8 mins to reach 75 degrees and staying there up to the end of my 10 minute test.
Highly recommend. Flexible fan mounting height if you have high RAM (or you get an extra big case fan if the second fan won’t go in at all (mine was fine in a Fractal Design Define 7 Compact case).
I can’t hear it, even when you ramp it up (stock case fans are significantly louder than this ever gets).
It’s a very high quality and quiet air cooler average Cpu temps when playing Games is around 40C which is good.
Only gripe I have with it is, its awkward to install I would recommend having a second person with you to hold the mount for you
The NH-D15 is simply the best tower cooler on the market. Don’t look for anything else: it’s a quality product, with quality components, a quality TIM included in the box and a solid packaging and QA on the shoulders.
It’s perfect for my 5800X 3D and keeps it cool with quiet operation. Absolutely recommended!
Decided to Build a new Z690 – DDR5, 12gen Build and this Noctua NH-D15 Chromax Black cooler keeps my 12700K CPU at a nice 27c at Idle and while Gaming Horizon Zero Dawn on Ultimate Quality setting, this Noctua Cooler keeps my 12700K at around 52c (winter UK)…yet to see what summer temps are n will update in july….of course i have another 4 x Noctua fans installed in this Corsair 7000D Airflow Case which helps deliver plenty of cool air to the NH-D15 chromax Black.
Got this for 5600X that was overheating with old AC Freezer 7. Problem solved. Promotes good airflow in case. Front fan is right above RAM sticks, so I decided to mod it – I cut “V” shape to the bottom middle of fan frame using hacksaw(but leaving it still in one piece), now RAM sticks are cooled as well.. I’m keeping this cooler for life, 6 stars out of 5!
I’ve been building a new system and was going to use my old AIO but it ended up being half empty and had partly melded with the old CPU lid. The CPU was fine but I needed a new cooler for that and one that would work in my new system. That’s where the Noctua comes in. It has such a wide range of compatibility that it worked with my 11 year old system and could be used on the AM4 system I was going to build.
I got it for that and the reputation Noctua have. I read the instructions, installed it to my old CPU and laughed. The temperatures were great but the fans are so much slower than old systems are used to I had to tell it to ignore the low speed warnings. In the new system with a Ryzen 7 5800X I threw the CPU-heavy Cinebench R23 multicore at it.
If you know about the 5800X you likely know it is notorious for being a hot-running chip. Putting it in that stress test I was expecting to hit thermal limits but the Noctua kept it at a maximum of 85.3C which is still hot but very good for what it was doing. I paid a lot for the name, the reputation and the performance but I’m very happy with it. Noctua have provided new mounting brackets in the past and likely will for the new Intel and AMD AM5 platforms. When I bought it there was nothing for the 12th-gen Intel CPUs in box though.
I’ve never fancied the idea of water cooling, for what to me are obvious reasons. Looked into air coolers and Noctua kept coming up as great products. So I bit the bullet and ordered this bad boy.
Firstly – it’s Huge! Seriously, check it’ll fit in your case and also check for Ram clearance. It’d be a right pain in the backside to take your PC apart to find it doesn’t fit. Luckily I did my research first and it fits. Just. As for my CPU, it now runs idle at around 30 degrees and under load never goes much above 60. Fantastic stuff. Not cheap but considering these coolers typically last 8+ years, I think it’s actually good value for money. Love it!
Bought this with the additional mounting kit for my new i7-1200k and it’s an amazing piece of kit! You will need the two fans version and you will need a large case but it’s worth it! I just have one fan running with this on my case and my temps are 35 ideal and 57 under load. So I’m running only 3 fans in total! I’m silent mode it’s inaudible, in balanced it’s barely there at all and in full load it’s there but not that loud!! It’s a serious piece of kit. Be advised to place the additional mounting bracket under your mother board first before screwing in your motherboard!
Installed mine on a i711700k and in a corsair 5000x. Temps at idle sit around 25c and under load dont go over 50c. So happy with the temps. Use the noctua thermal paste that comes with i
Used an nhd14 for 10years and never a bother. bought this for my new build and its exactly what you expect from noctua. quiet with exceptional cooling.
Absolutely love this item, is absolutely gorgeous, in all black ! And even better with the magnetic covers. Easy to install and silent ! Great temps as well.
Amazing cooling performance, even with my 3700X running at 100% and a GPU being stressed at the same time, the temp didn’t go above 54 C, which is well below the AIO it replaced – the Noctua mounting system also makes installation a doddle as you don’t have to fight with trying to attach the mounting system and the entire heatsink at the same time.
One thing to note though is that this cooler is pretty chunky, and you will need to make sure that your case has enough depth to fit it, and that you have capability to move components around or even change them in some circumstances – I had to move my GPU to a lower slot so the cooler can fit, and that is obviously an issue if you only have one x16 slot available, so forward planning before buying this item is strongly recommended.
I had to write a review in case anyone was having a similar issue to what I was, I can say this product is fantastic and has solved my overheating issues.
I was using a major brand liquid cooler on my Ryzen 5600x and my temps where around 60 degrees idle and 96 degrees under load. I tried multiple radiator placements as well as different thermal paste applications to no avail. I was happy with how my case fans where set up for cooling too (3x intake and 1x exhaust).
I took a plunge after ready the reviews and yes this fan may be a bit overkill for the 5600x but my temps have dropped significantly. On stock processor speeds (3.7ghz) temps were around 24 degrees at idle and early 40’s under load. I’ve now I’ve overclocked it to 4.3ghz and it runs early 30’s at idle and early 50’s under load, a huge difference.
The kit comes with everything you need and is easy to install. With the low noise adapters in the box this runs extremely quiet too.
I had to write a review in case anyone was having a similar issue to what I was, I can say this product is fantastic and has solved my overheating issues.
I was using a major brand liquid cooler on my Ryzen 5600x and my temps where around 60 degrees idle and 96 degrees under load. I tried multiple radiator placements as well as different thermal paste applications to no avail. I was happy with how my case fans where set up for cooling too (3x intake and 1x exhaust).
I took a plunge after ready the reviews and yes this fan may be a bit overkill for the 5600x but my temps have dropped significantly. On stock processor speeds (3.7ghz) temps were around 24 degrees at idle and early 40’s under load. I’ve now I’ve overclocked it to 4.3ghz and it runs early 30’s at idle and early 50’s under load, a huge difference.
The kit comes with everything you need and is easy to install. With the low noise adapters in the box this runs extremely quiet too.
I absolutely love this CPU cooler, to the point that I regret not going air cooling sooner.
The install process is really easy, even if you do it the more difficult way by having your motherboard already in the case (which I did, because this was a cooler upgrade).
The performance is better than my 280mm AIO cooler from NZXT. I would usually get 40-50 degrees on idle, now I get low 30s – mid 40s, much more reassuring.
The sound is fantastic, they run at a fast RPM then my case fans which are ‘BeQuiet’ fans, and are quieter than those fans! I actually regret getting the ‘BeQuiet’ fans, wishing that I instead got noctua fans.
Highly recommend, will never be changing my cooler unless Noctua makes one even better!
Great cooler, very impressive performance. If you are using it on an LGA-1700 board, be aware that the listing states you need to buy a separate mounting kit. The fan I received (December 2021) had the updated mounting kit already included, no need for the extra item (Amazon refunded).
I purchased this for my Ryzen 9 5900x and this cooler is incredible. If you want AIO cooling but need it cheaper than this is for you. While testing with Cinebench R23 for 10 minutes on a loop the CPU maxed out at 62c. Great cooler and extremely silent.
Expensive yes for air cooling but this thing is big, quiet and cools better than the water cooler it is replacing at half the price, with the advantage it’s cheap to replace a fan if one fails in years time.
Did I mention it’s big, make sure you have 165mm CPU clearance to side of case for top of heat pipes and easy to fit for anybody capable of using a screwdriver (supplied) and finally black fans, thank you Noctua !
I am not a fan of AIO due to more points of failure. I’ve owned the Noctua D14 previously, but this is clearly superior. Better temperatures, and is very quiet under regular use. Cannot be beaten.
Downsides? Very expensive for what it is.
A sick cooler I bought for my i5 13600KF. Its alot more beefy than the picture portray it to be or thats just me. High quality product that comes with amazing accessories for itself!
bulky heatsink with 2 fans, will keep your processor cool but it is MASSIVE, I had to move a fan to the back of it because it was too big and got blocked by 2 of my RAM cards
This is one massive cooler!
Its quite bulky but once in place it’s easy to attach to the motherboard and the fan cables are long enough to reach headers in most places on the biggest of boards.
Keeping my 5950x very cold.
Got this for my new 5950x/RTX4090 build and it’s perfect!
It also keeps my cpu cool when using it for extremely intensive workloads in designing modelling and keeps things cool with intense tasks on unreal engine 4.2
I got this after my AIO died. While it comes with all of the problems which come with having a big ol’ cooler bolted to your CPU (RAM clearance, harder to route cables e.t.c.), it’s extremely effective. I’m getting idle temps around 38-45c.
Buy this you won’t regret it. It’s the best cooler for the money. It’s not pretty but it does cool your pc like anything else, and it’s quiet. I’ve had a Lian Li Galahad for 2 years before it shat itself and it was very noisy and inefficient.
Buy this you won’t regret it. It’s the best cooler for the money. It’s not pretty but it does cool your pc like anything else, and it’s quiet. I’ve had a Lian Li Galahad for 2 years before it shat itself and it was very noisy and inefficient.
It’s a bit pricey but it performs exceptionally. My only concern is the weight of it hanging off the motherboard but hasn’t broken it/fallen off ye
After upgrading to a 7700x, I was disappointed in the AIO performance. Idle was anywhere between 42 and 45, while gaming temps were hitting high 60s – mid 70s. Not too bad you may think, but the AIO was also quite loud.
Having switched to this, I can honestly say wow. Idle is sitting at 38 and gaming temps barely hit 70. It also looks great, which I know isn’t important functionally but still, that’s good for me.
Also, there was a very small patch of moisture on my motherboard near the CPU socket when I removed the AIO. I don’t know if it was coolant or thermal pad grease, but glad to have made the change.
The fans are quiet and the cooler was very easy to install.
All this rambling to say get it! You don’t be disappointed.
I’m so glad I bought this, because my last cooler was loud and just wasn’t cooling down my CPU fast enough. Ever since I switched to this, not only was it easy to mount in the PC, but it has bee incredibly quiet compared to my Case Fans!
Honestly, well worth the price if you’re looking for a really good cooler for your AMD CPU
Amazing cooling abilities. not seen temps higher than 45c on a 12th gen i7. Why they discontinued it I don’t know.
It was very clear and easy to mount to the motherboard, my only wish is that the ” chose your mounting position ” instruction came before the ” how to mount ” intstruction. Would have saved me some time.
beyond that, its so quiet you’d think it wasnt running at all, but its so good my pc doesnt go above 40 degree’s so far, and im running one of intels hottest cpu’s.
Bought to use with AMD Ryzen 3900X 12-core 105-watt CPU and Fractal Design Define-7 case.
Effectively silent when CPU is idle. Noticable under full load when encoding video, but stilla big improvement over AMD’s stock cooler – less noise, lower temperatures, and higher boost clocks.
Would heartily reccommend.
I’ve used Noctua fans on previous PC builds. The fans in my old Windows 7 PC were still working properly after near 12 years of heavy operation.
The NH-D15 is large and helps fill the medium sized PC case I chose. It is straightforward to instal if the instructions are followed carefully.
This CPU cooler kit is almost completely silent.
I would recommend, if you choose this cooler, fitting its mounting plate that is located beneath the motherboard before installing the motherboard in the PC case.
I bought this to replace an AIO liquid cooler that was noisy and inefficient. The Noctua delivers impressive temps on my overclocked Intel 11700K, around 28 degrees C at idle and rarely exceeding 60 under load. It’s virtually silent except when pushed hard, and build quality is pure class, with installation a doddle.
I love the way it looks – sleek and understated – but it is huge, so make sure you’ve got adequate clearance in your case.
Didn’t know what to expect when I got this cooler and the cpu. However I’ve never seen my 5800X3D higher than 73c. Synthetic benchmarks will hit the high 80’s but these are unrealistic for most, if not all real life applications. For gaming it is perfect! 10/10
Perfect cooling and super quiet. Came with the LGA1700 bracket.
Amazing cooling performance on the new 13th gen Intel processor, which are known to run a bit ho
…it’s so huge it can block the entire airflow through your system. Also, I found that the bottom fins sat too close to the backplane of my (then) GTX 1080Ti, causing it to gain temperature that was previously wicked away by the case’s front-to-back airflow. Also, the left-side fan was only an inch or so away from my case’s rear exhaust fan, which wasn’t ideal. Basically, if you have a HUGE case, this will be an ideal choice.
Love the whole design and how well cool it keeps the system, well worth the money and best cooler i ever brough
Great build quality, quite possibly the best air cooling setup you can get. Noctua also support their products far longer than most, by supplying mounting kits to allow their older coolers to be used for newer socket types, so probably one of the few components that will be reusable in your future pc builds. Fan quality is also second to none, very quiet even at high rpm and I have never had one of these fail even after many years of heavy use. Highly recommended.
Very good CPU fan. Pretty easy to install and a very nice upgrade to keep your CPU cool. Not very noisy(some but to be fair its a beast).
Comes with Intel and AMD mounts, with all screws and standoffs. 2 fans included. Comes with Noctua thermal paste.
It is the best air cooler I’ve tried. Reasonably quiet but not the quietest (BeQuiet is quieter), but you can adjust the fan curves based on workload.
Not much else to say, except that it looks fantastic in black!
They offer incredible performance for the price with incredibly silent acoustics.
The mounting system was a pleasure to use compared to other competitors which aren’t as user friendly. This was simply a breeze!
Size wise, this cooler is HUGE! But it looks hella cool in your finished build. As long as you make sure that you can enough clearance (in my NZXT H440i with Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro Ram which is quite tall, it only about 0.2mm clearance with the glass panel so a extremely tight squeeze if you’re planning on using both fans supplied).
I am very pleased that Noctua has chosen to make a Chromax Black edition as I personally have always been put off by their brown design, so if it wasn’t for this I would of never got it!
This incredible cooler has killer looks, with killer performance that beats many AIO’s which in itself doesn’t have the risks of a failing water cooler.
For those stuck being choosing AIO and Air Cooling, I would go with Air as you don’t have the risk of water coolers and failure rates.
If you’ve got the money and space in your case, Noctua is simply the way to go!
The mounting can be abit fiddly but generally very easy to put on.
The pictures are from afew weeks back when I first built my system before testing.
I recently upgraded my rig to an am5 build and was sceptical on air cooling after being with liquid for so long. But it cools my r9 7900x brilliantly, idle temps of between 47-52 degrees and no throttling whatsoever on stress testing. Mounting is the easiest I have ever had with a cooler, and considering the bulk of thing that came as a surprise.
Before ordering I would advise going to the noctua website and checking compatibility with your board and ram, as clearance can be an issue especially with rgb ram.
You may need to contact noctua for the 12th gen bracket if yours doesn’t have it. But it’s super handy and fast to sort that part out. Other than that, it is a very nice cooler that is able to spread a lot of the heat!
Took my peak high load temps of over 85 degrees with the stock Wraith cooler down to 65 degrees max. Can’t ask for any more than that! Just make sure you have room in your case, it’s a beast!
This maybe the biggest heatsink I seen in my build, it definitely does the job it needs to do and can say it definitely works as it intents for the price of this cooler.
Happy with it, 10/10
This is a great cooler. I use it for my Ryzen 5 3600. I run massive parallel computations, all CPU cores maxed out. I had 45C idle CPU temperature with the stock cooler, now it is 35-38C. CPU was running 85C with the stock cooler on full load, with this cooler it is 65-70C. The fan is quiet and has a low RPM.
I installed only 1 fan, as I can not fit the other fan due to the RAM module, but this cooler works nice with 1 fan only as per instructions. Installation is a bit tedious, due to the huge size of the cooler.
Big cooler which performs brilliantly, easy to install ;fans are little fiddly to clip on but once you figure it out it’s easy. Currently idling at around 30c, nice and quiet too.
Really impressed with how cool my CPU is after installing this and there is hardly any noticeable noise
Used to cool down i5 11600K overclock to 4.80Ghz well i can say that i’m impressed and is really quie
Worth every penny – I previously had an AIO water cooling system that failed after 2 years. The Noctua NH-D15 was very easy to install, and the temperatures I’m getting, are just as good as when I had a brand new AIO (that was twice the price)
Quiet fans, beautiful construction, highly recommended!
Amazing performance from the cooler. Just expect it to be massive, but you easily adjust the second fa
Great product, keeps my Ryzen 9 5900X super cool (even when playing games) hitting a maximum of 76 degrees celsius!
Cooling performance is on par with an aio but this is much less noisy little tricky to install if like me you have massive hands and a smaller case but other then that it’s absolutely flawless will only be running noctua from now o
Working great. My idle temps are slightly higher than when I was running an AIO (by about 5c) but my load temps are averaging 65c (5c lower than my old load temps).
If you want the best of the best when it comes to air coolers, look no further! I replaced my 360mm water cooler AIO with this and have seen better performance, without the pump wine!
It has better cooling than most AIO, keep in mind.
This cooler has worked wonders for my CPU when running games under load with my CPU being overclocked too 4.5Ghz the temperature never runs above 70c so certainly loads of room for overclocking. The cooler emits next to no noise with the fans on my case being louder that the actual cooler. However, when installing ensure your case is big enough because even with a standard size casing the cooler fits well and has a little room its quite tight and can make plugging in the fans above the cooler an absolute pain so ensure you plug the fans in before installing this otherwise you will spend half an hour trying to fit your hand in the gap and plug the fan in. Otherwise this thing is a beast and I would reccommend spending that little bit more for a cooler than will pretty much beat or be on par with water cooling but without all the hassle.
Bought this to replace a failing AIO liquid cooler on my gaming PC. Running high graphic games my i9 is only hitting around 45-50C; even when running multicore 100% tests in keeps the temperature to about 80C.
Also, I have never built a PC/replaced something like before and I was able to do it with no problems; really clear instructions
Just like the Silver Model, Only Darker
Same Performance, Same Reliability, Fit and Forget!
Great quality and quiet fan. I learned a valuable lesson that for optimal cooling the size of cooler makes a big difference. I paired this with a 12600K, replacing the much smaller NH-D9L that I installed originally and it brought my temps under load down from 100C to 75C. A little undervolting and I’m now getting 65C temps under load. A huge improvement and I had no idea that such a difference could be had by upgrading the cooler.
Compared with my smaller Noctua Cooler, termperatures under max CPU load went from 95C to 80C which is a huge improvement.
I couldn’t fit both fans on the cooler so attached on to the rear of the case to improve airflow.
In the pictures theres one with the old cooler (I forget the exact model but its Noctua) and with the NH-D15 for comparison!
Quite fiddly to fit; probably the hardest part of building a computer but not too difficult overall.
Easy to set up and very effective using just one of the fans
This is a beast of a cooler, would recommend every time!
Top of the range colling for those who can’t bothered to deal with the maintenance of AIO.
Quiet under heavy loads, easy to install and has fantastic cooling.
The mounting system was easy enough, little bit of a squeeze in my PC case but it was doable. Read the included instructions and it’s relatively simple, though having someone else around might make it easier, as they could potentially hold things in place while you install them. The clips used to attach the fans to the cooler are a bit stubborn and somewhat confusing if it’s your first time using a cooler like this, but was also easy enough to figure out. I would recommend looking up a video guide to make this part easier.
Aside from that, though, it certainly holds up to the high expectations of a Noctua cooler – it was managing to keep the 5950x from overheating in most situations and only started to struggle during all core stress testing. For CPU’s that aren’t silicon infernos, this thing will do the job and do it incredibly well.
Although I did switch to a 420mm AIO for this CPU, I will absolutely be using the Noctua NHD15 in the future for just about every build that doesn’t necessitate some form of water cooling, as the performance is absolutely fantastic and, being a Noctua product, was very quiet while gaming.
Replaced a failed MSI water cooler which always ran hot and noisey with this.
The best decision I ever made as the i9-12900k now idles at around 30 deg C and only gets to 70 deg C when bench testing.
If you have a big case and an i9-12900k buy it, you will not regret it.
Silent and keeps my Ryzen 7 cool, comes with a tube of high grade thermal paste.
Be aware of RAM clearance and case size, I got lucky and my side panel only just fit on my NZXT case.
My home boiler is currently broke, and is stuck on, and even with this being on and 29c outside, my pc (which is also in a 15 year old case which I had to remove one fan off of this cooler and place it – with a create my own style, on the back of the tower idea) still keeps my pc running at 54-60c. I looked online thinking this maybe hot, but turns out for a 5800x and 6600xt, 90c is considered ok to run at, amd said 90c was normal…. so I was shocked to see how cool my gpu is running, considering I forced it into an old (15 year old pc case) as I loved this case to much throw away and removed a fan, and from this cooler and placed it on the back….. it keeps the temps down awesomely.
So if anything, it’s too powerful, albeit I do not see it like that as I think for longevity reasons, keeping a cool gpu is a must. So I would highly recommend anyone who does not have money to burn, but wants to make a decent upgrade, this cooler is the way to go for anything from high end 5600x’s and up. Not sure if theh work with intel, but if so, unless your running a high ene icore7, or more, this may be a bit extreme for anything lower and expensive. But I am super happy with this brand and cooler.
Installation process was super easy. The package comes with everything you could possibly ever need to install this and is very straightforward if you just follow the guide.
10/10 will install again on my next desktop computer.
I buy these for every CPU under Intel 12th gen (almost nothing can cool an overclocked 12th gen enough, because they’re so inefficient).
This is one of the best coolers on the market and outperforms water cooling on most systems. It is also one of the quietest.
You will need a thick PC case to put it in though, so check your clearances!
I’d also advise only pairing it with a GPU that has a blackplate, as the fins of this cooler will be way too close to a naked GPU back to trust if there’s any wobble during movement of the PC case.
I must admit, I am a huge “fan” of Noctua and this black model is great for those that want a stealthier system. No RGB… no signature “owl-brown / poop” colour (that they’re known for)… its gorgeous!
I use this to cool an AMD 5900X – it does a tremendously good job.
The mounting plate is very easy to fit, and everything feels very solid.
My case is relatively small (Corsair 275R), but this just fits nicely. The tight fit does make installation a little tricky – but super happy with the finished build.
Good quality thermal paste (N1-H1) and a a fan splitter cable are also included in the box.
Overall, I’d say this is great value for the performance and rock solid build quality.
I’d definately not hesitate to look at other Noctua products in the future.
Second Noctua cooler I own, and its even better than the first one. Mounted on a 5950x and it cools it adequately even when all cores running at full blast. I have a large case, and it needs it, but I think that’s the only way to make air cooling effectively work.
What more can I say. My PC was throttling under extreme load (Prime95 – yes, I know not real, but stress nonetheless), and the temperature was spiking significantly and quickly under small bursts of load.
After installing this, the resting temp reduced by 3-5 degrees C and went from an almost instant 100 degrees under Prime95 to taking 8 mins to reach 75 degrees and staying there up to the end of my 10 minute test.
Highly recommend. Flexible fan mounting height if you have high RAM (or you get an extra big case fan if the second fan won’t go in at all (mine was fine in a Fractal Design Define 7 Compact case).
I can’t hear it, even when you ramp it up (stock case fans are significantly louder than this ever gets).
Only gripe I have with it is, its awkward to install I would recommend having a second person with you to hold the mount for you
The NH-D15 is simply the best tower cooler on the market. Don’t look for anything else: it’s a quality product, with quality components, a quality TIM included in the box and a solid packaging and QA on the shoulders.
It’s perfect for my 5800X 3D and keeps it cool with quiet operation. Absolutely recommended!
Decided to Build a new Z690 – DDR5, 12gen Build and this Noctua NH-D15 Chromax Black cooler keeps my 12700K CPU at a nice 27c at Idle and while Gaming Horizon Zero Dawn on Ultimate Quality setting, this Noctua Cooler keeps my 12700K at around 52c (winter UK)…yet to see what summer temps are n will update in july….of course i have another 4 x Noctua fans installed in this Corsair 7000D Airflow Case which helps deliver plenty of cool air to the NH-D15 chromax Black.
Great Job, Noctua on an Awesome Cooler.
Got this for 5600X that was overheating with old AC Freezer 7. Problem solved. Promotes good airflow in case. Front fan is right above RAM sticks, so I decided to mod it – I cut “V” shape to the bottom middle of fan frame using hacksaw(but leaving it still in one piece), now RAM sticks are cooled as well.. I’m keeping this cooler for life, 6 stars out of 5!
I’ve been building a new system and was going to use my old AIO but it ended up being half empty and had partly melded with the old CPU lid. The CPU was fine but I needed a new cooler for that and one that would work in my new system. That’s where the Noctua comes in. It has such a wide range of compatibility that it worked with my 11 year old system and could be used on the AM4 system I was going to build.
I got it for that and the reputation Noctua have. I read the instructions, installed it to my old CPU and laughed. The temperatures were great but the fans are so much slower than old systems are used to I had to tell it to ignore the low speed warnings. In the new system with a Ryzen 7 5800X I threw the CPU-heavy Cinebench R23 multicore at it.
If you know about the 5800X you likely know it is notorious for being a hot-running chip. Putting it in that stress test I was expecting to hit thermal limits but the Noctua kept it at a maximum of 85.3C which is still hot but very good for what it was doing. I paid a lot for the name, the reputation and the performance but I’m very happy with it. Noctua have provided new mounting brackets in the past and likely will for the new Intel and AMD AM5 platforms. When I bought it there was nothing for the 12th-gen Intel CPUs in box though.
I’ve never fancied the idea of water cooling, for what to me are obvious reasons. Looked into air coolers and Noctua kept coming up as great products. So I bit the bullet and ordered this bad boy.
Firstly – it’s Huge! Seriously, check it’ll fit in your case and also check for Ram clearance. It’d be a right pain in the backside to take your PC apart to find it doesn’t fit. Luckily I did my research first and it fits. Just. As for my CPU, it now runs idle at around 30 degrees and under load never goes much above 60. Fantastic stuff. Not cheap but considering these coolers typically last 8+ years, I think it’s actually good value for money. Love it!
Bought this with the additional mounting kit for my new i7-1200k and it’s an amazing piece of kit! You will need the two fans version and you will need a large case but it’s worth it! I just have one fan running with this on my case and my temps are 35 ideal and 57 under load. So I’m running only 3 fans in total! I’m silent mode it’s inaudible, in balanced it’s barely there at all and in full load it’s there but not that loud!! It’s a serious piece of kit. Be advised to place the additional mounting bracket under your mother board first before screwing in your motherboard!
Installed mine on a i711700k and in a corsair 5000x. Temps at idle sit around 25c and under load dont go over 50c. So happy with the temps. Use the noctua thermal paste that comes with i
My Ryzen 2700 with the stock cooler went from 75 degrees under stress testing to 45 degrees with this Noctua cooler. Massive difference.
Used an nhd14 for 10years and never a bother. bought this for my new build and its exactly what you expect from noctua. quiet with exceptional cooling.
Absolutely love this item, is absolutely gorgeous, in all black ! And even better with the magnetic covers. Easy to install and silent ! Great temps as well.
Amazing cooling performance, even with my 3700X running at 100% and a GPU being stressed at the same time, the temp didn’t go above 54 C, which is well below the AIO it replaced – the Noctua mounting system also makes installation a doddle as you don’t have to fight with trying to attach the mounting system and the entire heatsink at the same time.
One thing to note though is that this cooler is pretty chunky, and you will need to make sure that your case has enough depth to fit it, and that you have capability to move components around or even change them in some circumstances – I had to move my GPU to a lower slot so the cooler can fit, and that is obviously an issue if you only have one x16 slot available, so forward planning before buying this item is strongly recommended.
I had to write a review in case anyone was having a similar issue to what I was, I can say this product is fantastic and has solved my overheating issues.
I was using a major brand liquid cooler on my Ryzen 5600x and my temps where around 60 degrees idle and 96 degrees under load. I tried multiple radiator placements as well as different thermal paste applications to no avail. I was happy with how my case fans where set up for cooling too (3x intake and 1x exhaust).
I took a plunge after ready the reviews and yes this fan may be a bit overkill for the 5600x but my temps have dropped significantly. On stock processor speeds (3.7ghz) temps were around 24 degrees at idle and early 40’s under load. I’ve now I’ve overclocked it to 4.3ghz and it runs early 30’s at idle and early 50’s under load, a huge difference.
The kit comes with everything you need and is easy to install. With the low noise adapters in the box this runs extremely quiet too.
Fantastic buy!
I had to write a review in case anyone was having a similar issue to what I was, I can say this product is fantastic and has solved my overheating issues.
I was using a major brand liquid cooler on my Ryzen 5600x and my temps where around 60 degrees idle and 96 degrees under load. I tried multiple radiator placements as well as different thermal paste applications to no avail. I was happy with how my case fans where set up for cooling too (3x intake and 1x exhaust).
I took a plunge after ready the reviews and yes this fan may be a bit overkill for the 5600x but my temps have dropped significantly. On stock processor speeds (3.7ghz) temps were around 24 degrees at idle and early 40’s under load. I’ve now I’ve overclocked it to 4.3ghz and it runs early 30’s at idle and early 50’s under load, a huge difference.
The kit comes with everything you need and is easy to install. With the low noise adapters in the box this runs extremely quiet too.
Fantastic buy!
I absolutely love this CPU cooler, to the point that I regret not going air cooling sooner.
The install process is really easy, even if you do it the more difficult way by having your motherboard already in the case (which I did, because this was a cooler upgrade).
The performance is better than my 280mm AIO cooler from NZXT. I would usually get 40-50 degrees on idle, now I get low 30s – mid 40s, much more reassuring.
The sound is fantastic, they run at a fast RPM then my case fans which are ‘BeQuiet’ fans, and are quieter than those fans! I actually regret getting the ‘BeQuiet’ fans, wishing that I instead got noctua fans.
Highly recommend, will never be changing my cooler unless Noctua makes one even better!
Great cooler, very impressive performance. If you are using it on an LGA-1700 board, be aware that the listing states you need to buy a separate mounting kit. The fan I received (December 2021) had the updated mounting kit already included, no need for the extra item (Amazon refunded).
I purchased this for my Ryzen 9 5900x and this cooler is incredible. If you want AIO cooling but need it cheaper than this is for you. While testing with Cinebench R23 for 10 minutes on a loop the CPU maxed out at 62c. Great cooler and extremely silent.
Expensive yes for air cooling but this thing is big, quiet and cools better than the water cooler it is replacing at half the price, with the advantage it’s cheap to replace a fan if one fails in years time.
Did I mention it’s big, make sure you have 165mm CPU clearance to side of case for top of heat pipes and easy to fit for anybody capable of using a screwdriver (supplied) and finally black fans, thank you Noctua !