Noctua NH-D15, Premium CPU Cooler with 2x NF-A15 PWM 140mm Fans (Brown)
Built on the basis of the legendary NH-D14 and carrying on its quest for ultimate quiet cooling performance, Noctua’s flagship model NH-D15 is an elite-class dual tower cooler for the highest demands. Its expanded heatpipe layout and two premium grade NF-A15 140mm fans with PWM support for automatic speed control allow it to further improve the NH-D14’s award-winning efficiency. Topped off with the trusted, pro-grade SecuFirm2 multi-socket mounting system and Noctua’s proven NT-H1 thermal compound, the NH-D15 forms a complete premium quality solution that represents a deluxe choice for overclockers and silent-enthusiasts alike.
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Based on the award-winning NH-D14Noctua’s NH-D14 has received more than 350 awards and recommendations from leading international hardware websites and magazines, making it one of the most successful premium heatsinks ever built. With its expanded layout and dual NF-A15 fans, the NH-D15 further improves the D14’s much acclaimed quiet cooling performance. | High RAM compatibility in single fan modeThanks to its recessed lower fins, the NH-D15 provides 64mm clearance for tall memory heatsinks in single fan mode, making it compatible with most high end RAM modules on the market. In dual fan mode, the NH-D15 should be used with standard height RAM (up to 32mm). | Dual NF-A15 140mm fansThe NH-D15 features two of Noctua’s premium class NF-A15 140mm fans. Complying with Noctua’s AAO standard and featuring sophisticated aerodynamic design measures such as Flow Acceleration Channels, the NF-A15 has quickly built up a reputation as one of the best 140mm fans on the market. | SecuFirm2 mounting systemNoctua’s SecuFirm2 mounting systems have become synonymous with quality, safety and ease of use. Supporting Intel LGA1200 LGA115x (LGA1150, LGA1151, LGA1155, LGA1156), LGA2011, LGA2066 and AMD (AM4, AM3(+), AM2(+), FM1, FM2(+)), the SecuFirm2 mounting included with the NH-D15 ensures perfect contact pressure and maximum convenience on all current sockets. |
Measurements
- Height (without fans): 160 mm
- Width (without fans): 150 mm
- Depth (without fans): 135 mm
- Height (with fans): 165 mm
- Width (with fans): 150 mm
- Depth (with fans): 161 mm
- Weight (without fans): 980 g
- Weight (with fans): 1320 g
Materials
Copper (base and heat-pipes), aluminium (cooling fins), soldered joints & nickel plating
Cooler Specifications
Scope of delivery
- 2x NF-A15 PWM premium fan
- 2x Low-Noise Adaptor (L.N.A.)
- Y-cable
- NT-H1 high-grade thermal compound
- SecuFirm2 Mounting Kit
- Noctua Metal Case-Badge
Fan compatibility
140x150x25 (with 120mm mounting holes), 140x140x25 (with 120mm mounting holes), 120x120x25
6 heatpipe dual tower design
As compared to conventional single tower heatinks, the NH-D15’s fine-tuned six heatpipe dual tower design provides more surface area, better heat-distribution and superior airflow efficiency in dual fan mode.
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| LGA2066, LGA2011-0 & LGA2011-3 | ✓ | ✓ | with NM-i20xx | ✓ | ✓ |
| LGA1700 | with NM-i17xx-MP83 | with NM-i17xx-MP83 | with NM-i17xx-MP83 | with NM-i17xx-MP83 chromax.black | with NM-i17xx-MP83 chromax.black |
| LGA1200, LGA115x (LGA1150, LGA1151, LGA1155, LGA1156) | ✓ | ✓ | with NM-i115x-1200 | ✓ | ✓ |
| LGA775 & LGA1366 | with NM-I3 | with NM-I3 | with NM-I3 | with NM-I3 | with NM-I3 |
| Xeon LGA2011 Narrow ILM / Xeon LGA1366 & LGA1356 | X | X | X | X | X |
| Xeon LGA3647 | X | X | X | X | X |
| Xeon LGA4189 | X | X | X | X | X |
| AM2(+), AM3(+), FM1, FM2 (+) | ✓ | ✓ | X | ✓ | ✓ |
| AM4 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| sTRx4, sWRX8, TR4, SP3 | X | X | X | X | X |
| Weight: | 1.3 kg |
| Dimensions: | 15 x 16.1 x 16.5 cm; 1.3 Kilograms |
| Brand: | Noctua |
| Model: | NH-D15 |
| Colour: | Brown |
| Batteries Included: | No |
| Manufacture: | Noctua |
| Colour: | Brown |
Very good - recommended for intel 115x and AM4
Took a few tries to get it installed right but it performs better than my previous cooler and its way quieter. Packed nicely with all the itema you need – thermal paste, 2 NF-A15 fans, AM4 and 115x mounting hardware and a long phillips head driver.
Didnt quite account for the slant on my trident z RAM modules so one fan is slanted slightly and prevents me from closing my case. No big deal as i can swap my case or I can change the fan so its on the opposite side. Not the fault of noctua though. It is a fantastic cooler. Cant speak to the long term reliability, but noctua have a reputation for lasting a long time. Im happy with this cooler and you will be too if you can fit it in your case
Very good - recommended for intel 115x and AM4
Took a few tries to get it installed right but it performs better than my previous cooler and its way quieter. Packed nicely with all the itema you need – thermal paste, 2 NF-A15 fans, AM4 and 115x mounting hardware and a long phillips head driver.
Didnt quite account for the slant on my trident z RAM modules so one fan is slanted slightly and prevents me from closing my case. No big deal as i can swap my case or I can change the fan so its on the opposite side. Not the fault of noctua though. It is a fantastic cooler. Cant speak to the long term reliability, but noctua have a reputation for lasting a long time. Im happy with this cooler and you will be too if you can fit it in your case
excellent coole
I used this CPU cooler in my desktop as i was replacing the stock cooler the coolers mounting instructions and kit was excellent and i had everything installed in about 20minutes it also includes enough thermal paste for about 20 attempts at installing the cooler Also Noctua’s support was top notch and they responded to my questions within 2 days.
PC SPECS:
ASUS ROG STRIX X370-F GAMING MOTHERBOARD
AMD RYZEN 3 1300X
NZXT H700I
EVGA SUPERNOVA 750WATT G2
CORSAIR VENGEANCE LPX 3000MHZ DDR4 RAM (2X4GB)
nivda geforce gt 140 GPU for now am planning to upgrade though to a 2070 though as the gt 140 has finally died on me 🙁
Excellant bit of ki
My AIO died suddenly, no warning dead. After 2 years I should have expected it. Luckily I had an old Evo 212 in my spares box which got me up and running. I searched through Amazon and on-line to find an alternative to liquid cooling. I was never really comfortable having liquid in an electrical environment. Eventually I came across the Noctua NH-D15. Every review both on Amazon and on the web, Highly recommended it. Basically it’s one of the best. Probably the best out there.
OK it’s big and you need a good sized case to fit it in. My Corsair 540 case had plenty of room. After reading the difficulties others had fitting it. I was pleasantly surprised how easy it was to install. I have low profile hyper x memory cards so the adjustment to clear them was minimal. High profile cards would profit changing the 140mm fan in the front to a 120mm fan. Air flow in my case is good. So it is fed from the front of the case by 2 140mm and out the back by another 140mm fan. Coupled by 2 overhead 140mm fans which remove any hot air pockets. I have to say the temps inside the case have reduced incredibly well. The CPU and Core temps are better than what I was achieving with an AIO which I had to have running at full belt when heavy gaming. With the Noctua NH-D15 I’m running cool and quiet and not going over 40 degrees. That was the big eye opener. Not to mention the reduced amount of power I am using when gaming. Which in the present environment of energy hikes from greedy companies is a good thing. My power consumption has been reduced by half. Which for parents out there, is a good thing. Keeping the kids happy and saving money on energy.
The Noctua NH- D15 is a good all rounder. Giving excellent cooling, far superior to many AIO’s out there. With energy saving to boot and half the price of AIO’s.
Air cooling is getting better and better which is a good thing for those like me on a budget and to be honest there isn’t any sudden breakdowns apart from a fan failing. Which can be easily and cheaply rectified.
All in all the Noctua NH-D15. Is an excellent product. From the moment you turn it on it is giving you the best cooling and energy savings out there.
Excellant bit of ki
My AIO died suddenly, no warning dead. After 2 years I should have expected it. Luckily I had an old Evo 212 in my spares box which got me up and running. I searched through Amazon and on-line to find an alternative to liquid cooling. I was never really comfortable having liquid in an electrical environment. Eventually I came across the Noctua NH-D15. Every review both on Amazon and on the web, Highly recommended it. Basically it’s one of the best. Probably the best out there.
OK it’s big and you need a good sized case to fit it in. My Corsair 540 case had plenty of room. After reading the difficulties others had fitting it. I was pleasantly surprised how easy it was to install. I have low profile hyper x memory cards so the adjustment to clear them was minimal. High profile cards would profit changing the 140mm fan in the front to a 120mm fan. Air flow in my case is good. So it is fed from the front of the case by 2 140mm and out the back by another 140mm fan. Coupled by 2 overhead 140mm fans which remove any hot air pockets. I have to say the temps inside the case have reduced incredibly well. The CPU and Core temps are better than what I was achieving with an AIO which I had to have running at full belt when heavy gaming. With the Noctua NH-D15 I’m running cool and quiet and not going over 40 degrees. That was the big eye opener. Not to mention the reduced amount of power I am using when gaming. Which in the present environment of energy hikes from greedy companies is a good thing. My power consumption has been reduced by half. Which for parents out there, is a good thing. Keeping the kids happy and saving money on energy.
The Noctua NH- D15 is a good all rounder. Giving excellent cooling, far superior to many AIO’s out there. With energy saving to boot and half the price of AIO’s.
Air cooling is getting better and better which is a good thing for those like me on a budget and to be honest there isn’t any sudden breakdowns apart from a fan failing. Which can be easily and cheaply rectified.
All in all the Noctua NH-D15. Is an excellent product. From the moment you turn it on it is giving you the best cooling and energy savings out there.
Great for the money
After using different AIO coolers (Corsair and Kraken) i decided once and for all i was done with them failing on me! So… i decided to go with Noctua, i am pleasantly surprised, the unboxing experience was great, guides were great and it was quite easy to install.
My Specs
CPU: I7 7700k (4.8ghz OC)
RAM: 16GB
GPU: GTX 1070ti
My idle is averaging around 35-40c (room temp 27c) and in game around 40-55c which is excellent and during a benchmark my max temp was 68c. Really happy i went with this. My only issue was not being able to fully insert one of the fans but thats due to my RAM not the cooler.
Fantastic cooling but not without caveats
Used in conjunction with a Corsair Airflow 540 case and a Overclocked i7-6700k and 4.6ghz
After the failure of both my CPU and GPU hybrid cooling systems within a short period of time I decided to swap back to the much more reliable air cooling set up. As such I decided I wanted the best of the best and without a doubt, the Noctua NH-D15 is the best. Once I got the cooler installed I ended up with some of the best CPU temps I’ve ever had. On average both my idle and under load CPU temps where a good 5 degrees lower than anything I saw with my old Corsair H100i V2. 25c on Idle and between 50c to 55c depending on the game I was running. Even pushing my CPU a little higher up the overclock ladder temps didnt rise more than a degree or 2.
As such on cooling alone (and a lot of personal research and practical hands on with coolers) I’m just going to say that you can not do better than this cooler. It is hands down the best unit and keeping your hardware cool.
But that of course, that means I have to address the aforementioned caveats.
The first is the size of this unit. It’s big and you need a big case (with room to spare) to fit it into. Not a problem if you tend to go for the larger cases. I can honestly say this is a perfect cooler for an Airflow 540 case but I would not like to try to fit it into anything smaller.
The second is a combination of noise / airflow. This cooler needs good airflow. The two included fans do a good job but you’ll want to add some additional fans into your case to make sure it really is doing it’s job. Something to bring the air into the case and something to expel all the warmed air out of the rear of the case. No matter what fans you go for (I’d suggest fans from the Noctua line up), this raises both the noise level, which is quiet but far from silent and the price due to additional costs.
The third is the price. On it’s own, the Noctua NH-D15 is a bit more expensive than other coolers. Sure it’s a little better but for the sake of a degree or 2, it might not be worth spending the additional cash on this cooler. That just gets worse when you add in more case fans if you want to get the most from this unit.
All in all it really is a brilliant cooler and quite rightly earns it’s crown as one ofm if not the best coolers on the marker but it’s certainly something more geared towards hardware enthusiast and hardcore PC gamers who want the best (something I need as I enjoy VR gaming).
I do think it’s great but I can see it’s flaws from other peoples point of view.
Fantastic cooling but not without caveats
Used in conjunction with a Corsair Airflow 540 case and a Overclocked i7-6700k and 4.6ghz
After the failure of both my CPU and GPU hybrid cooling systems within a short period of time I decided to swap back to the much more reliable air cooling set up. As such I decided I wanted the best of the best and without a doubt, the Noctua NH-D15 is the best. Once I got the cooler installed I ended up with some of the best CPU temps I’ve ever had. On average both my idle and under load CPU temps where a good 5 degrees lower than anything I saw with my old Corsair H100i V2. 25c on Idle and between 50c to 55c depending on the game I was running. Even pushing my CPU a little higher up the overclock ladder temps didnt rise more than a degree or 2.
As such on cooling alone (and a lot of personal research and practical hands on with coolers) I’m just going to say that you can not do better than this cooler. It is hands down the best unit and keeping your hardware cool.
But that of course, that means I have to address the aforementioned caveats.
The first is the size of this unit. It’s big and you need a big case (with room to spare) to fit it into. Not a problem if you tend to go for the larger cases. I can honestly say this is a perfect cooler for an Airflow 540 case but I would not like to try to fit it into anything smaller.
The second is a combination of noise / airflow. This cooler needs good airflow. The two included fans do a good job but you’ll want to add some additional fans into your case to make sure it really is doing it’s job. Something to bring the air into the case and something to expel all the warmed air out of the rear of the case. No matter what fans you go for (I’d suggest fans from the Noctua line up), this raises both the noise level, which is quiet but far from silent and the price due to additional costs.
The third is the price. On it’s own, the Noctua NH-D15 is a bit more expensive than other coolers. Sure it’s a little better but for the sake of a degree or 2, it might not be worth spending the additional cash on this cooler. That just gets worse when you add in more case fans if you want to get the most from this unit.
All in all it really is a brilliant cooler and quite rightly earns it’s crown as one ofm if not the best coolers on the marker but it’s certainly something more geared towards hardware enthusiast and hardcore PC gamers who want the best (something I need as I enjoy VR gaming).
I do think it’s great but I can see it’s flaws from other peoples point of view.
Extremely quiet, effective cooling and easy to install
Replacing a stock Ryzen 2600X cooler which was just far too noisy. I had a tower cooler in a previous build but the Noctua is the best I’ve ever had. 20C temp reduction over stock cooler whether at idle or full load, maxing out at 880 RPMs on the fans. This beast may be overkill for me, but that’s fine because i bought it to control my noise levels and it’s barely audible with the CPU fully loaded!
Installation was very simple, but check that your case width can accommodate! My previous mid ATX case would have been a bit too narrow, but luckily that was replaced with a Fractal R6.
Those with windowed cases may need to dig deeper if the tan/brown design doesn’t do it for you however.
Extremely quiet, effective cooling and easy to install
Replacing a stock Ryzen 2600X cooler which was just far too noisy. I had a tower cooler in a previous build but the Noctua is the best I’ve ever had. 20C temp reduction over stock cooler whether at idle or full load, maxing out at 880 RPMs on the fans. This beast may be overkill for me, but that’s fine because i bought it to control my noise levels and it’s barely audible with the CPU fully loaded!
Installation was very simple, but check that your case width can accommodate! My previous mid ATX case would have been a bit too narrow, but luckily that was replaced with a Fractal R6.
Those with windowed cases may need to dig deeper if the tan/brown design doesn’t do it for you however.
Superb, quiet performance
I originally had an Corsair H100i closed loop watercooler in my computer for cooling off an i7 7700k, mildly overclocked by just 9%. The cpu was regularly hitting 90c and above under gaming loads. On top of that it was exceptionally loud. The noise could be toned down of course with the controls but this would result in the cooling getting worse. Finally got fed up of it and decided to replace it with this.
Best decision EVER.
The D15 is super quiet. in fact I’m pretty sure the majority of the fan noise coming from my computer now are the case fans and GPU fan. It is also doing a far better job of cooling, since upgrading to the Noctua it hasn’t peaked over 76c under gaming loads and idle temps are a good 10c or so cooler (40/41 as opposed to 50 odds with the H100i). Installing it was a bit of a pain but mainly due to me having installed it and finding that the cpu cooler pins were a little under the fan and cooler assembly, more to do with the motherboard really, but the required blood sacrifice was made so it worked out fine in the end.
Its not the prettiest cooler setup and admittedly the H100i looked much better in my case but the cooling capability of this beast more than makes up for aesthetics.
Do not hesitate to buy this. Its worth every single penny.
Just wow!
I love this cooler. The packaging was really high quality and kept all of the parts very secure. This was my first time installing a cooler like this (although I did have some help from someone more experienced), but the instructions were very simple and clear and everything you needed (including a very useful screwdriver) was included, so in the end the installation was a little nerve wracking for me but actually relatively easy. The clips to place the fans on the heat sink were a bit stiff at first, but quickly loosened just the right amount and keep the fans securely attached. Once running, this thing managed to keep both my cpu and motherboard unbelievably cool, with a drop in temperature of about 20c at load in comparison to my last cooler. And my motherboard is known for running hot and for lack of heat sinks where there definitely should be some, but the absolute hottest it has got since using the D15 is 49c. And that’s all with the fans running at around 650 RPM, so it’s very quiet and I can only imagine how cool things would get if I ran them at max speed. Obviously you can still hear the movement of air even at that low speed, but it’s a quiet pleasant noise that you won’t notice, and that’s coming from someone easily irritated by loud fans. If this cooler will fit inside your case and is compatible with the rest of your parts, I would highly recommend getting one, it’s amazing.
Just wow!
I love this cooler. The packaging was really high quality and kept all of the parts very secure. This was my first time installing a cooler like this (although I did have some help from someone more experienced), but the instructions were very simple and clear and everything you needed (including a very useful screwdriver) was included, so in the end the installation was a little nerve wracking for me but actually relatively easy. The clips to place the fans on the heat sink were a bit stiff at first, but quickly loosened just the right amount and keep the fans securely attached. Once running, this thing managed to keep both my cpu and motherboard unbelievably cool, with a drop in temperature of about 20c at load in comparison to my last cooler. And my motherboard is known for running hot and for lack of heat sinks where there definitely should be some, but the absolute hottest it has got since using the D15 is 49c. And that’s all with the fans running at around 650 RPM, so it’s very quiet and I can only imagine how cool things would get if I ran them at max speed. Obviously you can still hear the movement of air even at that low speed, but it’s a quiet pleasant noise that you won’t notice, and that’s coming from someone easily irritated by loud fans. If this cooler will fit inside your case and is compatible with the rest of your parts, I would highly recommend getting one, it’s amazing.
I have had The Noctua for a few months now. I used this to replace my water cooler (which was about to die after 6/7 years). No issues at all, works great idle and under load, very quiet and easy to install.
One thing to consider if your coming from a water cooler like me, is to change/lower your fan speed alerts in the Bios. Your PC will give you an alert if it thinks the fan speed is too low every time you start up your PC. Water coolers typically use smaller fans (in the sealed unit on the processor) that spin at higher speeds (typically over 1000rpm). Were as the fans on this spin slower (300 to 400rpm at start up) because they are larger. Lowering it down to 300 rpm should be fine.
I have had The Noctua for a few months now. I used this to replace my water cooler (which was about to die after 6/7 years). No issues at all, works great idle and under load, very quiet and easy to install.
One thing to consider if your coming from a water cooler like me, is to change/lower your fan speed alerts in the Bios. Your PC will give you an alert if it thinks the fan speed is too low every time you start up your PC. Water coolers typically use smaller fans (in the sealed unit on the processor) that spin at higher speeds (typically over 1000rpm). Were as the fans on this spin slower (300 to 400rpm at start up) because they are larger. Lowering it down to 300 rpm should be fine.
Amazing cooler for your cpu
I’ve paired this beast with 2600 as the stock cooler is just an absolute garbage.
Stock cooler temps : idle 42-47, gaming – up to 70, Aida test – 80+.
Noctua : idle 28-31, gaming – didn’t see it going over 60-65 (4k or lots of mods (used xcom figures, other games like wow/sc2 don’t exceed 60), Aida stress – 65 max.
Overall – good value, not easy to install due to size so need ATX+ or will struggle a bit install it, I have Corsair 275r case.
Superb
The 2 screws that the cooler has make it hard to understand how hard you screw and you dont understand if you are even tightning the screws the result is not imidiate because it has 2 suspensions that provide resistance and make it hard to screw…anyway its not that loud as i was expecting it to be and it gets the job done perfectly!!!
Superb performance
This is the cooler you want, if you have the space and budget.
I installed it with just 1 fan due to lack of space and it cools just fine. The noise is very low pitched compared to other coolers and is very quiet overall.
Installation is easier than previous models as the fans clip on and off pretty easily and don’t require damping strips or anything fiddly. Can still be a little tough just because of the sheer size of it though.
The best cooler you can get!
Used a D14 years ago before switching to AIO coolers. My most recent AIO was failing and I decided to switch back to air coolers, what a difference! This runs cooler and quieter than my previous AIO (H100i) and cost less. Install is easy. Just be careful and make sure you use low profile RAM.
Perfect cooler system
I had water cooling system (not the cheapest one I’d say), however after 2 years it failed and I had to buy a new one.
this one – is SUPER GOOD. Way better than my previous 3-fan airplane noisy water cooler.
Pros:
– NOISELESS. I mean really noiseless! shocked how good it is!
– large and solid – so that there are no high “spikes” once CPU loaded
– pretty easy and flexible to install
Cons
– not in all cases can be fit, super-large radiato
The best air cooler known to ma
The best air cooler NH-D14 has been updated. It’s the cool NH-D15 and I can’t wait to install this bad girl. It’s not just the products that sparkle in the lime-light of perfection but the customer support from Noctua is a gem too. The packaging is great (well packed and protected with minimal environmental impact). I’ve ran a NH-D14 for over 8 years with no issues (heavy user). The choice of buying the NH-D15 was a no brainer. You only have to watch some of their trade show stuff to see how passionate they are about their products and you only have to see youtube to see how PC enthusiasts love their products. The only thing which is a little bit of a problem for some system builders is the colour scheme (brown and cream) which isn’t bad (I quite like it) but it’s a bit of a giant opinionated statement… but Noctua listened and stepped up with the Redux fan line which offers replacement fans with a more neutral colour tone and are bundled with colour corner accents if needed.
The best air cooler known to ma
The best air cooler NH-D14 has been updated. It’s the cool NH-D15 and I can’t wait to install this bad girl. It’s not just the products that sparkle in the lime-light of perfection but the customer support from Noctua is a gem too. The packaging is great (well packed and protected with minimal environmental impact). I’ve ran a NH-D14 for over 8 years with no issues (heavy user). The choice of buying the NH-D15 was a no brainer. You only have to watch some of their trade show stuff to see how passionate they are about their products and you only have to see youtube to see how PC enthusiasts love their products. The only thing which is a little bit of a problem for some system builders is the colour scheme (brown and cream) which isn’t bad (I quite like it) but it’s a bit of a giant opinionated statement… but Noctua listened and stepped up with the Redux fan line which offers replacement fans with a more neutral colour tone and are bundled with colour corner accents if needed.
Works Great But Still Pricy
Let me start off with: “You don’t need this but that doesn’t make you want it less.”
if you’re a regular guy who just wants to overclock his CPU when he notices it starting to show it’s age like I am then something like a Hyper 212 Evo would be a much better choice.
This is big, like super big. I’d almost say its a bit bigger than the size of a newborn babies head so make certain you have the space for it.
Also it’s quite heavy and I’ve heard extremely rare whispers of board flex from using it however mine has not shown this.
TL:DR I’ve had mine for 2 years give or take a bit. No moving parts means it won’t break or wear out even if the fans eventually will(good fans though).
Change your thermal paste every year or two and you’ll notice very minimal amounts of performance loss.
Works Great But Still Pricy
Let me start off with: “You don’t need this but that doesn’t make you want it less.”
if you’re a regular guy who just wants to overclock his CPU when he notices it starting to show it’s age like I am then something like a Hyper 212 Evo would be a much better choice.
This is big, like super big. I’d almost say its a bit bigger than the size of a newborn babies head so make certain you have the space for it.
Also it’s quite heavy and I’ve heard extremely rare whispers of board flex from using it however mine has not shown this.
TL:DR I’ve had mine for 2 years give or take a bit. No moving parts means it won’t break or wear out even if the fans eventually will(good fans though).
Change your thermal paste every year or two and you’ll notice very minimal amounts of performance loss.
Firstly, this cooler performs exceptionally. For an air cooler there is no beating it. This cooler ran about 5 degrees hotter than my 280mm AIO. The mounting is pretty easy although I had difficulty putting in the final 2 spring loads screws. The big con about this design is that the cream and brown fans simply do not work with any colour scheme. I know Noctua are finally putting a fix to this by releasing black versions of all their coolers but they are not out yet. Although once you get the Chromax covers on(30!) and some black fans(20 each!) it does look very very nice. You may run into RAM clearnce issues Ghe included fans are quiet and don’t need be ran very fast to get adequate cooling. I would recommend delidding to get the maximum potential out of this cooler though.
Needed a rejig of the machine but quiet and cool in operatio
I can’t fault the Unit but I had underestimated that it wasn’t just height or width issues but I needed to relocate the GPU and that had to be slot 3 due to Z270 requirements which buried my Sata connections. It also sits too close to memory for my liking but the Unit is brilliant although my Z270 re-jig took two days. CPU temperatures are now below the Kraken X42. I use an Enermax Giant box and only just fitted it as the side fan enclosure drops down into the box. Now done/up and working and quiet and cool and a 6 year warranty.
I begun having issues with my 240mm AIO, temperatures would reach 70c at idle and would hit 100c and throttle on any load. Obviously something was wrong and needed to get a replacement.
I had seen many reviews of the Noctua NH-D15 online and was sceptical. How can a air cooler come close to the performance of my once beloved AIO? What tipped the balance for me was a change in requirements. My system runs 24/7 almost, and having a pump fail again during the night isn’t really an option. Also, the NH-D15 is significantly cheaper than any quality 240mm which made me want to try. That plus Amazon’s incredible returns policy meant is was pretty much risk free.
The box arrived, it’s rather large and heavy for its size. The packaging is mostly cardboard and minimal non recyclables, which is nice to see. Unpackaging the cleverly arranged box is almost a pleasurable puzzle.
Installation instructions are simple, to the point and accurate. Just what you want. Out of the box I had Intel and AMD install options which is great. No AM4 support out of the box but you can order the bracket from Noctua free of charge if you require it.
Installation goes fairly simple. I installed mine on an ASUS X-99 A 2 (socket 2011-3). Two brackets around the CPU slot, screw in. Add the included Noctua thermal paste. Then screw the cooler to these mounts with the included long reach phillips head screwdriver – a fantastic touch for simplifying the install process. Slight issue getting the second screw in to attach the cooler which took a few moments to sort out – turns out I wasn’t pushing down hard enough.
Clip on both fans using the metal wire brackets, plug shorter than case fan cables in to your motherboard, you can use the included Y-cable if you don’t have the slots for 2 individual cables, you can also install the adaptors to quieten the fans – i personally set a fan curve in my computers BIOS, but it’s up to you. You may also have conflict issues with your graphics card and RAM but you can rotate the cooler and move the fans if you do struggle to fit the cooler around your RAM. This cooler is VERY large and to get it in I did have to remove my graphics card to make the install a little easier. And that was it for install. Fairly straight forward, a lot quicker than an AIO.
Into the first boot, MSI Afterburner reports a significant drop from the AIO temps to 32c, some of the lowest temperatures I’ve ever seen on my system, even during winter.
Loading up some benchmarks and stress tests to warm up the cooler proved un-eventful. With temperatures on a 4.2ghz overclock on an Intel 5820K only reaching 59c. Pushing the overclock further to 4.6ghz (the highest my system has ever gone) got the temperatures to creep just north of 70c. Doing this whilst remaining whisper quiet at full RPM – I couldn’t notice any additional noise over my case fans.
Negatives of the cooler:
Aesthetics, Noctua does love it’s beige and brown fans, it’s symbolic to the company and is an instantly recognisable. You can replace the fans with the chromax series, these are all black fans with multiple colour rubber edges to stop vibrations at a cost. Pushing the cooler into quality AIO price territory. You can also get covers for the fin stacks if you’d prefer these to be a certain colour. However, for me that’s not really an issue.
Size of the cooler. It fits in my system, just. Some may have issues with RAM and graphics cards. Graphics cards can always be moved to another lower slot. RAM however, if you have particularly large RAM modules could be an issue. You can rotate the cooler and move the fans to accommodate the RAM but it is something to be aware of before buying.
Overall though, this is a fantastic cooler cannot rate it highly enough. It’s exceeded my already high expectations and lived up fully to it’s reviews.
I begun having issues with my 240mm AIO, temperatures would reach 70c at idle and would hit 100c and throttle on any load. Obviously something was wrong and needed to get a replacement.
I had seen many reviews of the Noctua NH-D15 online and was sceptical. How can a air cooler come close to the performance of my once beloved AIO? What tipped the balance for me was a change in requirements. My system runs 24/7 almost, and having a pump fail again during the night isn’t really an option. Also, the NH-D15 is significantly cheaper than any quality 240mm which made me want to try. That plus Amazon’s incredible returns policy meant is was pretty much risk free.
The box arrived, it’s rather large and heavy for its size. The packaging is mostly cardboard and minimal non recyclables, which is nice to see. Unpackaging the cleverly arranged box is almost a pleasurable puzzle.
Installation instructions are simple, to the point and accurate. Just what you want. Out of the box I had Intel and AMD install options which is great. No AM4 support out of the box but you can order the bracket from Noctua free of charge if you require it.
Installation goes fairly simple. I installed mine on an ASUS X-99 A 2 (socket 2011-3). Two brackets around the CPU slot, screw in. Add the included Noctua thermal paste. Then screw the cooler to these mounts with the included long reach phillips head screwdriver – a fantastic touch for simplifying the install process. Slight issue getting the second screw in to attach the cooler which took a few moments to sort out – turns out I wasn’t pushing down hard enough.
Clip on both fans using the metal wire brackets, plug shorter than case fan cables in to your motherboard, you can use the included Y-cable if you don’t have the slots for 2 individual cables, you can also install the adaptors to quieten the fans – i personally set a fan curve in my computers BIOS, but it’s up to you. You may also have conflict issues with your graphics card and RAM but you can rotate the cooler and move the fans if you do struggle to fit the cooler around your RAM. This cooler is VERY large and to get it in I did have to remove my graphics card to make the install a little easier. And that was it for install. Fairly straight forward, a lot quicker than an AIO.
Into the first boot, MSI Afterburner reports a significant drop from the AIO temps to 32c, some of the lowest temperatures I’ve ever seen on my system, even during winter.
Loading up some benchmarks and stress tests to warm up the cooler proved un-eventful. With temperatures on a 4.2ghz overclock on an Intel 5820K only reaching 59c. Pushing the overclock further to 4.6ghz (the highest my system has ever gone) got the temperatures to creep just north of 70c. Doing this whilst remaining whisper quiet at full RPM – I couldn’t notice any additional noise over my case fans.
Negatives of the cooler:
Aesthetics, Noctua does love it’s beige and brown fans, it’s symbolic to the company and is an instantly recognisable. You can replace the fans with the chromax series, these are all black fans with multiple colour rubber edges to stop vibrations at a cost. Pushing the cooler into quality AIO price territory. You can also get covers for the fin stacks if you’d prefer these to be a certain colour. However, for me that’s not really an issue.
Size of the cooler. It fits in my system, just. Some may have issues with RAM and graphics cards. Graphics cards can always be moved to another lower slot. RAM however, if you have particularly large RAM modules could be an issue. You can rotate the cooler and move the fans to accommodate the RAM but it is something to be aware of before buying.
Overall though, this is a fantastic cooler cannot rate it highly enough. It’s exceeded my already high expectations and lived up fully to it’s reviews.
It's a beas
This was bought to replace a H80i AIO which was always noisy for my liking. This is absolute quality from Noctua, everything from the packaging to the parts supplied all exceeded my expectations.
Install was straight forward, but was helped with the size of my case which had a bit of room to spare, I would definitely recommend checking that you have enough space spare before you purchase this.
There was an issues on first boot, I received a “CPU Fan Error” and thought I might have had a bad fan, but the issue turned out to be a BIOS setting.
I haven’t stress tested the system yet but everything is so much quieter and my CPU is running cooler as well.
Overall very happy with my purchase.
Brilliant product, does what it says!
Brilliant product, but it is quite bulky. Aesthetically it’s not great, but it depends on whether or not you want something that looks good, or something that does exactly what it says on the packaging. It was too big for my PC build so had to return but would strongly recommend!
Can't wait to get the all black one!
Easy to install with the motherboard out of the case. Supplied screwdriver is soft producing swarf so ditched this for a regular electrical screwdriver as I was concerned about having swarf shorting components.
Everything else about this monster cooler which my wife thought looked like some sort of fridge is a dream; the packaging, aesthetics, weight, design, assembly, function, fans & the whisper quietness of this lovely product is still impressing me months later.
I’m a light sleeper & this beast stands a meter away from my pillow and does not disturb me while running 24-7.
My experience of customer service was polite, helpful and prompt; sending me the AM4 kit at no extra cost in double quick time.
Room temp: 15.7c
CPU temp: 24~34c (use>10%)
Ryzen 1800x
fractal define R6 case
Really big
It’s does a good job at cooling my 8700k the noise levels are good. Every one has said that these are easy to fit but that was not the case for me maybe the screw holes on mine were a little bit out of alignment but in the end I had to force it. I have never had a cooler that is so large before this thing is so big I needed to plug in the fans for it before putting it in.
Simply brillia
Great cooler, Using it too cool a i7 8700k between 30-45c whilst gaming using mx-4 thermal paste seemed better than the paste noctua supplied. It doesn’t even break a sweat. I haven’t used the low noise connectors as i think the fans run 0-600rpm at best 90% of the time in game. With the mini heat wave we just had when gaming all day again didn’t phase the Noctua once.
Little pricey but amazing, from someone that’s used all different high end AiO’s i’m glad i moved back to air for this cooler its beautifully crafted and does it job completely with no fuss.
Using open back headphones i haven’t heard the fans spool up once with my case located on my desk behind my monitor.
Anyone looking for a Air cooler for long term use that doesn’t mind the price i 100% recommend this product.
I wish I had gotten this sooner - what a godsend! Absolutely amazed by this thing....
I have been an Amazon customer for over 15 years and this is my first review – that’s how amazing this product is.
The attention to detail from building every component of this product, to the research, to the packaging is just phenomenal. From the moment you unbox this product, it is immediately apparent that the customer is at the forefront of every decision making process that goes into this product.
Phantek Evolv ATX: This easily fit my cramped ATX case accommodated by chunky RAM sticks.
Intel i7-5930K (6 Core) 3.5GHz Stock – OC’d to 4.0GHz: This 5th Gen processor is easily a thermal magnetic and is by no means easy to keep cool, especially by today’s standard, never mind Overclocking it to 4.0GHz. With that said, with my new NH-D15 the CPU idle temperature ranges from 29-31 degrees celsius (20 degrees ambient temp) with fan speed at 526RPM. Rewind back to my previous Corsair AIO Hydro Series H110 280mm. With this 130 (release price) installed idle temperature of my OC CPU was around 45-50 degrees celsius (same ambient conditions), with the fans blasting at 1000RPM. It was always loud, irritating and expensive! At load, it was like a boeing was taking off and it genuinely distracted you from everything that you could possibly do.
Subsequently by contrast this is is just a god send and worth every penny spent. With that said, with the NH-D15 I think I can easily overclock it to 4.5GHz with confidence – and they say at only AIO solutions can handle overclocking. By today’s thermal efficient processors, opting for a premium fan cooled solution like the NH-D15, it’s a no brainer. Cheaper, far more reliable, longer lasting, and best of all, dead silent!
Get this, it's better and cheaper than liquid cooling
This thing, coupled with Nocuta’s NF-A14 PWM & NF-F12PWM fans is a winning combination. It’s big, so make sure you have a big case. Using this negates the need for an over-hyped liquid setup. Don’t be fooled by its size, it is lightweight and there is no need to stress about the motherboard getting all warped because you have this beast bolted to it. This CPU cooler comes with two PWM fan units that shift a cart load of air quietly at what can be described as idle speeds. At the time of writing this the ambient temp is 21 degrees Celsius, and yet the CPU is pottering away at a comfortable 40.
NH-D15: Absolutely superb by Amazon and Noctua
I’m a silence freak so when I recently bought an excellent gaming rig second hand, the first thing I wanted to do was remove the noisy Cooler Master CPU sink. Ordered the NH-D15 yesterday, arrived today at 4pm. Took about an hour to set up but instructions are very clear and helpful. My pc rig is totally silent now with CPU temperatures lower than they’ve ever been.
Thank you Amazon for excellent service and thank you Noctua for this amazing product. A must buy.
Extremely easy to mount, keeps an Intel 8700K overclocked to 4.9 Ghz at around 26-29 C when idle and 55-68 C when rendering films with all CPU cores at 100% over 3 hours of continuous rendering – fans at 100%. In games it barely reaches a max of 45 C with the fans going maybe at 50% so it’s very quiet. CPU runs at a ,ax of 1.312 V (it’s in offset mode so it doesn’t get high voltage when it doesn’t need to).
In Prime95 v26.6 (later versions suck on Coffee Lake) small FFT test I’m getting a max of 89 C. Aida64extreme597 runs around 60-68C on all tests except FPU which is ridiculously hot going into thermal throttling but I could simply not replicate those temperatures in real life tasks. And I threw some heavy load at the CPU in Premiere and this Noctua cooler kept it below 70C. That’s the highest temp in real life. It all runs in a Fractal Design Define R6 with 2 Noctua NF-A14 PWM 140 intake front and 1 Noctua NF-A14 PWM 140 back exhaust.
Extremely easy to mount, keeps an Intel 8700K overclocked to 4.9 Ghz at around 26-29 C when idle and 55-68 C when rendering films with all CPU cores at 100% over 3 hours of continuous rendering – fans at 100%. In games it barely reaches a max of 45 C with the fans going maybe at 50% so it’s very quiet. CPU runs at a ,ax of 1.312 V (it’s in offset mode so it doesn’t get high voltage when it doesn’t need to).
In Prime95 v26.6 (later versions suck on Coffee Lake) small FFT test I’m getting a max of 89 C. Aida64extreme597 runs around 60-68C on all tests except FPU which is ridiculously hot going into thermal throttling but I could simply not replicate those temperatures in real life tasks. And I threw some heavy load at the CPU in Premiere and this Noctua cooler kept it below 70C. That’s the highest temp in real life. It all runs in a Fractal Design Define R6 with 2 Noctua NF-A14 PWM 140 intake front and 1 Noctua NF-A14 PWM 140 back exhaust.
A beast to cool your cores
This cooler is an absolute monster on my OC’d 8700k. I’m extremely satisfied with my purchase coming from a CoolerMaster TX3 which had a fan that made a horrible screeching noise.
The box was extremely well packed, and the installation instructions were fairly clear – it’s genuinely very easy to install.
This is the best cooler in the world…probably.
I installed this on an FX8350 in a HAF X case, with chromax covers. I added an extra and unnecessary fan (all the fans in this HAF are also Noctua) on the rear because I had one laying around, it doesn’t make any difference to the temperature reduction but does help to vent heat more directly out of the case. With the Chromax covers the fans are definitely even quieter and don’t ramp up any higher than 700rpm under Prime 95 which I ran for half an hour after applying the thermal compound. CPU temps are at a steady 26c idle and haven’t gone above 50c yet gaming and I’m pretty sure they never will.
This NH-D15 is a quality product and everything about it, even the box it comes in, says,”You’ll never top me!” and I have to admit that even after looking at the Be Quiet Dark Rocks, the Cooler Masters and Zalmans (which I love) and the fierce rivalry they offered, the choice, for me, had to be Noctua. Noctua because they offer so much more in the quality department, they’re beautifully made and of very high quality materials. I owned a Dunhill lighter many years ago, one with the thumb bar on the side and just picking it up informed me that I was holding an item of superior construction. Its a bit like that with the Noctua NH-D15, you pick it up and you just know that you’ve made a great purchase. Other owners out there will know what I’m talking about but even if you are a newcomer to after-market coolers my advice is to always do your research and double check everything you investigate. I don’t work for Noctua, they’re just another company but this cooler is something I will always recommend to anyone who’s looking for the best. Others will disagree and that’s fine and other coolers are good, great in fact but in my mind I’ve made the best choice…for me.
Installation is ridiculously easy. The kit comes with mounting brackets for both Intel and AMD, screws, low noise adapters, Noctua’s own thermal compound, a fan splitter and yes, a screwdriver! I’m sure I’ve missed a few things out but essentially, everything you need to get it on the CPU and plug the fans into the board are included. I would recommend getting the Chromax covers for this cooler, they complete the look even if they are a little costly. Hey, the NH-D15 ain’t cheap but you’ll only ever have to buy one. If you’re using this cooler on a new build, great because you need to get to the back of the board unless you already have a case with a cut-out for access. With the bracket installed, the cooler is then mounted using just two spring mounted screws which can’t be over-tightened. It’s designed for higher ram clearance but you should check this in any event. Once installed the fans come with clips which take seconds to mount them. Noctua’s your uncle, you’re done!
I have only one word of caution and its not about the cooler itself but you should know that this is a Brobdingnagian thing, very tall so, as I said before, check that your case will accommodate it. Apart from that, welcome to air cooling the way it should be done. If Noctua made beer, it would also be the best in the world…probably.
This is the best cooler in the world…probably.
I installed this on an FX8350 in a HAF X case, with chromax covers. I added an extra and unnecessary fan (all the fans in this HAF are also Noctua) on the rear because I had one laying around, it doesn’t make any difference to the temperature reduction but does help to vent heat more directly out of the case. With the Chromax covers the fans are definitely even quieter and don’t ramp up any higher than 700rpm under Prime 95 which I ran for half an hour after applying the thermal compound. CPU temps are at a steady 26c idle and haven’t gone above 50c yet gaming and I’m pretty sure they never will.
This NH-D15 is a quality product and everything about it, even the box it comes in, says,”You’ll never top me!” and I have to admit that even after looking at the Be Quiet Dark Rocks, the Cooler Masters and Zalmans (which I love) and the fierce rivalry they offered, the choice, for me, had to be Noctua. Noctua because they offer so much more in the quality department, they’re beautifully made and of very high quality materials. I owned a Dunhill lighter many years ago, one with the thumb bar on the side and just picking it up informed me that I was holding an item of superior construction. Its a bit like that with the Noctua NH-D15, you pick it up and you just know that you’ve made a great purchase. Other owners out there will know what I’m talking about but even if you are a newcomer to after-market coolers my advice is to always do your research and double check everything you investigate. I don’t work for Noctua, they’re just another company but this cooler is something I will always recommend to anyone who’s looking for the best. Others will disagree and that’s fine and other coolers are good, great in fact but in my mind I’ve made the best choice…for me.
Installation is ridiculously easy. The kit comes with mounting brackets for both Intel and AMD, screws, low noise adapters, Noctua’s own thermal compound, a fan splitter and yes, a screwdriver! I’m sure I’ve missed a few things out but essentially, everything you need to get it on the CPU and plug the fans into the board are included. I would recommend getting the Chromax covers for this cooler, they complete the look even if they are a little costly. Hey, the NH-D15 ain’t cheap but you’ll only ever have to buy one. If you’re using this cooler on a new build, great because you need to get to the back of the board unless you already have a case with a cut-out for access. With the bracket installed, the cooler is then mounted using just two spring mounted screws which can’t be over-tightened. It’s designed for higher ram clearance but you should check this in any event. Once installed the fans come with clips which take seconds to mount them. Noctua’s your uncle, you’re done!
I have only one word of caution and its not about the cooler itself but you should know that this is a Brobdingnagian thing, very tall so, as I said before, check that your case will accommodate it. Apart from that, welcome to air cooling the way it should be done. If Noctua made beer, it would also be the best in the world…probably.
I got this cooler as part of a new custom-built desktop for myself. I decided to go all air cooled as my previous computer used two AIO coolers, which were good, but heavy and expensive. I chose this as I researched and found it’s the best in the business; offering incredible cooling performance, while being almost half the price of an equivalent AIO.
Inside the box you get everything you need for installation. Mounting brackets, screws, and even a high-quality screw driver — I didn’t expect that. Also, the included thermal paste did wonders. This, combined with the CPU cooler mean my CPU runs colder than I expected. I didn’t de-lid, as I was scared mainly, but even without my CPU stays well below thermal throttling temperatures.
Installation was easy, even if I did keep putting the brackets on backwards. Follow the simple instructions and you’ll be fine. Just be aware, this is very big. Ensure you have enough space for this to fit over your RAM and I/O section. That being said, there is a slightly raised section on either end to make room for you RAM and I/O which is handy, so it’s very likely that this will fit. It worked with my Asus Maximum X hero and G.Skill RGB ram.
Overall — really happy with my purchase. Much cheaper than AIO and just as good, if not better, performance. It is very big so make sure it fits before buying it. But you should be happy once it’s in!
***If you found my review helpful please don’t forget to mark is as helpful below, thanks!***
I got this cooler as part of a new custom-built desktop for myself. I decided to go all air cooled as my previous computer used two AIO coolers, which were good, but heavy and expensive. I chose this as I researched and found it’s the best in the business; offering incredible cooling performance, while being almost half the price of an equivalent AIO.
Inside the box you get everything you need for installation. Mounting brackets, screws, and even a high-quality screw driver — I didn’t expect that. Also, the included thermal paste did wonders. This, combined with the CPU cooler mean my CPU runs colder than I expected. I didn’t de-lid, as I was scared mainly, but even without my CPU stays well below thermal throttling temperatures.
Installation was easy, even if I did keep putting the brackets on backwards. Follow the simple instructions and you’ll be fine. Just be aware, this is very big. Ensure you have enough space for this to fit over your RAM and I/O section. That being said, there is a slightly raised section on either end to make room for you RAM and I/O which is handy, so it’s very likely that this will fit. It worked with my Asus Maximum X hero and G.Skill RGB ram.
Overall — really happy with my purchase. Much cheaper than AIO and just as good, if not better, performance. It is very big so make sure it fits before buying it. But you should be happy once it’s in!
***If you found my review helpful please don’t forget to mark is as helpful below, thanks!***
Great bit of Kit and very effective for me
What a great product, lovely packaging a joy to take out the box, it was always going tobe touch an go whether this fitted my case and motherboard, as it turned out it fouled my one and only PCi 16x graphics slot. Surprisingly,turning it 90 it would fit. I was then worried by the airflow through the case, what this did for its efficiency and whether it would increase noise levels due to the proximity of the graphics board and the top of the case. I think Noctua missed a trick here for just a few millimetres it would fit many more motherboards and in the correct orientation. The layout of my Intel DP55wp made fitting and connection of the ‘y’ splitter cable to power the fans a bit tricky. I resolved this by placing one of the fans in there first and fixing to the heat sink after fixing it to the CPU. I also needed to remove and refit all the cards from the board to effectively fit the full configuration. Now for the really good news, on powering up, it is no noisier than my existing Intel cooler my thermal margin has dropped 66!!!! and the fan only running at 325RPM. My CPU had been running within 4 with occasion thermal shut safety shutdown. Lovely bit of kit.
amazing performance a bit of a pain to install but ...
amazing performance a bit of a pain to install but best things in life are never easy will never touch aio coolers again dropped close to 30 degrees switching to this from from a corsair h115 which degraded massivly at idle 23-30 degrees celcius on a overclocked 4770k and 45-60 celcius when playing games unlike the corsair which fluctuated up to 99 degrees celcius at one point i am very impressed with the peformance so fa
On opening the box it was very clear to me this was another top quality product from Noctua. Inside the well designed box was the heatsink, 2 fans, various components for mounting the cooler to different motherboards, thermal paste, low noise adapters, Y-splitter cable and even a screwdriver! Being a Noctua product this also comes with a 6 year warranty but unless a fan unexpectedly dies it’s quite unlikely I’ll need to use the service. It also speaks volumes for Noctua’s confidence in their products though.
The first thing I noticed was the sheer size and weight of the cooler itself – it is absolutely massive and is also very heavy! I checked on Noctua’s compatibility page on their website for my motherboard and case to make sure it would fit. I would highly recommend doing that before you consider buying this cooler. Once installed, it will consume most of your motherboard.
Installation to the motherboard was surprisingly simple and didn’t take long at all. It was a little fiddly getting the PWM connectors plugged in before the heatsink and I needed to use some long nose pliers to assist me. The fins on the cooler feel quite sharp and the tops of the cooler also appear to be a bit of a fingerprint magnet! Once the heatsink was installed it felt very secure although I would definitely remove it if I was planning on transporting the PC anywhere.
The NF-A15 fans are excellent and are very quiet. Even at full speed they are far less intrusive than other fans out there. However, their colour scheme is definitely not to everyone’s taste and if your case has a glass/perspex lid then it may not play well with your colour scheme! You can now buy the NF-A15 HS PWM chromax black version of the fans but these are about 20 each which might be a bitter pill to swallow after forking out for the NH-D15 cooler.
The cooling performance for an air cooler is second to none and this will give AIO watercoolers a run for their money. This cooler shaved a good 10 degrees off a 7820X under load and the temperature issues that I ran into were more down to the poor TIM that Intel have used inside the CPU rather than the Noctua’s ability to keep the chip cool. For lower TDP processors this may well be an overkill cooler, however you will certainly see some benefits when overclocking.
I highly recommend this produc
The largest and post powerful air cooler on the market.
Noctua really know how to handle a product and this is no exception; this cooler is a beast both in terms of size and cooling capabilities.
Being a water-cooler fan boy i was reluctant to swap to an air cooler but after much research and digging i found that this was the most ideal choice and i was not wrong! compared to my H115i water-cooler from corsair this handles the exact same loads with a fraction in temperature difference (the air cooler runs 1 degree hotter) but by purchasing this you are saving the hassle of water cooler cable management and the fear of a leaky system and nearly 70 in saving compared to the latest water-cooler.
On opening the box it was very clear to me this was another top quality product from Noctua. Inside the well designed box was the heatsink, 2 fans, various components for mounting the cooler to different motherboards, thermal paste, low noise adapters, Y-splitter cable and even a screwdriver! Being a Noctua product this also comes with a 6 year warranty but unless a fan unexpectedly dies it’s quite unlikely I’ll need to use the service. It also speaks volumes for Noctua’s confidence in their products though.
The first thing I noticed was the sheer size and weight of the cooler itself – it is absolutely massive and is also very heavy! I checked on Noctua’s compatibility page on their website for my motherboard and case to make sure it would fit. I would highly recommend doing that before you consider buying this cooler. Once installed, it will consume most of your motherboard.
Installation to the motherboard was surprisingly simple and didn’t take long at all. It was a little fiddly getting the PWM connectors plugged in before the heatsink and I needed to use some long nose pliers to assist me. The fins on the cooler feel quite sharp and the tops of the cooler also appear to be a bit of a fingerprint magnet! Once the heatsink was installed it felt very secure although I would definitely remove it if I was planning on transporting the PC anywhere.
The NF-A15 fans are excellent and are very quiet. Even at full speed they are far less intrusive than other fans out there. However, their colour scheme is definitely not to everyone’s taste and if your case has a glass/perspex lid then it may not play well with your colour scheme! You can now buy the NF-A15 HS PWM chromax black version of the fans but these are about 20 each which might be a bitter pill to swallow after forking out for the NH-D15 cooler.
The cooling performance for an air cooler is second to none and this will give AIO watercoolers a run for their money. This cooler shaved a good 10 degrees off a 7820X under load and the temperature issues that I ran into were more down to the poor TIM that Intel have used inside the CPU rather than the Noctua’s ability to keep the chip cool. For lower TDP processors this may well be an overkill cooler, however you will certainly see some benefits when overclocking.
I highly recommend this produc
Exceptional quality.
Everything about this screams quality. The build is exceptional. Opening the box is a delight, high quality and substantial packaging that even includes a screwdriver to help fit the mounting system.
I’ve used the NH-D14 cooler for the past three years and it has worked flawlessly. Quiet, yet extremely powerful. When upgrading my system I had no doubts about choosing Noctua.
Whilst it is pricey compared to other air cooling options, I doubt you’ll be disappointed. Be warned though, it is huge and you’ll need a decent sized case to house it.
NT-H1 thermal paste is also included, this sells for about 7 on it’s own.
I returned the item because it was too big to fit in my case… BUT performance was top notch (better than my KRAKEN X62, not even kidding…) If you’re buying this make sure it fits in your case, it’s larger than what most reviewers make it seem. Other than that it was a solid product. The fans on it were really silent, even at top speed. Came with good thermal grease, and was well packaged. Really bummed by it not fitting in my case. If it wasn’t a 200 pound case I would have kept it. It’s so good that I am writing a review for a product I’ve sent back.
Noctua NH-D15 Premium CPU Coole
Seriously surprised by the performance of this cooler. At load, my 7700k at 4.8Ghz reaches a maximum of 76C (ambient 28C) Huge step up in performance from my previous cooler, a Corsair H60 AIO. Managed to fit both fans inside my Fractal Design Define mini c with Crucial Ballistix Sport LT ram. However, this being my first big air cooler. I’ll admit that the installation process took a lot longer than I would have liked. To anyone who buys this cooler, I’d advice that you connect all top cables to your motherboard (fans, cpu power, etc) BEFORE installing the cooler.
Big and heavy but very quiet and great temps
This fan is amazingly quiet in operation. It is also amazingly big and heavy!
I need a quiet fan so that I can record audio without minimal background noise and this does the job.
Fitting was straight forward and it is supplied with a very good thermal compound as well as a couple of PCM cables (one of these is a splitter).
My CPU temperatures are almost the same as when I was water cooling which came as a very pleasant surprise!
All in all, if this case will fit in your case, this is a great option for a CPU fan.
i researched it first and it is pretty much the best air cooler out there
came quickly and what a piece of kit. i researched it first and it is pretty much the best air cooler out there. it was incredibly easy to install and is absolutely brilliant. one thing i would say is make sure you check the dimensions of your case, as this is a beast and will need a pretty big case to fit it in – however if it will fit, snap one up – and i would recommend buying from here as you’ll get it in no time.
Kept coming across this as a favourite. Temps are lower than i expected
Had a few problems with water cooling and needed another cooler fast. Kept coming across this as a favourite. Temps are lower than i expected, i didnt know what to expect going back to fan cooling. Very pleased and its very very silent. I cant hear my pc anymore. As somebody who doesnt overclock i recommend this cooler to everybody. Easy installation and is perfect.
Ultra high end air cooler keeps Intel i7 7700k (hot like tartarus on earth) idle at 25° - 30° C.
Ultra high end air cooler. I know there are new brands that are trully steping up the game like the BeQuiet and the Cryorig’s, etc. But if you don’t know which is the one for you, you don’t mind about RGB stuff, you don’t mind the Noctua color scheme and difference in the price tag, just go with the best.
Honestly, I went crazy for an entire week without knowing which one to buy. But at the moment you open the box all your concerns go away. Everything is in its own box, preventing damages, everything is ultra quality, you receive your own premium thermal paste, all tools needed.
Be notified: This cooler is H-U-G-E, I have an old CM 690II and with both coolers (one on top of the ram sticks) the side door is almost in touch with the heatsink pipes, it also might interfere with other coolers sitting around your desktop, and it will cover up the top part of your motherboard, so if you are building a new rig, you should have the motherboard in place, and all your cables already conected before trying to install this huge thing.
If you want a nearly silent PC, this is the air cooler for you.
Beats the AIO liquid coolers by a mile
I finally made the decision to buy this as my liquid cooler was failing and I see a massive drop in temps.
The only problem that this has is that it is huge and so you should make sure it fits your case.
The good news is that the front fan can be put higher if your ram profile is tall like mine.
Also, the installation was absolutely full proof and easy, much easier than my horrible Fractal Design Kelvin S36 cooler.
Literally the best cooler but giant.
Really excellent cooler. When it is on its lowest setting I couldn’t tell that it is on (my case is very quiet though).
I idle an 1800x at less than room temperature at around 25 degrees, it only gets to around 60 under temporary load which is excellent.
I find it a little ugly but the look is actually rather nice, makes no difference to me because of a closed case.
It is important to note it really is giant, check your case clearance.
IMPORTANT: If the fans are making weird buzzing noises, you need to position them correctly. DO NOT place a fan at the back of the heatsink. Place the fan on the front to push air through. Attach a fan on the left side to prevent it sucking in air and turbulence front the front.
PROS:
– Quieter and handles heat very well than a H60 water cooler.
– I get about 20-30*C at idle and less than 45*C in full load.
– It fits in mid towers and full towers.
– Excellent air flow.
– Premium quality and 6 years warranty.
– Includes a premium thermal pate NT-H1.
CONS:
– Difficult to install.
– Doesn’t fit vertically in mid towers. You must replace the front fan with a 120mm fan.
– Uses a lot of space.
Highly recommended!
Contents:
Intel and AMD mounts
Screws
NH-D15 heatsink with 2x 140mm fans
NT-H1 thermal paste
Manual
it creates a very annoying noise. So I've had no choice but leave ...
I got it to replace another third party air cooler that was half as expensive, and nowhere near the reputation of this one. I can honestly say that there was very little difference, maybe 2-3 degrees.
Also, if the fans are setup to push air into the radiator, it creates a very annoying noise. So I’ve had no choice but leave it in “pull” and only one fan, as the other wouldn’t fit in the top of my case.
Noctua NH-D15
Large but one of the best air-coolers out there. I used mine to replace a Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO. The Noctua has reduced my CPU temp by several degrees under load (gaming). Colour scheme isn’t something I’d have choosen, and it’s a shame you can’t get this with black fans. It’s very large, so you’ll want to check that your case can accomodate it. Now if only my case didn’t have a window on the side…
The daddy of all air coolers
This is the daddy of all air coolers, it’s absolutely massive. Whether you use 1 fan or 2 you’re best off buying this one as it’s MUCH cheaper than buying another fan later. I have 4 dimms installed and managed to keep the front fan by mounting it just above the dimm heatsinks and it is almost in contact with my side panel at the top. Anyone with a shallow case and 4 dimms installed will likely have to use only 1 fan. It is whisper quiet whilst gaming, I upgraded from an old Arctic A30 which made an unpleasant tone when the CPU was at 40-50 degrees, this you do not hear at all. I do not have either fan on a resistor, I’m using the PWM to control speeds via the BIOS.
Very glad I did as this performs incredibly well
This thing is incredible! I almost went with liquid cooling and instead opted for this as I have no experience with liquid cooling. Very glad I did as this performs incredibly well.
I have this paired with an I7-6700K and the temperatures are always very cool (around 24 celcius). Despite keeping it at these incredibly low temperatures, the fan is absolutely silent!
I would be wary of your case size though as this is VERY large, so make sure you check your measurements before buying it.
This is a tough one to recommend. I put this fan in a case that probably shouldn’t have taken it. It does JUST fit into a Corsair Carbide Series 200R and I have to say that I regret putting it in there because the next time I need to change something like the RAM I’m going to need to remove almost all the internals to get in there (motherboard and all).
If you’ve got a big enough case then this is a truly beautiful quiet and effective CPU cooler. But don’t push your luck. If you’re worried about it fitting there are plenty of smaller alternatives out there that are easily comparable in performance, cheaper, and far easier to work with.
Big but quiet - I'd say worth the money
In general I like it. It replaces my aging Corsair H80. I wouldn’t say that heatsink is bigger than good, old Megahalems, however fans are large :). When reading some reviews, people were praising the ease of assembly not to be found anywhere else. Well, from my point of view, nothing has been reinvented here and can’t see difference when compare with Megahalems again. Also, pretty much similar to the process of fixing pump to CPU. One thing I hated thou is fixing fans to fins, In my Coolermaster 690 II Adv I was struggling with getting my hand between casing top and heatsink. On a positive note, this system allows you to position fans slightly higher/lower and you are not limited to just one fan position.
Still unsure if I’d buy it again… time will tell if I should have gone with H110i 😉
The best big fan coole
This beast is easy to fit and and super quality. Brilliant modular packing/boxes within boxes all plain cardboard for better recycling. Comes with AMD and INTEL plus splitters, thermal paste and extender cables and the 2 big 140 mm fans. The fans can be mounted easily at different heights but check your case as it is big. I think you can also use 120 Noctua fans if you hit problems or just fit 1 fan but unlikely to be as efficient in cooling.
One slight negative is that I had to fit one fan higher than the other to sit above my RAM and so it does not look so perfect. And of course I don’t think anyone outside of Noctua like baby poo brown. But it fits and works and is nice and quiet and cool and a Eskimo in a fridge.
Pricey, but One Cool Dude!
This is a monster cooler but it cools very well. I have it running with both fans fitted on an Intel Core i7-6700 (not K version) and I can’t get the processor hotter than 48C – even when running benchmarking software. In normal use it meanders between the ambient temperature of the case and 45C at most when playing graphics-intensive pinball tables in Visual Pinball which also sets the graphics card fans whirring merrily too.
It needs a PC case with at least 170mm of clearance between motherboard/CPU and the top/side of the case (I have the Corsair Graphite 760T case and it JUST fits with around 8mm to spare) and you will need to fit low profile memory (<32mm high) if you want to use both fans. Even then, I had to move the end fan up around 4mm to clear the memory DIMMs underneath. I used Corsair Vengeance LPX DIMMs and they just fit underneath the end fan.
If you can't face the thought of water cooling (no, I couldn't either: to me, electricity and water don't make happy bedfellows - in spite of all the claims that modern water coolers don't leak) and have at least 170mm of space above your CPU, then this is the cooler to go for - period.
Installation is just about as simple as possible:having installed the processor, fit the rear plate and mounting bracket for your processor onto the motherboard (LGA115X, LGA2011 and AMD AM & FM series all supplied) to the motherboard. Apply a pea-sized blob thermal paste (also supplied) and then gently lower the cooler assembly onto the CPU and then locate the mounting screws into the threads on the cooler mounting bracket and screw firmly (but not too tightly) into place with the supplied angled screwdriver. Plug the fan connectors into the motherboard/cooling system (I use the Corsair Link Commander Mini) fan sockets and job done.
All you need comes with the cooler - including the thermal paste and the packaging is an art form in itself. The cooler and the packaging are very well designed and engineered.
The only minus point I found was that with my motherboard (Asus Z170-K) the NH-D15 overhangs the nearest PCI-E x1 slot, which is no deal-breaker as I don't need to use it, but be aware that you could lose one or more expansion slots.
Overall, the best air cooling a modern CPU can get.
Highly recommended for air cooling devotees.
with water cooling generally being known to have a better cooling capacity than its air cooled counterparts
Initially, I had thought air cooled heatsinks were being made redundant with water cooling components, I could not have been more wrong after realising just how capable the Noctua D15 is.
With its sheer size, bulk, and weight, it didn’t seem to make any sense to have these conventional heatsinks anymore, with water cooling generally being known to have a better cooling capacity than its air cooled counterparts.
This is a misconception and is proven from benchmarks that watercooling offer very little in terms of performance gains.
Much of the gains come from higher RPM fans that are often included in water cooled heatsinks.
Higher noise levels are attributed to higher RPM’s.
The D15 based on its spec sheet would indicate that this cooling unit should perform average at best due to its low static pressure fans.
This ironically doesn’t seem to be the case.
Temperatures seem to be equal if not better than water cooling equivalents of similar size.
Installation is very straight forward and simple. Cost is also lower than most water cooled heatsinks with similar performance.
Packaging is top notch.
The fan’s are some of the quietest around even when idle.
Bang for buck, the Noctua D15 is probably one of the best around.
Air cooled heatsinks are here to stay!
Awesome CPU cooler. Having used both air cooling and liquid cooling I can say confidently that it doesn’t get better than this. The heat sink is pretty big, but if you have space in your cage and you are not too bothered about the ugly Noctua colours don’t even think about it. If you are worried about the ram, the fans can be attached a bit higher so it should be ok, nevertheless make sure you check the height restrictions in the description of the product. The fans are super silent and my CPU runs at an average of 25 Celsius when idling.
Wow!
This is without doubt one of the best CPU air coolers around today. It’s huge but so easy to fit. Everything oozes quality even the packaging it comes in. It was very easy to install in fact a lot easier than my EVO 212 was and pretty much any other after market cooler I have put in.
The results well the cooling was so good I will simply skip to my final mess around I was so impressed with the temps that I lowered the fan speed to 50% so the fans were running at 845rpm and My i5 4670k which was overclocked from 3.4ghz to 4.2ghz still did not go over 57c while playing Tom Clancy’s The Division on max settings for 5 hours. I ran Prime95 and went for max heat test worst figure I could get was 64c. On stock speeds the i5 wouldn’t even go above 48c no matter how much I tried even with prime95.
The results are amazing the fact is on stock speeds I could run this at 25% fan speed which would mean I wouldn’t hear it at all and the thing wouldn’t bat an eyelid, Overclocked as mine is and at 50% fan speed I can hear my case fans more than the CPU ones and it is barely audible.
I simply have to give this 5 stars in everyway possible the only thing I would advise is make sure it fits your case/motherboard there is a compatibility list available from Noctua.
Bottom line is if you want the best CPU air cooled heat sink then this is it hands down.
Incredible performance
I wanted to cool my i5 4690k. And wow does this work. I have managed to overclock it to 4.6ghz from 3.5, with temperatures rising to no higher than 70 Celsius under prime 95 stress testing.
This keeps my OC’D CPU cooler than a friends corsair water cooled AMD chip.
Under heavy load the fans are just audible next to my ear, in a fractal design s case.
Obviously the fans are brown, but if you want performance over looks or you like the noctua look then this is a really great product.
The other issue is the size. It is a very bulky cooler, and one of the fans has to be raised slightly to allow for hyper x ram to fit. Not an issue in bigger cases but smaller cases will struggle to fit it!
This is a dual fan cooler but you can only use one if you prefer. It does come with both fans, and a splitter to help with cable management. All cables are sleeved in black, but they are quite stiff. This is a beast of a cooler, but at a premium price. If you have the money and space, this is a very good alternative to a custom water loop.
silent, not pretty, but deadly...
My Kraken X61 280MM was cool and fancy, but it failed after a while and the noise was equivalent to a hoover, this cooler is chunky funky and thats ok, because it does what its suppose to, no stupid tubes or water system to potentially damage your system, the noise on these fans? all I can say is I was constantly checking to see if the fans were actually on, my breathing is louder than these things and I havent even attached the Low noise cable either!
overall theres a reason they have a good reputation, im considering upgrading all my fans now to noctuas after this performance!
Buy it.... as long as you have room!
I don’t often post comments but this product definitely deserves it. I’m running a Athlon 6300 black edition. Using the stock cooler at stock speeds and playing Fallout 4 I’d often get CPU temps in the mid 40’s occasionally spiking to near 50C. After an hour of play with this cooler I’ve yet to hit 35C. I ran Prime95’s stress test for 10 mins and only saw a maximum temp or 31.8C.
Fitting this unit was simplicity itself, the instructions are clear and easy to follow. Just do yourself a favour and connect the CPU fan header before you attach the cooler. I was slightly worried about clearance as this cooler is huge but it fits easily in my case (Define R5) and the clearance from the GPU (Gigabyte GTX960 OC) is over 2cms (my Mobo is a Gigabyte 78LMT-USB3).
I bought this over a water cooled AIO as i’m not willing to take the (admittedly) small chance of leaking and the additional point of failure (the pump). It’s not cheap but it is damned good. As long as you have the room in your case don’t hesitate to buy this.
My overclocked, overvolted 6600k is sitting at room temperature despite multiple apps and CPU-Z’s stress test.
The cooler includes Secufirm 2 for Intel and AMD motherboards, a motherboard backplate which goes ontop of the stock backplate, thermal paste, two Noctua 140mm pressure optimized fans and a giant two radiator tower with vapor pipes. There are also two Noctua low-noise adapters which cause the fans to run at (I believe) 80% speed. For most Noctua fans this means 1200RPM standard. There is also a 4-pin cable splitter.
I didn’t bother with the low-noise adapters, as the fans are 4-pin and the CPU_fan header can be controller with software.
The paste isn’t the worlds greatest, but it is most certainly up there with the name brand pastes.
I would most certainly recommend this cooler. It rivals the performance of a H100i v2 or even Kraken x61. It wont be able to beat them out, but if this cooler fails you just have to replace a fan or heatsink, not your entire PC from liquid damage.
Noctua, you’ve done it again.
I was using a 240mm AiO water setup, but after a pump failure (6 months in) decided to go back to air!
Ive 3 points to make about this cooler.
The first is some clumsy design which could put many off. It seems to be driven around the use of 140mm fans. So the fans poke under and over the cooling fins which isnt great for efficiency. There is no real thought put into airflow, just throw as much air at as many fins as possible. Its not just an airflow issue however, the back fan will have to be raised which then prevents it fitting into many cases. My Zalman as a blown side which allows about 2mm clearance…
Next point is it is a very well made piece of kit. Id pay the asking price for the fans alone. And that fitting mechanism. Thats a joke, i dont build my own pc’s for an easy life. Come on Noctua, give us a challange.
The final point is it works. It out cools my 240mm AIO (just) and does so silently. My 4.44ghz 6700 maxes at 78c with 20c ambiant with the fans on minimum.
As we all know this a great cooler, it could do with a bit of an update to make it atleast look like its seen a windtunnel, its heavy, uses a lot of space and costs a bit. But it can be fitted in 4 seconds and it works. You can do a lot worse.
The review is split to a couple points:
– do you need it / who should buy it
– performance
– built quality
– extras out of the box
– assembling it
So scroll down to the topic of your interest if you don’t want to read it all
do you need it / who should buy it?
If you think of using the newest CPUs if Intel or AMD, it makes a lot of sense buying the NH-D15. I went with a BeQuiet Shadow Rock Slim, which was sufficient before. But highly powered CPUs need better cooling if you want to use them more efficiently. Don’t get me wrong, the BeQuiet cooler is still enough, but you will have to think of two things. First, for how long do I want to use my CPU? Longer than a couple of years? Then you need better cooling to ensure the performance to last by cooling the CPU sufficiently. Secondly, what do you want to do with it? High res gaming? Bit of overclocking but not willing to invest in a water cooling loop? Well… The best air cooler for CPUs is the NH-D15 so far. You can’t make anything wrong with that beast! I personally don’t trust the AIO water cooling solutions so far on the market to hand them my precious hardware to, although I thought about it for a long long time and nearly went for it. Hence, buying the best product in air cooling then is no question really. And if you don’t want to replace any pump, look out for leaking pipes, etc. AND want to be able to use that thing for more than a couple of years then this is a no-brainer. Durability is the key word here. You basically invest in a cooler which will most definitely run more than twice as long as AIO watercooling loops.
As for the performance:
In short it is cooling very well! Never reached levels above 70 degrees Celsius (prime95 included). Stress tests were not sweating this beast! NOW I have no doubts about the CPU being cooled enough and to be honest after having made stress tests and always having looked at temperature within the day, I have let it be as it never let me down on my expectations. Thus, I don’t feel the need to check the temperature anymore.
Noise wise I think it is known by now that noctua is first class in building silent, high performance fans. Yes, you hear the air being pressured in full speed mode, but come on! Physically it doesn’t seem to be possible to not hear a sound if you pressure air! And as I said, FULL SPEED! But just hearing air is something different than hearing the fan itself which doesn’t happen with noctua fans, but with most other. So conclusion noise wise: great, silent to no sound performance even at full load.
The built quality of noctua is also very well known and doesn’t have to be further mentioned I guess. Very well built, quality material all over. The lamellae are very quality made as well as the heat pipes and the CPU heat plate conductor. Simply put: great quality!
Extras out of the box
It comes with a second fan, screws, backplate, thermal paste, instructions for all of AMD AM boards and Intel 115 and 2011 boards AND (which is simply great) a screwdriver which is the most useful one in the world! Noctua simply knows about problems in assembling such a beast! Further you get low noise cables (called L.N.A. look it up if you don’t know what it is) and a y-cable to get to fans into one fan header on the mainboard. So a lot of extras… Great packaging and great quality all over here as well.
Assembling it is tricky IF you have a midi case like me (fractal design define r4) but it could be much worse if noctua didn’t send the tools and made assembling it simple via its backplate. IF you have a midi tower it might be quiet tight with the roof fans when assembling it. Also I had to get the graphics card out of the way in the process. But as I said it is very easy to assemble, I made my life a bit harder when doing it anyway. After the beast is assembled there is enough space for everything so NO WORRIES! you will get your roof fans and the upper slot for you graphics still fit into that. But again: noctua made it very easy to install.
So all in all a GREAT PIECE OF HARDWARE NOCTUA! Again perfectly executed guys!
The review is split to a couple points:
– do you need it / who should buy it
– performance
– built quality
– extras out of the box
– assembling it
So scroll down to the topic of your interest if you don’t want to read it all
do you need it / who should buy it?
If you think of using the newest CPUs if Intel or AMD, it makes a lot of sense buying the NH-D15. I went with a BeQuiet Shadow Rock Slim, which was sufficient before. But highly powered CPUs need better cooling if you want to use them more efficiently. Don’t get me wrong, the BeQuiet cooler is still enough, but you will have to think of two things. First, for how long do I want to use my CPU? Longer than a couple of years? Then you need better cooling to ensure the performance to last by cooling the CPU sufficiently. Secondly, what do you want to do with it? High res gaming? Bit of overclocking but not willing to invest in a water cooling loop? Well… The best air cooler for CPUs is the NH-D15 so far. You can’t make anything wrong with that beast! I personally don’t trust the AIO water cooling solutions so far on the market to hand them my precious hardware to, although I thought about it for a long long time and nearly went for it. Hence, buying the best product in air cooling then is no question really. And if you don’t want to replace any pump, look out for leaking pipes, etc. AND want to be able to use that thing for more than a couple of years then this is a no-brainer. Durability is the key word here. You basically invest in a cooler which will most definitely run more than twice as long as AIO watercooling loops.
As for the performance:
In short it is cooling very well! Never reached levels above 70 degrees Celsius (prime95 included). Stress tests were not sweating this beast! NOW I have no doubts about the CPU being cooled enough and to be honest after having made stress tests and always having looked at temperature within the day, I have let it be as it never let me down on my expectations. Thus, I don’t feel the need to check the temperature anymore.
Noise wise I think it is known by now that noctua is first class in building silent, high performance fans. Yes, you hear the air being pressured in full speed mode, but come on! Physically it doesn’t seem to be possible to not hear a sound if you pressure air! And as I said, FULL SPEED! But just hearing air is something different than hearing the fan itself which doesn’t happen with noctua fans, but with most other. So conclusion noise wise: great, silent to no sound performance even at full load.
The built quality of noctua is also very well known and doesn’t have to be further mentioned I guess. Very well built, quality material all over. The lamellae are very quality made as well as the heat pipes and the CPU heat plate conductor. Simply put: great quality!
Extras out of the box
It comes with a second fan, screws, backplate, thermal paste, instructions for all of AMD AM boards and Intel 115 and 2011 boards AND (which is simply great) a screwdriver which is the most useful one in the world! Noctua simply knows about problems in assembling such a beast! Further you get low noise cables (called L.N.A. look it up if you don’t know what it is) and a y-cable to get to fans into one fan header on the mainboard. So a lot of extras… Great packaging and great quality all over here as well.
Assembling it is tricky IF you have a midi case like me (fractal design define r4) but it could be much worse if noctua didn’t send the tools and made assembling it simple via its backplate. IF you have a midi tower it might be quiet tight with the roof fans when assembling it. Also I had to get the graphics card out of the way in the process. But as I said it is very easy to assemble, I made my life a bit harder when doing it anyway. After the beast is assembled there is enough space for everything so NO WORRIES! you will get your roof fans and the upper slot for you graphics still fit into that. But again: noctua made it very easy to install.
So all in all a GREAT PIECE OF HARDWARE NOCTUA! Again perfectly executed guys!
Big and bulky!
As big and bulky as it gets. I bought it for convenience since I started to use my AIO cooler for my GPU and never had to worry about cpu temperature ([email protected] Ghz) because only at stress test does it hit ~70-78 degrees (at 800 RPM) and using handbrake it never breaks 70 C, gaming — 50-60 C. Installation is super easy, and those who worry about ram clearance can be at ease, my ram stick have tall heat-sinks and still have lots of clearance (just have to use double pull fan setup). Overall great premium (very much so) product. Btw packaging is superb (not just great), it is pretty much impossible to get it damaged during shipping.
Noctua NH-D15 "Brilliant BUY IT"
Simply Put this is a stunning cpu cooler I got a drop of 20c from my previous Prolimatech Red Megahalems CPU Cooler that equated to a 400mhz gain on my overclock under identical conditions apart from the cooler itself install was quite easy but be prepared to remove your top graphics card to clip the fans on In size comparison between the two units its around the same height of the Prolimatech but obviously wider if you are unsure about it fitting just check on Noctua’s website as there is a comprehensive list of motherboards it fits mine was listed so I ordered with confidence and it fits fine
Superb purchase
I am really happy with this purchase.
Best cooler. I downgraded from watercooling. Best decision.
You don’t hear no noise at all. I am so shocked. Why I didn’t buy before?
So easy to install as well. I followed youtube guide.
Only downside for me was for my gpu MSI LIGHTNING GTX. It’s light getting in the way of nhd15. But its okay. It’s not major.
I am looking to add one more fan into this baby
Absolute beast of a heatsink.
Absolute beast of a heatsink. Takes up a huge amount of space in my case and weighs a ton. You literally cannot hear it working, even on full load on an overclocked CPU, it’s pretty much silent unless you put your head right inside your computer. Temperatures are fantastic, and it was relatively easy to attach it. Only downsides are the weight and size, but if you don’t care about that and just want a silent PC that’s also overclocked, then forget about watercooling, all you need is this badboy. I spent five minutes just laughing at how ridiculously huge it was before installing it. I get about 50 degrees C with it on full load on my overclocked 6600K, NICE!
You are gonna need a big case for this one! In my case I was using a Fractal Design Define R5 Black ATX Midtower Silent PC Computer Case and fits just perfect.
Now, that said, have in mind that this is an air cooling system, therefore it has to have a certain size to dissipate as much heat as it can. And it does so, and in a really silent way. The big heat-sinks alongside the two 140 mm fans works perfectly.
Installation is really easy. It comes with everything necessary to use it with Intel or AMD so whatever your choice is you have everything you need. It comes with the multi socket mounting tool (so don’t need to bother buying additional hardware) and also thermal paste. Now installation as I said is really easy but you wanna make sure about a couple of things:
– Your RAM should be low profile. Otherwise make sure you have enough room in your case as the fan that goes just on top of the RAM can be placed more high to leave space for the RAM.
– If you are thinking of doing 2 way SLI you might wanna double check whether it will fit or not. In my personal case this cooling system is blocking one of the PCI express slots, so make sure you take the dimension of this into consideration.
That said this a really good quality heatsink, very silent, gets the job done and quite important, it comes with 6 year warranty. All of it at a really good price!
You are gonna need a big case for this one! In my case I was using a Fractal Design Define R5 Black ATX Midtower Silent PC Computer Case and fits just perfect.
Now, that said, have in mind that this is an air cooling system, therefore it has to have a certain size to dissipate as much heat as it can. And it does so, and in a really silent way. The big heat-sinks alongside the two 140 mm fans works perfectly.
Installation is really easy. It comes with everything necessary to use it with Intel or AMD so whatever your choice is you have everything you need. It comes with the multi socket mounting tool (so don’t need to bother buying additional hardware) and also thermal paste. Now installation as I said is really easy but you wanna make sure about a couple of things:
– Your RAM should be low profile. Otherwise make sure you have enough room in your case as the fan that goes just on top of the RAM can be placed more high to leave space for the RAM.
– If you are thinking of doing 2 way SLI you might wanna double check whether it will fit or not. In my personal case this cooling system is blocking one of the PCI express slots, so make sure you take the dimension of this into consideration.
That said this a really good quality heatsink, very silent, gets the job done and quite important, it comes with 6 year warranty. All of it at a really good price!
Great Heatsink!
Excellent Product. Well designed and packaged. A bit more expensive than other options but I feel like i got my moneys worth.
I fitted this into a Corsair 330R Quiet Mid Tower Case, onto an Asus z97 Deluxe motherboard. My RAM is high so I could not fit the additional fan over the ram. To get around this I fitted the two fans against the two towers pulling air through them. This meant one of them was in the middle and one is at the back of the case exhausting air straight out. Might not work for everyone but is working great for me.
Very happy with this product. Thanks Noctua 🙂
Much quieter than the Corsair H100i water-cooler it replaced.
Very nicely made and packaged.
Make sure though that you configure your motherboard BIOS to 4-pin PWM output. Doing so dropped the slowest fan speed from about 700 rpm to 250 rpm which is virtually inaudible.
Make sure your case has enough space. With my tall DDR3 memory I did not have space to fit the second fan, although with only one fan it performs well even during gaming.
Fabulous cooler, better than water cooling.
What can I say? Excellent product, delivered earlier than expected, easy to install, works like a charm. Only negative is that it blocks the 1st PCI-E slot on my Maximus V-Gene board. Installed on a LGA 1155 chipset.
Replaced the Kuhler h20 920 which was woefully disappointing as a water cooler and a pain to install and remove the backplate.
Compared to installing that, this product was exceptionally easy to install. Being easy to install is vital for a cooler, for effective thermal paste application and dispersal. The backplate easily fastens into place. The mounting brackets can be aligned to install vertically or horizontally so that the fins don’t impede your ram. I use very tall dominator ram and have plenty of space on the nearest ram slot, clearing the fins by a centimetre or so. Not enough room to attach a fan to the front fins and still clear the ram though. Had to raise the fan slightly, and the cooler itself is very tall. But luckily I have a huge case and it just about fit.
Performance wise, I have around 25-30 degrees idle and about 40-50 under load, compared to the Kuhler h20 920, which was around 30-40 idle and 50-60 + under load (The temps for both coolers are monitored using the AI Suite temp sensor, not CoreTemp, so results may vary).
Fabulous product that in my mind sets the benchmark. Highly recommended.
Overall well worth the money.
Having had positive experiences with their case fans over the years, and after a faulty Corsair H110i GT which has put me off AIO coolers for the foreseeable, I decided this beast was the one that should be given the task of cooling my i7 6700k.
Everything about this product screams class. The packaging is first rate with nothing cluttered or rattling around and every single box clearly labelled. The attention to little details – such as the provision of a screwdriver in the accessories box – is extremely noteworthy. The instructions are clear, non ambiguous, with a level of detail such that my 6 year old was able to describe to me exactly what the next step was.
When you finally open up the box containing the heatsink / fan combination, the sheer size of the unit takes you by surprise unless you’ve seen one before. It is enormous, make no mistake. Despite the size, fitting was a breeze thanks to a functional mounting kit. Noctua supply their own thermal compound but I opted to go with my favourite, Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut. You have to remove the centre fan to screw it into place but this is not a problem as the fan is held on by metal clips which are a cinch to replace. The additional fan is attached at the front of the heatsink via the same style clips. One point that may be of interest here is that Noctua state this cooler is compatible with 32mm RAM due to the fan placement, yet I can confirm the compatibility range is better than that due to the adjustable way the fan clips on. I am running G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series RAM modules that are about 40mm and I have adjusted the fan accordingly to accommodate these. Really impressive. One word of caution: If you are considering this option, please ensure you have clearance in your case as it does make the cooler taller than stated (sounds obvious but sometimes it can be easily overlooked).
In terms of cooling, I’m running the 6700k in turbo mode (4.2Ghz) and idling at 22, with as near to silence as you’ll ever get from both fans. Under load it doesn’t budge much, or often, past 45. Noise under load from the fans does increase as you would expect, but they are still unable to be heard over the increased sound made by my other 4 case fans (also Noctua range). This solution runs rings around my pre-AIO cooling solution for 2700k, the CoolerMaster Hyper 212 Evo. Some people may rightly say it should do give then price premium, but the difference in quality for is there for all to see; night and day difference in my opinion.
I can’t recommend this product highly enough. If your case and build specification allows for this cooler to fit, you don’t mind the signature Noctua colours (I personally love them), and you can justify the expense, you simply will not be disappointed.
Having had positive experiences with their case fans over the years, and after a faulty Corsair H110i GT which has put me off AIO coolers for the foreseeable, I decided this beast was the one that should be given the task of cooling my i7 6700k.
Everything about this product screams class. The packaging is first rate with nothing cluttered or rattling around and every single box clearly labelled. The attention to little details – such as the provision of a screwdriver in the accessories box – is extremely noteworthy. The instructions are clear, non ambiguous, with a level of detail such that my 6 year old was able to describe to me exactly what the next step was.
When you finally open up the box containing the heatsink / fan combination, the sheer size of the unit takes you by surprise unless you’ve seen one before. It is enormous, make no mistake. Despite the size, fitting was a breeze thanks to a functional mounting kit. Noctua supply their own thermal compound but I opted to go with my favourite, Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut. You have to remove the centre fan to screw it into place but this is not a problem as the fan is held on by metal clips which are a cinch to replace. The additional fan is attached at the front of the heatsink via the same style clips. One point that may be of interest here is that Noctua state this cooler is compatible with 32mm RAM due to the fan placement, yet I can confirm the compatibility range is better than that due to the adjustable way the fan clips on. I am running G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series RAM modules that are about 40mm and I have adjusted the fan accordingly to accommodate these. Really impressive. One word of caution: If you are considering this option, please ensure you have clearance in your case as it does make the cooler taller than stated (sounds obvious but sometimes it can be easily overlooked).
In terms of cooling, I’m running the 6700k in turbo mode (4.2Ghz) and idling at 22, with as near to silence as you’ll ever get from both fans. Under load it doesn’t budge much, or often, past 45. Noise under load from the fans does increase as you would expect, but they are still unable to be heard over the increased sound made by my other 4 case fans (also Noctua range). This solution runs rings around my pre-AIO cooling solution for 2700k, the CoolerMaster Hyper 212 Evo. Some people may rightly say it should do give then price premium, but the difference in quality for is there for all to see; night and day difference in my opinion.
I can’t recommend this product highly enough. If your case and build specification allows for this cooler to fit, you don’t mind the signature Noctua colours (I personally love them), and you can justify the expense, you simply will not be disappointed.
Top Quality Product!!
I was scared of purchasing a cpu that seemed so much complicated to install. After getting tired of seeing my PC’s idle temps averaging around 50c to 55c I had had enough and started searching on the forums. Almost every review had this cooler beating or equalling the performance of some known AIO water coolers. I am glad I made the decision to go for this cooler instead of the AIO since this cooler is crazy quiet while keeping my cpu temp around 26c to 30c!! That’s almost half the average temps I was getting with the Intel fan!!
Installation was very easy except for the part where I had to plug in the fan connector to the CPU Fan slot. Just try to plug it in before installing this cooler but since this was my first ever after market fan installation so I guess live and learn. Installing would’ve been much quicker had I opted for taking out the motherboard out of the case but I didn’t. I have a Corsair Carbide 200R case and it barely fits inside it. Just less than half inch space between the cooler and the side panel, so if you have this case then keep that in mind. I have an Asus Maximus Formula VI motherboard btw so YMMV.
I’ve had a liquid cooler for 3 years, worked fine although a little noisy. In the past month my temperatures at idle and under load have been concerning. In the past week I was hitting 45 – 50 idle and 100 under load (WOW, World Of Tanks). Something had to be done, so I did some reading and watched various reviews. I was settled on a new liquid cooler but it turned out unless I was buying something like a H100 (not a great fit for my case as the top fan has a 20mm depth allowance) everything pointed towards that an air cooled one would be better than a H60 or H80.
Case – Corsair 600T
MB – ASUS Sabertooth Z77
RAM – Corsair Vengeance (high profile)
This entire cleaning and installing process is new to me, I had this computer built years ago for me, so this should tell you how user friendly this product is.
Credit to the screwdriver that Noctua provide, it’s really long and worked perfect for getting my old cooler out and installing the D15.
Everything is packaged very neatly into individual boxes, heatsink, fan, AMD socket, INTEL socket, extras.
I took out my liquid cooler and the socket, cleaned up the previous thermal paste.
I followed the Noctua instruction sheet for INTEL installation exactly as directed.
I attached the back plate and then put the two front pieces onto this and placed the screws to hold it all together. before applying any paste I did a few test fits so I knew what would happen and also what I would need to do once the paste is on. I applied a small pea sized amount of paste and slowly lowered the heatsink onto the two front pieces where it could house into two raised screws. I then used the long screwdriver to tighten each of the two screws, doing a bit on each one until they were complete tight (i.e I didn’t tighten one all the way down and then the other).
Because of the design on the D15 you can get away with high profile RAM (tall), but you will need to place the fan out more so it sits above the RAM whilst blowing air onto the heatsink.
i7 3770k 3.5 overclocked to 4.2
Idle – 22c
Load – 50c
If I run into any issues I shall update this review but so far things have been perfectly fine.
I’ve had a liquid cooler for 3 years, worked fine although a little noisy. In the past month my temperatures at idle and under load have been concerning. In the past week I was hitting 45 – 50 idle and 100 under load (WOW, World Of Tanks). Something had to be done, so I did some reading and watched various reviews. I was settled on a new liquid cooler but it turned out unless I was buying something like a H100 (not a great fit for my case as the top fan has a 20mm depth allowance) everything pointed towards that an air cooled one would be better than a H60 or H80.
Case – Corsair 600T
MB – ASUS Sabertooth Z77
RAM – Corsair Vengeance (high profile)
This entire cleaning and installing process is new to me, I had this computer built years ago for me, so this should tell you how user friendly this product is.
Credit to the screwdriver that Noctua provide, it’s really long and worked perfect for getting my old cooler out and installing the D15.
Everything is packaged very neatly into individual boxes, heatsink, fan, AMD socket, INTEL socket, extras.
I took out my liquid cooler and the socket, cleaned up the previous thermal paste.
I followed the Noctua instruction sheet for INTEL installation exactly as directed.
I attached the back plate and then put the two front pieces onto this and placed the screws to hold it all together. before applying any paste I did a few test fits so I knew what would happen and also what I would need to do once the paste is on. I applied a small pea sized amount of paste and slowly lowered the heatsink onto the two front pieces where it could house into two raised screws. I then used the long screwdriver to tighten each of the two screws, doing a bit on each one until they were complete tight (i.e I didn’t tighten one all the way down and then the other).
Because of the design on the D15 you can get away with high profile RAM (tall), but you will need to place the fan out more so it sits above the RAM whilst blowing air onto the heatsink.
i7 3770k 3.5 overclocked to 4.2
Idle – 22c
Load – 50c
If I run into any issues I shall update this review but so far things have been perfectly fine.
OK I’m going to start with my setup as this is a huge cooler and any help I can give I think will help anyone! ASUS M5A97 R2.0 motherboard, AMD FX8350 4.0GHZ cpu (arctic mx4 thermal paste), 2X 4GIG FX HYPERFURY DDR3 RAM, PALIT GTX970 reference gpu and a corsair RM850 gold edition power supply all installed in a NZXT phantom410, The cooler is fantastic can’t tell you the ambient temperature of the room but my cpu at idle went from 42 degrees Celsius with a cooler master hyper 212 (which is a fantastic cooler) to 37 degrees Celsius for NH-D15 Fitting could not of been easier, but it does require the standard mounting backplate from the stock cooler. fans are silent with no more than a hum at full 100% running! Now I love this cooler BUT if I had a slightly smaller case or slightly higher profile ram, it would fit but I would have to take off the fan to the right as it sits on top of the ram and hard up against the window of the case, so any ram I want to add/remove I will have to remove to cooler 1st, also as the cooler sits so close to the top of the case it is kind of necessary to remove the top panel (on this case anyway) to secure the fans properly. it doesn’t cover the 1st pci slot but it is close. I have attached pictures for as much help as I can give, Please keep your opinions of my pc to yourself good or bad as this is a review of the cooler nothing more! any questions I will answer as best I can
Overall 5/5 easy install, great performance, looks good and near silent operation!
BUT do some homework due to the size check you case and RAM
SIze details here
http://www.noctua.at/main.php?show=productview&products_id=68&lng=en&set=1
compatability
http://www.noctua.at/main.php?show=compatibility_gen&products_id=68&lng=e
Utterly Brilliant! I purchased this for a music production PC where recording takes place in the same room as the PC so low noise is essential. I have this installed on a 2011v3 5820k. On testing and under normal operation there is no audible noise from outside the computer case, only when the fans are ramped up with overclocking can the gentle noise of moving air be noticed.
This unit is big – massive!. It fit on to the 2011v3 cpu very easily. However, installation was not quite as hoped as I couldn’t fit the second fan on to the heat sink due to the motherboard mounted memory being an obstruction. Not to worry, I’ve placed the ‘now’ spare fan on top of the fanless CPU providing a very gentle air circulation.
Despite it’s size and the fact the second fan didn’t fit my motherboard layout, I still think think this heatsink is the best thing since sliced bread.
Utterly Brilliant! I purchased this for a music production PC where recording takes place in the same room as the PC so low noise is essential. I have this installed on a 2011v3 5820k. On testing and under normal operation there is no audible noise from outside the computer case, only when the fans are ramped up with overclocking can the gentle noise of moving air be noticed.
This unit is big – massive!. It fit on to the 2011v3 cpu very easily. However, installation was not quite as hoped as I couldn’t fit the second fan on to the heat sink due to the motherboard mounted memory being an obstruction. Not to worry, I’ve placed the ‘now’ spare fan on top of the fanless CPU providing a very gentle air circulation.
Despite it’s size and the fact the second fan didn’t fit my motherboard layout, I still think think this heatsink is the best thing since sliced bread.
25v whilst remaining very cool during stress tests
Running i7 4790k @ 4.6GHz at 1.25v whilst remaining very cool during stress tests.
Significantly better than my water CPU cooler (Antec 920). I found my water cooling system really limited the airflow through the case due to the radiator and in result all temperatures increased! I can confirm all my hard drives run 10C lower which is insane!
Noctua NH-D15 is the quietest and coolest air cooler on the marke
This is by far the best air Cooler in the world for your Desktop PC.
My spec:
Intel I7 4790K 4.0GHz
ASUS ROG MAXIMUS VII HERO Intel Z97 Motherboard
G.Skill TridentX 32GB DDR3 2400MHz
Noctua NH-D15 CPU Cooler
Corsair AX 850 PSU
Fractal Design Define Black Pearl R5 Mid Tower
ASUS GTX 770 DirectCU II OC 2 GB
Samsung SSD 850 Pro 512gb
Samsung SSD 840 Pro 256gb
Windows 8.1 Pro 64bit
Benq 24 inch monitor (1920×1080)
You won’t find a better cooler and it beats most liquid coolers on the market! See benchmarks: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/zalman-reserator-3-max-dual-nzxt-kraken-x61-noctua-nh-d15,review-33085-5.html
Idle on my PC i was getting 26c to 30c, while gaming 60C bearing in mind that my i7 4790k is overclocked already to 4.8ghz!
I upgraded from a horrible Artic Freezer 13 cooler which didn’t give me enough clearance for my ram.
The Noctua NH D15 is the quietest and coolest cooler I have ever used!
Very quie
This cooler is very quiet. At full speed you can hear the fans but not in a noisy way, in a polite way. I replaced a closed loop H100i and the difference is obvious. It’s an unfair comparison to say the H100i is noisy as I was forced to fit it to a top vent due to pipe length and the Noctua is internal only so this proably affects noise level.
Having both devices though and if I had to choose again this would win every time.
Also if you do buy this look closer at the extremely well made packaging as you will find a screwdriver for installation. I didn’t and used my own which was fine but I did have a face palm moment when I realised.
Ridiculously quiet and cool
Absolutely impeccable CPU cooler. Quieter and just as cool as most CLCs until you go up to a much higher price. When I first booted up I thought I hadn’t plugged the fans in as it is so quiet. Running it on a 5820k at 4.8GHz and it hasn’t gone over 55 degrees even running AIDA64.
If you don’t have a window on your case, don’t care how your PC guts look or actually like Noctua’s colour scheme then get this cooler. Buying an overpriced corsair AIO watercooler is just silly when this exists
(Bear in mind that using both fans can obstruct your RAM slots so when using it on a motherboard with RAM slots at both sides of the CPU socket you will need to buy low profile memory, like Corsair’s LPX series, use only one of the included fans or orient the cooler differently)
To start with I received this product as expected the next day along with a handful of Noctua NF-A14 ULN fans. Upon opening you are presented with the box you know you are in for a treat, with packaging that oozes quality.
If you are reading this review its likely you have done some research and will already know this is a seriously massive cooler, something which cannot be pointed out enough. Noctua have a compatibility guide on their site which lists the compatibility of this cooler with various motherboards, something which I recommend you check as a starting point at least (http://www.noctua.at/main.php?show=compatibility_gen&products_id=68&lng=en)
Even after checking motherboard compatability You will likely find there is some clearance issues with the RAM if you have anything but low profile or ones with large heatsinks. You can however set the initial intake fan up at a slightly higher height to accommodate the ram, but will need to be mindful of coming up against your cases side panel. I have Corsair Vengeance ram, which has a fairly tall heat spread and as a result the initial intake fan has had to be raised to accommodate the RAM. As a result it means some air from the front fan does not go through the heatsink, which although annoying is no fault of the product.
Now my main reason for buying this cooler was to help reduce the noise signature of my machine. Prior to this I had the Corsair H80 Closed loop water cooler and even on its lowest settings the noise quality itself, rather the the loudness was very irritating. With this cooler, I can hear more noise from leaves rustling outside my window compared with my PC sitting 50 cms away, it is VERY quiet (yes not the most scientific measurement I know), and this is without using the included resistor cables.
In terms of temperatures I am seeing some phenomenal results. I have a 4790K chip (at stock) which idles at around 27c and with 100% load stress testing lasting an hour going up to around 57c. If I set my case fans (8 of them) to max this can lower to around 54c but I prefer the near silence. In comparison with my H80 I was getting 32c at idle loads and 73c-78c 100% load stress tests.
For myself I have no negative negative points to say about this product and it performs far better than I expected. it certainly meets my reason for purchase of having a almost silent PC. This along with the additional Noctua NF-A14 fans which I replaced my stock fans with have made me a Noctua convert! The only point to pause for some people may be the colour scheme which may not be for everyone (Brown and Beige), but for me the performance was a higher factor.
An actual monument to cooling efficiency. Perfection embodied, if you can fit it into your rig..
This is an absolute beast of a CPU cooler. If your rig can accept the generous dimensions of the two metal towers, and you can seat it well on the CPU, you’ll revel at the degree of cooling available to you. The fans shipped with this cooler are phenomenal as well. Get them both on there if you have the room, in a push-pull arrangement, and take photos of the assembled motherboard before you put the whole lot gently into your case. You’ll want them for posterity, and just to show all your nerdy friends exactly how it is you personally achieve overkill.
My CPU (an i7 4790K) stays cool at idle, and, even at load, never heats up to uncomfortable levels. All my cooling needs are met by Noctua products, with a couple of Fractal Design case fans in the mix as well. The whole system is inaudible, with only a slight whisper that can be heard while gaming with maxed-out settings at 1440p. This cooler is the absolute business. For the record, Noctua’s after-sales support seems excellent (not that I needed them: just wanted to check a couple of things). Careful when installing this badboy though, as those myriad metal fins that give you that wonderfully huge thermal exchange interface do tend to have sharp edges. It does seem fitting that something that giveth so much doth also take away, though. Also, your RAM may need to be of reasonably low profile if it is going to sit under the cooler without getting in the way.
In summary: yes, it’s expensive, impressively heavy, and could limit your choices of case, RAM, and maybe even other components.. and you’ll need photographic evidence of how nuts your computer (or personality) has become, but you absolutely get what you pay for, and if you can figure out how to physically accommodate this cooler, you’ll be handsomely rewarded.
Quiet and fairly easy to fi
I wanted a large quiet cooler to go into a Fractal Design R4 case, with an MSI Gaming 7 motherboard and G Skill RAM. It does cover one of the RAM slots (so you must put this in before fitting the fan) and it covers a card slot too. However there were no problems in making everything go together.
It is very quiet at idle and yes you can hear it as it spins up but the sound itself is quite pleasant. It is no screech or whine.
Assembling is fairly easy although working out which way the flans were blowing was no obvious from the instructions. However it camje with everything that was required to fit it. Just make sure when you fit it, to twist the cooler when it first makes contact with the CPU. This helps spread the thermal paste a bit, of which you need only very little.
However this is a LARGE fan which not everyone will find fits their case. But Noctua’s website is excellent at listing compatibility.