NOCTUA NH-D15

The Incredible Noctua NH-D15

Price: $99.99

Website: NOCTUA

It seems like an eternity since I last reviewed a traditional air cooler here at TheOverclocker. Given the overwhelming success of AIO units in the medium to high end desktop markets, there’s perhaps no reason for any enthusiast to consider anything else. After all, these traditional CPU coolers tend to not only be bulky, but can pose some compatibility problems in addition to not performing as well.


These are criticisms we could claim about the NH-D15 as well save for the performance. I would warn you to not disregard the D15 just yet. Despite all the inconveniences for enthusiasts and overclockers, there’s a lot of merit to going with a more traditional cooler than an AIO cooler. In the case of the D15, the single biggest reason is performance. With the previous D14, NOCTUA had set the bar for high end CPU coolers, not only in performance but in the noise levels as well. The D14 offered the best CPU cooling at the time with the lowest noise levels. In fact it still remains a firm favorite for many enthusiasts to this day. With such a successful product, it was always going to be difficult for the NH-D15 to improve on what we already considered the best CPU cooler on the market. I knew already that the NH-D15 is a fantastic cooler and thus didn’t compare it with a host of obviously inferior products from several vendors. We instead measured it against what we consider the best custom liquid cooling kit on the market today, the EKWB X360 and the identically priced, Cooler Master Seidon 240M. Before we get to the performance however, Specifications!

NH-D14 vs. NH-D15

Height: 160mm vs. 165mm

Width: 140mm vs. 150mm

Depth: 158mm vs. 161mm

Weight: 1240g vs. 1320g

Max Fan Speed: 1300~ vs. 1500~

As you can tell, the D15 is larger than the D14 in every way. It isn’t obvious in isolation but if you had to put the two next to each other you’d easily the see the difference. What is of interest as well is that the fans have received a boost as well gaining about 200 RPM. These newer NF=A15 fans may spin faster but they aren’t necessarily louder at all, courtesy of what NOCTUA calls it’s SSO2 bearings. From NOCTUA themselves,

“SSO2 is the further optimized second generation of SSO. Made possible by the use of metal bearing shells and new injection moulding techniques, the magnet is now placed closer to the rotor axis and thus exerts higher magnetic force to it. This results in even better stabilization, precision and durability.”

What this means in practical terms is pretty obvious and you need not worry about failing fans anytime soon. In fact if the 6 year warranty is anything to do by, we are pretty certain that NOCTUA has nothing but confidence I not only their Heat sink but the fans as well. Not a bad thing given that this CPU cooler retails for a cool $100. Spread out over the supposed 6 year life span, it’s inexpensive for the kind of workmanship and performance it delivers as you’ll see shortly. First however, let’s have a look at some pictures

D15 Box packaging  Component list 2

Packaging is as you would expect from NOCTUA, simple but very secure and durable.

Close up of base  Brilliant Finish

The finish on the base is nothing short of excellent. There’s no lapping needed here or warranted. It doesn’t get much better than this.

Test Configuration

• INTEL Core i7 5960X @ Default and 4500MHz
• CPU Voltage set to default and fixed to 1.25V for 4500MHz
• ASUS X99-A
• MSI GTX 980 GAMING 4GD
• CORSAIR AX1500i PSU
• Windows 7 64-Bit
• Ambient Room temperature: 25’C

I allowed the CPU thermal paste to settle while looping Wprime at a higher than required voltage of 1.35V at 4GHz. This sped up the process and allowed us to get more representative results of the performance in a typical system where it would continue to perform better as the air gaps were filled between the heat spreader and the base of the heat sink. I intentionally used the 5960X instead of the 4790K simply because it generates significantly more heat, thus cooling capacity really does determine maximum stable overclocks. Lesser coolers will not be able to maintain this overclocked frequencies as the CPU will generate errors at temperatures above the 80’C on this particular sample.

Performance

Idle Performance

Load Performance

Well the results speak for themselves. The NH-D15 is more than capable of cooling the very hot 5960X under normal and overclocked conditions. Indeed, overclocks are dependent on the specific CPU, but with this one, the cooler proved more than capable of handling the added heat. In comparison to the X360, it may not look impressive, but look at the results against a very capable Seidon 240M which delivers the kind of performance that’s typical of a mid to level AIO unit. There’s really nothing between the two at all and where it counts the NH-D15 edges out the Seidon 240M. It also happens that the Seidon 240M sells at the exact price as the NH-D15. To the D15’s advantage though, it has the added benefit of cooling you motherboard’s VRM and memory as well.

Conclusion

For $100 there aren’t any All in One liquid coolers that I’m aware of that can convincingly claim to offer better cooling performance than the NH-D15. You may very well be able to get single 120 and even 140mm radiator solutions at a lower price, but I can almost guarantee you that they don’t offer better cooling. Overall I’m left with a very positive impression with the D15. The workmanship and quality of just about everything is impeccable. Many competing vendors could stand to learn from this caliber of workmanship. From packaging right down to the screws necessary for assembly, it’s all immaculate and gives the impression of being a lot more than $100 worth of product. Nothing about the D15 feels or looks budget orientated. Fitting as well because I’m convinced once again that is the best air cooler you can buy at present.

I must say though, that the D15 isn’t without issues and installing it can be a pain. The sheer size guarantees that on most X99 motherboards you can only install it one way (perpendicular to the graphics card). I had an issue with the CORSAIR Dominator Platinum memory that I was using as it was just too tall for the cooler. Special concession has been made by NOCTUA to accommodate the taller heat spreaders on DIMMS but it just isn’t enough for the DOMINATORs. As such, I had to mount the fans much higher than I would have wanted. Do be careful if you are planning on purchasing this cooler and are making use of such RAM.

In closing, there’s not much to dislike about the NH-D15, it’s not going to get much better than this with air cooling or AIO kits for that matter. The superior X360 kit that we pitted against the D15 is more than three times the price, thus – by comparison – the D15 to be very affordable for the kind of performance it delivers. If you liked the D14, then you’ll most certainly like the D15. This is not for small cases or micro-ATX boards for that matter. It is for those who seek the ultimate cooling with near whisper quiet operation. I’ve not come across a better air cooler than the NH-D15. With the D15 I’m pretty sure the best just got better!

Hardware Award

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