Noctua Announces $150 Flagship NH-D15 G2 CPU Coolers and NF-A14x25r G2 140mm Fans

[kapone32]

Air competes against air, custom liquid competes against custom liquid, AIOs compete against other AIOs (for those willing to accept a ~3-6 year useful lifespan). Gradually you suffer increased noise, decreased thermal performance, and the pump eventually dying, since continual permeation of the liquid even within sealed systems is a simple fact of physics, and these systems are not designed to be refilled. Even if you did refill them, pumps are cooled by the actual coolant and typically underpowered, so those will go, eventually. Manufacturers see fit to give 1-6 year warranties, depending, because most users will not intensely use their system, an hour or two of gaming every day and your AIO should be fine for at least three years, maybe even five or longer, this is a calculated estimate.

Servers use air, immersion or custom liquid, with powerful pumps. Consoles use air cooling too, and even the PS5 which uses a liquid metal application that most would deem rather enthusiast, still sticks to air cooling.

There are also good reasons why enterprise, experienced or professional users use air or custom loops, not AIOs. You eventually get burned.

Something something there's no such thing as a free lunch. The compromise you're making with an AIO is lifespan (and noise from the pump working close to 100%).

My Nepton 280 is still going strong. AIOs were too new to get real numbers on longevity. I don't mean those Asetek units either.

 

[fevgatos]

Which is not good enough in this economy & if you want to flaunt the $$$$ like you did last time go ahead.

In this economy a lot of aio coolers cost 300+$ cause of rgb and oleds and a bunch of other garbage. Yes, there are also a couple of cheap good aios, at or below 100$. I mean i get 150 is a lot for a cooler, but the good thing with an air cooler (especially a noctua one) is that you get to keep it. Forever. It will probably be working even after you pass on to the next world. 10 years from now there will be people still rocking a 10 year old d15 g2 on their brand new 99900ks or 197800 x3d.

 

[Upgrayedd]

I went from an aio to an air cooler for non of the reasons you mentioned. There is another major issue with aios that nobody pays attention to. Goddamn airflow. A huge radiator that blocks either your intake our your outtake. It will work fine when you have a moderate card, but with the 3090 I was using at the time an aio was just not an option. I had to choose between my cpu cooking or my gpu cooking. Switched to a U12A and lo and behold, the whole system was running much, much, much cooler during gaming.

Unless you put both your cpu and gpu on water, aio is just meh

Always kinda one of the dumb and funny things about AIOs.
GPUs have always ran hotter than the CPU but GPU AIOs are very rare and CPU air cooling will still keep your CPU cooler than an air cooled GPU.

 

[Vario]

2 more heatpipes than the NHD15 is nice but not for that price. I'd like to get the next gen 14cm fans though but they will probably want something insane for them.

Lest I be accused of Noctua fanboying due to my system specs, all the Noctua in my rig were bought off eBay, with the NFA12x25 being $7.50 each and the NFA12x15 being $18 each, after shipped, with the exception of the NHD15 chromax, I paid retail for that. I still have a box full of NFA12x25 that I have yet to use. I basically bought 20 of them in a bulk order from some seller ~$150 for the 20.

They are great fans but really not much different from a generic fan. I also hate the color.

 

[freeagent]

Disappointing.

Well, there is always the new line that Thermalright will be rolling out shortly lol..

 

[trsttte]

You seen anything going for the same price it did 5 years ago? I definitely wasn't expecting the SAME price. $150 is rather high
I would like to see a fanless or single fan version come out that you can put your own fans on and save a few bucks.

Also the old D15 runs like 9db quieter than the Thermalright.

You're not wrong but they're still selling the original D15 for much cheaper, they certainly ate a lot of the raw material price increases but while it remains on shelves the D15 g2 just looks like terrible value. Even when the original D15 is out, the g2 will remain terrible value because the competition is much cheaper, like someone else said they're going the Apple "lifestyle" way, good luck with that lol

Well, the d15 g2 costs what it does because noctua actually tried to bring the costs down. The original plan was for the whole fan to be made of lcp. To translate it to $, you'd probably be looking at 60$ per fan, 120 in total without the heatsink, lol.

Wow that's just insane, whatever advantage they were to gain could easily be accomplished by going up about 2 or 3 milimeter in thickness to 28mm for example, much simpler and most of all much cheaper to do.

 

[Crackong]

Get the 3000RPM 140mm Noctuas.

Those are for going loud.

 

[trsttte]

Those are for going loud.

Only if you crank them up. Better have it and not need it than need it and not have it type of stuff. They also look sick, it's the best color scheme noctua sells in my opinion, it's on you to use only the 0-50% fan speed range where they're as silent as any other fan.

 

[fevgatos]

Only if you crank them up. Better have it and not need it than need it and not have it type of stuff. They also look sick, it's the best color scheme noctua sells in my opinion, it's on you to use only the 0-50% fan speed range where they're as silent as any other fan.

Those are pretty terrible, outdated, they don't really push much air compared to modern designs.

 

[Crackong]

it's on you to use only the 0-50% fan speed range where they're as silent as any other fan.

If you look closely there is a minimum fan speed of 800 rpm for the PPC-3000 (450rpm for PPC-2000)
They will shut off if you go lower than 20% .

The PPC fans aren't made for silent.

 

[Sunny and 75]

Air competes against air, custom liquid competes against custom liquid, AIOs compete against other AIOs (for those willing to accept a ~3-6 year useful lifespan). Gradually you suffer increased noise, decreased thermal performance, and the pump eventually dying, since continual permeation of the liquid even within sealed systems is a simple fact of physics, and these systems are not designed to be refilled. Even if you did refill them, pumps are cooled by the actual coolant and typically underpowered, so those will go, eventually. Manufacturers see fit to give 1-6 year warranties, depending, because most users will not intensely use their system, an hour or two of gaming every day and your AIO should be fine for at least three years, maybe even five or longer, this is a calculated estimate.

Servers use air, immersion or custom liquid, with powerful pumps. Consoles use air cooling too, and even the PS5 which uses a liquid metal application that most would deem rather enthusiast, still sticks to air cooling.

There are also good reasons why enterprise, experienced or professional users use air or custom loops, not AIOs. You eventually get burned.

Something something there's no such thing as a free lunch. The compromise you're making with an AIO is lifespan (and noise from the pump working close to 100%).

Interesting!

 

[#22]

When you're talking about compromises you do that everywhere ~ with a D14, D15 or D15s you risk cracking the mobo PCB with that kind of a weight. Even if it survives, with proper handling, you're still putting a massive amount of stress on the PCB. Space is also an issue, even with this mild monstrosity I can't use every big tower cooler out there! Then of course temps, with AIO your entire system would generally run cooler & probably last longer. Less Si degradation & what not. There's a reason people, like me, switched from massive bulky air coolers to AIO. I went from Deepcool air to XPG AIO.

I doubt in weight point, one used anytime people talk big dual towers, so since like end of 2000's and D14's arrival. On one hand there're online many examples of bent boards and users accusing their coolers, but we never know how much those users helped with moving pcs around carelessly. Plus even budget boards got thicker than typical four layers and widely equipped with additional stiffeners like built-in I/O covers or fancy radiators. I personally used 1200g cooler with four-layer board not having much of such help (ASRock Z390 Extreme 4) and it didn't bend even a little. And it was four years of once a week lifting this pc when cleaning floor. That's why I doubt in this point, not counting pairing 150$ cooler with costing similarly brown boards which are the only ones close to how boards used to be. Ice Giants' owners should enter the chat and enlight us all - those beasts are not like G2's 1,5kg, but 2kg

 

[Vayra86]

Only if you crank them up. Better have it and not need it than need it and not have it type of stuff. They also look sick, it's the best color scheme noctua sells in my opinion, it's on you to use only the 0-50% fan speed range where they're as silent as any other fan.

Yeah but thats not how it works. These are optimized for a higher speed curve and/or pressure over volume and made to move air optimally at that higher speed. You simply get less air moved per decibel. There are no one size fits all fans. You get optimized fans for a specific purpose and they'll be meh at the rest. Or you get something generic that'll be suboptimal at everything, but not horrible.

When you're talking about compromises you do that everywhere ~ with a D14, D15 or D15s you risk cracking the mobo PCB with that kind of a weight. Even if it survives, with proper handling, you're still putting a massive amount of stress on the PCB. Space is also an issue, even with this mild monstrosity I can't use every big tower cooler out there! Then of course temps, with AIO your entire system would generally run cooler & probably last longer. Less Si degradation & what not. There's a reason people, like me, switched from massive bulky air coolers to AIO. I went from Deepcool air to XPG AIO.

Or save something for your wallet? Noctua's probably done a great job, as always, but not $50~100 worth of it IMO & like most users out there I would chase better VFM. Slightly disappointed they haven't tried to bring down the prices of their best products over the years. Sure you can expect higher prices at the start with having to recoup R&D, labour costs et al but they've only grown more & more expensive here!

Sorry but this is bullshit and I don't see these compromises you speak of. PCBs don't just rip because you put a few kg on them. It goes wrong when you start dancing with your case and forget there's one in there. Let's stay clear of the FUD category where the bottom of intellect decides what's good and what's not. Some people just shouldn't DIY the end.

In my view this falls under the category 'don't be an idiot with your hardware' much the same as people who change their GPU bios while they just had to update a driver, or change thermal paste on brand new GPUs and then void their warranty and fail on mounting pressure, ending up with a worse result.

There's a vast number of ways you can screw up a DIY PC. Even just placing a case on high carpet can result in tragic failure, or placing one on a glass desk Overtightening your cooler, whatever it is, can be catastrophic too.

And then.. AIO's running a cooler system. You sure? Case airflow is substantially worse, affecting VRMs. CPU and GPU temp might be lower, or one of them might. AIO's really offer no tangible advantage, it just looks like they do. There is NO part for sale you can't run on air that you can run on an AIO. Not one. To each their own, but an AIO to me is the wannabe watercooling, with mostly if not exclusively an epeen advantage, for a heavily inflated price and reduced lifespan on cooling. Not a single system provides tangible, noticeable benefits in performance running on AIO versus air. Its also not more silent.

Less Si degradation... sorry man but you're seeing things. 85C doesn't degrade chips. High voltages degrade chips. Temp related degradation within chip spec is a complete and utter non issue. If anything, with a lower CPU/GPU temp you might be using higher voltages because you're not temp limited and actually have higher degradation instead of lower And while you do that, VRM temps are also higher because you're probably just pulling air out of the case, instead of pushing it through like you would on air.

 

[chrcoluk]

Noctua using contact frame

 

[R0H1T]

Sorry but this is bullshit. PCBs don't just rip because you put a few kg on them. It goes wrong when you start dancing with your case and forget there's one in there. Let's stay clear of the FUD category where the bottom of intellect decides what's good and what's not. Some people just shouldn't DIY the end.

I said you can damage the PCB with that weight, which is probably more likely when installing. As for trashing the PCB with 1.5kg of weight that's unlikely with a still case but nonetheless puts a lot of stress on it, could cause micro cracks & will definitely cause some warping over time. That's a legitimate concern nothing FUD in it. We're talking about "compromises" after all.

but the good thing with an air cooler (especially a noctua one) is that you get to keep it. Forever. It will probably be working even after you pass on to the next world.

And yeah I've conceded it's the best aspect of air coolers, but it's not like they don't have downsides.

 

[Vayra86]

I said you can damage the PCB with that weight, which is probably more likely when installing. As for trashing the PCB with 1.5kg of weight that's unlikely with a still case but nonetheless puts a lot of stress on it, could cause micro cracks & will definitely cause some warping over time. That's a legitimate concern nothing FUD in it. We're talking about "compromises" after all.

So that is why we can now hang 2,5kg worth of GPU off a PCI slot alongside the potential 2kg air cooler, and still the internet is not full of horror stories and split PCBs. What we do see? Broken pcie slots! The PCB's doing fine.

Just no. Its a non issue and it only occurs as an issue if you take a case for a walk keeping it all connected - simple fix? Turn the case 90 degrees while you move it around. If that's what you call compromise okay, I just call it common sense. Its similar to micro cracking your board by overtightening a cooler, isn't it? Handle with care.

 

[R0H1T]

And then.. AIO's running a cooler system. You sure?

Coming from the tropics I can say the AIO cools the CPU better, GPU is roughly the same but I do have a big case so there's that.

And of course no AC, so yeah take it for what it's worth. Close to 40c ambient temps at peak summer.

 

[Vayra86]

Coming from the tropics I can say the AIO cools the CPU better, GPU is roughly the same but I do have a big case so there's that.

And of course no AC, so yeah take it for what it's worth. Close to 40c ambient temps at peak summer.

Yeah that's one advantage I'll agree on. Air depends entirely on ambient, AIO / water is impacted a bit less.

 

[R0H1T]

I've said this so many times I'm not sure why it's hard to understand, I have no issues with air cooling but not $150 worth of it. You could in theory get two Thermalright AIO (from GN review) & run them for 10 years with much better temps & still save some money at the end. The reason I brought up AIO is because I got a heck of a deal on it, $40 for a good cooler with 5 years warranty. For $50 less, than launch price, Noctua could be worthwhile if you want to stick with it for 10 years! You're making compromises everywhere whether it be air, AIO, custom loop or passive cooling not sure why is that a point of contention either?

 

[chrcoluk]

I purchased my NH-D15S not too long ago, but I already want this one. Noctua quality is unmatched. I'm probably gonna order one when they come around my corner of the world.

Noctua stuff lasts as well, I brought mine when I got my 9900k, I then took advantage of their free upgrade kit, to use it with my platform upgrade.

 

[Vayra86]

I've said this so many times I'm not sure why it's hard to understand, I have no issues with air cooling but not $150 worth of it. You could in theory get two Thermalright AIO (from GN review) & run them for 10 years with much better temps & still save some money at the end. The reason I brought up AIO is because I got a heck of a deal on it, $40 for a good cooler with 5 years warranty. For $50 less, than launch price, Noctua could be worthwhile if you want to stick with it for 10 years! You're making compromises everywhere whether it be air, AIO, custom loop or passive cooling not sure why is that a point of contention either?

I think the issue I have with the blank statement of 'compromises everywhere' is that air really isn't compromising much if anything at all. That only applies to a heavily overpriced cooler like these Noctua's (so we agree on that one ), but that's not a property of 'air cooling'.

Air is cheap, effective, problem free, low maintenance and good enough in performance plus you can get it sized for any case/form factor. Water is just effective but compromises relative to air, on everything else. There is a small niche for AIO's that are small in a smaller enclosure with limited airflow options, but then you're losing the performance advantage for the most part.

Noctua stuff lasts as well, I brought mine when I got my 9900k, I then took advantage of their free upgrade kit, to use it with my platform upgrade.

All air coolers last. Its a hunk of metal and a fan you can replace for $10,-. There's just nothing that can really break. I haven't had a single aftermarket air tower that broke, just a fan going bad after 10 years or so. I'm baffled people keep attributing this great perk to Noctua

 

[chrcoluk]

The usual over-long, excruciatingly detailed, and frankly somewhat self-indulgent GN review--but I appreciate the effort that went into it, even so. The gist is that the cooler is underwhelming. That's my judgment, not GN's. It performs well, but not so much better than near competitors, including its own predecessor, to justify the price premium. Also I find the whole pick-your-cold-plate's-convexity scheme needlessly fussy, but YMMV.

Watched most of it, I dont disagree as an owner of the older model, it makes me happy in a way knowing what I have is almost as good. Also yeah the standard cold plate seems way to go out of the 3 options.

I think the issue I have with the blank statement of 'compromises everywhere' is that air really isn't compromising much if anything at all. That only applies to a heavily overpriced cooler like these Noctua's (so we agree on that one ), but that's not a property of 'air cooling'.

Air is cheap, effective, problem free, low maintenance and good enough in performance plus you can get it sized for any case/form factor. Water is just effective but compromises relative to air, on everything else. There is a small niche for AIO's that are small in a smaller enclosure with limited airflow options, but then you're losing the performance advantage for the most part.


All air coolers last. Its a hunk of metal and a fan you can replace for $10,-. There's just nothing that can really break. I haven't had a single aftermarket air tower that broke, just a fan going bad after 10 years or so. I'm baffled people keep attributing this great perk to Noctua

My old cooler didnt last, like most non noctua fans, the fan on it went to crap. Then I had the problem of not being able to replace the fan as the fan that came with the cooler was made for the heatsink, and fans brought separately were not. Didnt fit the clips right and had to frankenstein it until I brought the noctua.

When the day comes I replace the noctua I think I will go AIO though.

 

[Vayra86]

My old cooler didnt last, like most non noctua fans, the fan on it went to crap. Then I had the problem of not being able to replace the fan as the fan that came with the cooler was made for the heatsink, and fans brought separately were not. Didnt fit the clips right and had to frankenstein it until I brought the noctua.

When the day comes I replace the noctua I think I will go AIO though.

N=1... I have a Gelid Tranquillo Rev 2 ($25,-) since 2012 that's been running all the time and the $7,- fan on it still works like it did on day one. No noise or anything.
Similarly, Fractal case fans have all been stellar for a similar amount of time.
I also haven't had a single Bequiet fan fail on me yet.

I did have a fan fail in a LEPA PSU and that was pretty fast too, some 3-4 years of usage.

Honestly, most non overpriced air towers just have standard clips for standard 12cm/14cm fans. Sounds to me like you just bought a shit cooler. Air cooling is a KISS scenario imho. Like most computer parts and computers in general. I'm repeatedly baffled by the complexity people add to it.

 

[Vario]

All air coolers last. Its a hunk of metal and a fan you can replace for $10,-. There's just nothing that can really break. I haven't had a single aftermarket air tower that broke, just a fan going bad after 10 years or so. I'm baffled people keep attributing this great perk to Noctua

Noctua will maintain socket support, some other brands don't, thats one argument that could be made in this direction.


In my opinion, real innovation in this space is selling a dual tower with quality fans for under $50. Thats where Noctua is failing to innovate, while Scythe and Thermalright have achieved this.

 

[Onasi]

Sounds to me like you just bought a shit cooler. Air cooling is a KISS scenario imho. Like most computer parts and computers in general. I'm repeatedly baffled by the complexity people add to it.

What, you don’t like whatever the hell BQ is pulling here?

No, I never wanted to have full user serviceability on my hunk of aluminum fins, why do you ask?