Noctua NH-D15 G2

[HTC]

I already using 13+ year my old Noctua D14 still original fan working silent, I even receive free mounting kit to AM4 currently using it with Am5. And his is oldest part in my PC

My NH-C14 is also the oldest part of my PC ... by far ...

 

[Onasi]

Because it has to be done on a manufacturer level.

You do realize there is a very good reason why desktop CPUs went IHS route instead of selling naked chips to the DIY customers, right? But mail all your grievances to Intel/AMD. I am sure they would jump right on that. As it stands, CPUs come with IHS and the reviewers assess coolers on the basis of their performance on the chips as they are.

This is stupid.

I know, right? That’s usually what I say when seeing takes like “test the cooler on a delidded chip” and “manufacturers should sell CPUs without IHS to skyrocket their RMA rates”.

 

[Double-Click]

Currently feeling 432% better about my cooler

 

[TheDeeGee]

They clearly squeezed every drop out of traditional heatpipes which a very impressive feat.

Noctua's next logical move is that Thermosiphon cooler they showed at Computex, because i highly doubt there is room for a D15 G3.

 

[starfals]

Sorry, phantom spirit wins. 1-2C less, but the price difference is like 3 times. Holy cow. Yeah, the Noctua one is great. Probably the best but at that cost? Hekkk noo. Hard pass, and everyone with a brain would do so too. Especially when you consider how i also bought 2 Arctic freezers 360 for less than 150 lol. I could totally buy the 2X 280 freezers and a phantom spirit, all for 150 bucks. This has to be the most overpriced thing i have seen. They might as well just make it 200 or 300, its the same crazyness. If people eat it up at 150, why not 200? The fans will buy it anyways. If I'm Noctua and I'm already so bold with the pricing, id totally overcharge even more~!

To sum it up :
performance 10/10
price - 4/10

 

[ARF]

You do realize there is a very good reason why desktop CPUs went IHS route instead of selling naked chips to the DIY customers, right?

Can't be more wrong and useless. If people complain, and even some manufacturers begin to hear, then there is indeed a problem. And instead of being sarcastic, you can write your grievances to AMD, hopefully your email will reach its destination /doubt it

Meanwhile, the news:

Thanks to the rise of sky-high modern-day CPU power consumption, EKWB has built the world's first All-In-One liquid cooler tailored specifically for delidded Intel 12th,13th, and 14th Gen CPUs. EK says the new cooler was inspired by the huge surge of PC users delidding their CPUs to enhance performance. The company has also redesigned its direct-die AMD and Intel waterblocks for custom loops and is offering free replacement parts for its existing lineup to improve performance. The company is also offering a 15% discount on the newer models for impacted customers, which we'll cover a bit further below.

Intel's latest CPUs run so hot that delidding has become common — EKWB introduces world's first AIO liquid cooler designed for delidded CPUs

EK's new AIO reduces the barrier-to-entry for delidded cooling

www.tomshardware.com

 

[Broken Processor]

Most enthusiasts use at a minimum an aio and for standard users there are cheaper alternatives almost as good. Only thing positive thing it's a noctua so quality will be top notch and they are easy to install but that price is ridiculous. It's use case is very niche.

 

[Event Horizon]

I love air coolers so much that I can imagine getting this over a similarly priced AIO. In practice there's always something else that I splurge on instead, such as the monitor, GPU, or PSU.

 

[Double-Click]

If you're going to splurge, buy a Thermalright cooler and then get some Noctua NF-A12s to put on it.

 

[starfals]

You can buy THREE Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 EVO or TWO Liquid Freezer III 240. 120 evo is slightly behind while LF III 240 is better. What is the exact point of this chunk of metal that costs 149€ beside that you can say : i have best air cooler on the market ?

I actually bought 2 360 for that price, what a steal too. 1 of them was RGB. The price difference was super tiny for some reason, 240 and 360. Even 420.. but i got no space for that beast. Now prices are up tho, that was only for the first month if i recall.

 

[Ravenmaster]

I'll be sticking with my BeQuiet Dark Rock Elite. It performs similarly enough to the Noctua counterpart and doesn't look like complete arse

 

[JIWIL]

If you're going to splurge, buy a Thermalright cooler and then get some Noctua NF-A12s to put on it.

Have a pair of NF-A12 Chromax waiting for the stock PA-120 fans to start making the noises. Still nice and quiet though.

 

[Double-Click]

Have a pair of NF-A12 Chromax waiting for the stock PA-120 fans to start making the noises. Still nice and quiet though.

Absolutely zero regrets swapping mine out, even put LNA adapters on them (1700 RPM).
Quiet as a mouse under load and absolutely runs circles around my old cooler.

 

[BoggledBeagle]

Today I bought an LBC version to see how flat it is, and I must say that the fan colours in person are DISGUSTING.

 

[EatingDirt]

You can buy THREE Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 EVO or TWO Liquid Freezer III 240. 120 evo is slightly behind while LF III 240 is better. What is the exact point of this chunk of metal that costs 149€ beside that you can say : i have best air cooler on the market ?

Noctua have never been about value. This is the best air cooler you can buy and the graphs confirm it. You can't use more than 1 cooler on a CPU, so the amount of coolers you can get for this is somewhat irrelevant. This cooler was never going to be about value, it was about Noctua engineering the very best air cooler, and they achieved that.

You're paying for the engineering that has gone into making this the best air cooler you can buy(R&D isn't cheap). You're also paying for top notch customer support, and if the past is anything to go by, future socket support at no-cost. That being said, this costs a bit too much with how close to the competition it is. I think a more reasonable price would be $100-130, and I think it'll get down to that ~$130 within the year.

 

[HTC]

You're paying for the engineering that has gone into making this the best air cooler you can buy(R&D isn't cheap). You're also paying for top notch customer support, and if the past is anything to go by, future socket support at no-cost. That being said, this costs a bit too much with how close to the competition it is. I think a more reasonable price would be $100-130, and I think it'll get down to that ~$130 within the year.

If they make it ... say ... 110€, i'd buy it for sure ... assuming i'd need a cooler: my current NH-C14 is STILL working pretty well.

 

[Icon Charlie]

Kinda proves that air coolers are a solved technology and there isn’t much improvement to be had. Noctua worked on this for years, over-engineered it to hell and it’s ridiculously pricey - all for a minor bump in performance over the cheaper competitors. It’s in no way a bad cooler, but it goes to show that you can buy pretty much any of the top-tiers nowadays and be set. Swap the fans if you want. It’s all within a margin.

Been saying this for years.

What you are buying is a brand name. The real tech has not really advanced that much over recent previous models. If anything it would be advancements in heat transfer fluid and fine tuning the pitch of the fan blade. Of course increasing the fan speed also increases the fan noise so there is a trade off.

My biggest complaint is that the tech companies has made the computer something of an over hyped luxury item. With all of the branding and eye candy involved with it and has gone to small increments of advancements just enough keep the product relevant.

Due to political and economic pressures such as global inflation This has forced people to not upgrade like they used to, hence driving up the never ending cycle of trying to upsell something that should be at a lower price.

I have money... Lots of money but I sure as hell don't have "Stupid" Tattooed on my forehead. I'm not going to buy an over priced whirlygig when I know I can purchase something comprable for a lot less.

 

[BoggledBeagle]

The body of the cooler itself did not feel premium at all. BTW I had probably a fin rattling (buzzing at higher fan speed), one of them was probably loose. It was happening both out of the computer and when it was mounted inside on a CPU.

 

[theglaze]

Noctua sticks to its method of detailed engineering and excellent manufacturing, and pushes off flashy gimmicks. I want to commend them for that.

Newegg shows HUNDREDS of liquid coolers over $150, so clearly many gamers are willing to pay for frivolous features that have nothing to do with performance.

It's absurd to moan about the marginal price/performance increase to NH-D15 G2, when +$300 RGB fever dreams from Corsair and Asus exist.

 

[HTC]

It's absurd to moan about the marginal price/performance increase to NH-D15

IMO, the problem is that there are competing coolers in both performance AND noise that are MUCH cheaper: were that not so, THEN this price wouldn't be "so bad".

 

[wheresmycar]

I share the same price-to-performance sentiments pelting this thread. Wouldn't buy one either. You can engineer the living daylights out of it but if it's not beating the extreme-value-driven competition outside of negligible performance distinctions its not worth the spend IMO. I would have imagined $100 being a big ask but $150 is just exploitatively opportunistic.

The one area i was expecting the G2 to shine was in noise rankings with those quality driven larger fans, ~1500rpm and Noctua being one of the best in the business. Oddly enough, it got beat by a $30 ID A620 PRO.... (which doesn't come in that 1970s inspired grandmas kitchen appliance colour scheme)

 

[Vayra86]

I already using 13+ year my old Noctua D14 still original fan working silent, I even receive free mounting kit to AM4 currently using it with Am5. And his is oldest part in my PC

Ive got 11 years on a Gelid Tranquillo rev 2. 25 bucks, didnt even change paste under it, still does the job. Fan does fine too.

Its an air cooler. They all last.

 

[rv8000]

Ive got 11 years on a Gelid Tranquillo rev 2. 25 bucks, didnt even change paste under it, still does the job. Fan does fine too.

Its an air cooler. They all last.

Basically this. Out of all the air coolers I’ve had (between Thermalright, Coolermaster, Noctua, Beqiuet, Cryorig, and Deepcool) in the last 20 years building and in various builds, I think I’ve replaced two fans (one on a hyper 212 and one on a thermalright truespirit).

 

[ARF]

Kinda proves that air coolers are a solved technology and there isn’t much improvement to be had. Noctua worked on this for years, over-engineered it to hell and it’s ridiculously pricey - all for a minor bump in performance over the cheaper competitors. It’s in no way a bad cooler, but it goes to show that you can buy pretty much any of the top-tiers nowadays and be set. Swap the fans if you want. It’s all within a margin.

The real tech has not really advanced that much over recent previous models. If anything it would be advancements in heat transfer fluid and fine tuning the pitch of the fan blade. Of course increasing the fan speed also increases the fan noise so there is a trade off.

We need vapour chambers and elongated heat pipes with S-form, in order to increase to cooling capacity up to 400-500 watts.
This cooler here is only capable of max 250 watts (in AMD's case), and max 325 watts (in intel's case).