Noctua NH-D15S Review

[CapricaBuccaneers]

Noctua NH-D15S CPU Cooler

Official site: http://noctua.at/main.php?show=productview&products_id=112&lng=en

NB: I posted this review a week back but forgot to save and by the time I came back I'd timed out - so word of warning I'm doing this is an in-progress work.

This is a Dual Tower air cooler that comes with mounting kits for both Intel and AMD CPUs as standard. Also supplied is an NF-A15 premium fan, a syringe of NT-H1 Thermal paste, a set of mounting clips for adding a second fan, a low noise adapter for use with the fan, and a case badge. There's an oversized Alan-key shaped screwdriver for mounting the hardware to your motherboard included.

Visit the link I posted to check if your model of motherboard and CPU fit - Noctua handily have a compatibility list showing what is and isn't supported and it is largely exhaustive. The only other thing to note if is your case can house the cooler physically - it is 165mm tall (including fan) so bear this in mind.

I purchased this as replacement for my NH-U14S since I was having issues with populating all four RAM slots as well as the top PCIe slot with it installed. Price was £64.95 at a UK online retailer so while not cheap was certainly in line with top tier aircoolers. The U14S was £49.99 by comparison - both come boxed with one A15 fan.

In my opinion Noctua's bundled SecuFirm2 mounting kit is the best in the business and really does take a few seconds to fit (provided you have a motherboard cutout or access to your motherboard at the outset) - and since it is bundled here, this is no different. Fitting it was exceptionally easy for me, but one thing to bear in mind is that the cooler is physically large, I had to attach the fans to their fan headers first before mounting the cooler itself to the motherboard. You can fit the fans afterward, but it was a tight squeeze for me and my hands are reasonably thin.

Onto the main point:

Temperatures

Idle

U14S: 29-32c

D15S: 27-31c

Load

U14S: ~69c

D15S: ~66c

I took these readings on the same weekend where the ambient temperature in the room was 25.6c - this was in early August. Specs of the PC are the build in my profile: i7 4790k, GTX 980Ti, 16 Gb RAM, 2 SSDs and one HDD powered by an AX 760 PSU. I used HWMonitor and Intel XTU to monitor temperatures as these are both free and easily available. Parts are running at default speeds except the RAM is at the rated XMP profile advertised - 2133 MHz.

Idle temps are merely loading into Windows 10 desktop and leaving it there for 30 mins. Loads were real world tests only - I simulated this by playing 30 minutes each of The Witcher 3 and Grand Theft Auto V - loading from my last save point each time and following the open quests I had incomplete in my log. Exit without saving, rinse and repeat. I tried to follow my steps each time, but obviously this isn't a looped benchmark. However please note that I've kept an eye on my temps since and the readings are all in the same range.

Analysis

One thing I noticed immediately was that the D15S fan span up to higher speeds less frequently than the U14S. Other than startup the D15S would only peak at around 1000 RPM during gameplay, whereas the U14S would reach 1200 RPM. Naturally this meant it was considerably less noisy at these speeds - they both use the same fan model as standard.

While the temperature difference between the U14S and D15S is fairly small at 2-3c, you can widen the gap by attaching additional fans, the U14S has space for one additional fan, whereas the D15S has room for a further two - motherboard and case clearance notwithstanding.

I duly tried mounting two extra A15s to it alas, my RAM modules are too tall and the front fan had to be a 120mm model - an NF-F12 in this case. The rear fan spot would fit an A15 however the bottom of the fan frame rested lightly on my motherboards heat spreader. This did lower my temps by another ~5c on average, however the vibrations caused by the rear A15 were something I wanted to avoid. They weren't particularly bad - not audible at idle and low loads, but easily perceptible at high speeds (above 800 RPM).

In the end I removed the second A15 and replaced it with another F12 fan. I now normally read max temps after gaming at between 65-66c which is still pretty good for how quiet it is. I forgot to mention here that the main fan is attached via a low noise adapter which limits its max revs to 1200 RPM, and the F12s top out at the figure normally. I didn't bother with a low noise adapter for these F12s, as they were already attached to a fan header via a splitter (laziness).

Conclusion

Was this a worthy purchase? For me, yes.

Prior to fitting the D15S I was completely unable to utilise my PC with both PCIe slots populated as well as all four RAM slots on my motherboard. In order to make the U14S fit I had to rotate it 90 degrees and mount it, which meant it exhausted out of the top of my case rather than front to back. I was then able to use both PCIe slots, however only the farthest pair of RAM slots were available - the front (leftmost on Z97 chipsets - closest to the CPU) were blocked by the aluminium fin stacks. Normal front to back cooler orientation left the RAM slots free but would stop me from using both my network card and graphics card together, which was annoying.

Upgrading to the D15S freed all slots, allowed normal front to back orientation (so I could reversed my top two case fans and have them intake now, creating positive air pressure where it was negative prior). It did so whilst making my PC run cooler (albeit by only around 2-3c in single fan mode compared to the U14S), and noticeably quieter.

The build quality is fantastic and Noctua sent me an additional set of fan clips for free (for the third fan) - just by asking. I admit I wish this was released earlier as I would have taken it in a heartbeat over the U14S. Please note I think the U14S is a beastly cooler and I am not trying to knock it in any way - this is just in a different class.

I had the extra fans already, so there was no additional cost involved for me, but bear in mind if your build can house the normal D15 without any obstructions or clearance issues you are definitely better off in terms of value for money buying that as opposed to the 'S' reviewed here, as the standard D15 cooler includes a second A15 fan by default.

All in all I highly recommend it. I personally view the added cost trade off (no second fan bundled) to be worth the added compatibility by having the whole cooler offset. This essentially makes the D15S a higher compatibility version of D15 for the cost of one fan.

[CapricaBuccaneers]

I know, that's why I'm posting my own review of it in Member reviews. If you bothered to read my post it explains that clearly. I'm going to be editing in bits as I go along if that wasn't clear.

Reading isn't exactly hard.

[mikeeginger]

Try using the fan speed reduces it helps a lot 

Also how is your ram to tall ? 

I got my D15 to fit with a fan on the ram side using corsair dominator platinum

[CapricaBuccaneers]

I control the fan curve now with my motherboard software - my fans stay at 600-800 RPM for the vast majority of the time. I don't hear them so using the LNA doesn't help me in my case. I also stated in the review that I find the cooler to be quiet so I'm not sure where your comment comes from. Did you even read it?

My Vengeance Pro are physically too tall for me to seat an A15 model fan on the front radiator. The fan protrudes above the top of the cooler by another 10 mm and prevents me from putting on the case side panel. This also has a side benefit of making it not pull air over the bottom half of the radiator - which isn't actually a benefit at all.

[Sauron]

[removed]

 

Not quite, the towers are slightly shifted upwards so they don't bother the graphics card.

Edited September 5, 2015 by Godlygamer23

[Fulgrim]

Not quite, the towers are slightly shifted upwards so they don't bother the graphics card.

I thought it was for better ram clearance?

[Sauron]

I thought it was for better ram clearance?

 

both