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The Best-Looking CPU Cooler! - Noctua Chromax Black

James

Buy Noctua NH-U12S chromax.black on:
Amazon: https://geni.us/7KDxu
Noctua: https://geni.us/ZmAMBK8

 

Buy Noctua NH-D15 chromax.black on:
Amazon: https://geni.us/QRnpVu
Noctua: https://geni.us/FR6t

 

Buy Noctua NH-L9i chromax.black on:
Amazon: https://geni.us/7hZduk
Noctua: https://geni.us/df1s

 

Noctua is finally offering all-black PC cooler designs, including an LTT edition one! But do these new blacked out coolers have equal thermals and acoustics to the originals that made the brand famous? Let's test it.

 

 

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RIP my wallet...

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Eh, about on par with the bequiet coolers.

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I ordered all of them.

I have no idea why, but I just did.

I think I've been waiting too long for all black and lost control.

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That's debatable. I still think BeQuiet's Dark Rock 4 Pro looks better. Those SilentWings 3 look so damn slick compared to most other fans. But I guess I have to give them credit for getting rid of "steel, diarrhea and skin" themed coolers and fans from the past that were the only option you had if you went with Noctua...

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So, when did your graphs not start at 0? I was a bit confused during the comparisons

Screenshot_20191008-110704_YouTube.jpg

Screenshot_20191008-110655_YouTube.jpg

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I actually find it really boring and lame. There are already a billion more-or-less black coolers, does one more really matter? I quite like the original "Noctua-colour" -- at least it stands out from the rest!

 

Now, if I was making a bling-bling build, I'd much rather have a majestic magenta instead! I've never seen anyone release any of the fancier colours like e.g. the magenta I just mentioned.

Hand, n. A singular instrument worn at the end of the human arm and commonly thrust into somebody’s pocket.

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10 minutes ago, Fasauceome said:

So, when did your graphs not start at 0? I was a bit confused during the comparisons

 

 

That has been a thing with graphs for a long time. It would make no sense to have them start at 0, you would not see a difference between them, they would all be pretty much the same length.

 

Having them start at higher up the scale augments the tiny differences between the numbers, so you can better grasp them.

 

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5 minutes ago, WereCatf said:

I actually find it really boring and lame. There are already a billion more-or-less black coolers, does one more really matter? I quite like the original "Noctua-colour" -- at least it stands out from the rest!

 

Now, if I was making a bling-bling build, I'd much rather have a majestic magenta instead! I've never seen anyone release any of the fancier colours like e.g. the magenta I just mentioned.

Yeah, i like the noctua chromax line more, looks much better imo. It was weird that linus completely ignored the existance on chromax coolers, to push the sale of his own ones? He acted like his design was the first "non noctua" colored coolers from noctua, which was shady imo. 

Also Noctua Redux coolers look very good too imo, better than all black.

Image result for noctua chromax white

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2 minutes ago, Origami Cactus said:

Having them start at higher up the scale augments the tiny differences between the numbers, so you can better grasp them

yeah but at the same time

Image result for intel vs amd graph funny

it creates a bit of a disconnect with the actual variance. In this video it would be more accurate to show that the results are very similar rather than one being superior, as there is actually little variance and therefore the gaps in the results are a bit artificial.

I WILL find your ITX build thread, and I WILL recommend the SIlverstone Sugo SG13B

 

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i7 8086k - EVGA Z370 Classified K - G.Skill Trident Z RGB - WD SN750 - Jedi Order Titan Xp - Hyper 212 Black (with RGB Riing flair) - EVGA G3 650W - dual booting Windows 10 and Linux - Black and green theme, Razer brainwashed me.

Draws 400 watts under max load, for reference.

 

How many watts do I needATX 3.0 & PCIe 5.0 spec, PSU misconceptions, protections explainedgroup reg is bad

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3 minutes ago, Origami Cactus said:

It was weird that linus completely ignored the existance on chromax coolers, to push the sale of his own ones? He acted like his design was the first "non noctua" colored coolers from noctua, which was shady imo.

I also found it kinda weird. I've been aware of the chromax-ones for a while now and I would definitely imagine Linus being aware of them as well. But maybe he was just so excited about the whole LTT-branded Noctua-coolers - thing that he just simply had a massive brainfart? Wouldn't be the first nerd to get over-excited about something to the point of being like a horse with blinders on. Hell, I do that myself all the time as well.

 

He'll probably mention something about it on the WAN-show on Friday, though, since we are most likely not the only ones to point this out.

Hand, n. A singular instrument worn at the end of the human arm and commonly thrust into somebody’s pocket.

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13 minutes ago, Origami Cactus said:

That has been a thing with graphs for a long time. It would make no sense to have them start at 0, you would not see a difference between them, they would all be pretty much the same length.

 

Having them start at higher up the scale augments the tiny differences between the numbers, so you can better grasp them.

 

It's actually called misleading graphs, and is something that is taught not to do in elementary school.

The point of a graph is to represent the data visually, which means literally making them almost the same length when there is almost no difference between the data.

You're supposed to grasp that there ISN'T a big difference between them, otherwise it's just misleading.

263px-Y-axis_break.svg.png

You NEVER start a graph not at 0, and if you're trying to emphasize a marginal difference in data then you put a break in the graph and clearly point out to the audience that the difference is shown amplified.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misleading_graph

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Strange....Noctua link takes me directly to their site, but must be something going on with Amazon coz the links always drag me to Amazon Japan and totally the wrong product. Is there some way to fix this that I am not aware of?

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Or you could just... you know... buy a beQuiet! that has had great black aesthetics for ages now while Noctua took years to sell something that didn't look like literal poop.

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1 minute ago, WereCatf said:

I also found it kinda weird. I've been aware of the chromax-ones for a while now and I would definitely imagine Linus being aware of them as well. But maybe he was just so excited about the whole LTT-branded Noctua-coolers - thing that he just simply had a massive brainfart? Wouldn't be the first nerd to get over-excited about something to the point of being like a horse with blinders on. Hell, I do that myself all the time as well.

 

He'll probably mention something about it on the WAN-show on Friday, though, since we are most likely not the only ones to point this out.

Nah, linus has done a lot of similar things in the past, i think he does those things tactically, and then always blames it on "forgetting" or something like that. Pretty smart, but annoying if you notice it.

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Now that I have been able to think about this cooler for a minute.. I would have to agree with @Enderman here. I was thinking of getting that NH-D15, but it looks basically the same as my BeQuiet Dark Rock 3, which is already an excellent cooler for my use case.

Now if you did another run of the Noctua LTT fans... 140mm pls.

2 minutes ago, Canadian in S. Korea said:

Strange....Noctua link takes me directly to their site, but must be something going on with Amazon coz the links always drag me to Amazon Japan and totally the wrong product. Is there some way to fix this that I am not aware of?

These Amazon links are dynamic and direct you to the 'nearest'/'most relevant' Amazon version (for me that's the German version, while I'm not in Germany/from Germany) and it just searches for a certain name (for me that seems to be 'noctua nh d15 chromax black 140mm dual tower cpu cooler' for the NH-D15 for example).

In the past I often had (with smaller products) that it would link to the wrong product too.. So I would love to have just a simple direct link in these posts :/ 

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@Origami Cactus Getting the black fans and the chromax covers is costing you way more than the 10$ the black one costs more. The covers are around 20$ already.

 

I like it. Don´t need LTT version, sorry guys, as i am planning on a black/chrome build.

 

@Velcade They aren´t really ugly. Only when you put them together with other hardware. There is no other parts that look good together with the brown/beige noctua fans.

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1 hour ago, RejZoR said:

That's debatable. I still think BeQuiet's Dark Rock 4 Pro looks better. Those SilentWings 3 look so damn slick compared to most other fans. But I guess I have to give them credit for getting rid of "steel, diarrhea and skin" themed coolers and fans from the past that were the only option you had if you went with Noctua...

I actually hate the little ridges on the bequiet fans, I think they look like ruffles chips and cheap.  Incidentally, I am getting a DR4 for my mini-itx build, bc the damn thing does just look good (overall) and performance is fantastic.

 

Regardless, DRP4 has been making a killing in that if you wanted the BEST in air cooling, it was either the DRP4 or D15.  The D15 would require the extra step of getting separate costly chromax stuff worsening the value of the product (or looking terrible with base model).  If you wanted a one step, slick looking, black-matching everything install, the DRP4 was the clear easy pick.  Now people no longer have to do the " i WOULD get a D15 but its ugly AF" and they can buy one that actually looks good.  I have no clue how it took noctua this long to make this jump, as they are probably going to make a fortune off this move.

 

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, Origami Cactus said:

Yeah, i like the noctua chromax line more, looks much better imo. It was weird that linus completely ignored the existance on chromax coolers, to push the sale of his own ones? He acted like his design was the first "non noctua" colored coolers from noctua, which was shady imo. 

Also Noctua Redux coolers look very good too imo, better than all black.

Image result for noctua chromax white

Agreed it was odd to not mention it.  This is my exact cooler set up for my black/white system.  Love it.

 

I will say though the cost:

 

D15 85$

2x chromax black fans (20 each) 40$

White chromax covers 30$

 

You are approaching some serious coin to get a good looking version (while I do love its looks).  Doubles the price.  The all black version is something almost everyone will get for a bargain deal on a good looking, all-system-matching blacked out D15.  

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straight up though; if it weren't for the fact of it being LTT edition not only would i not be buying a NH-D15, i wouldn't likely be buying a new cooler at all, as the one i have for my folding rig already does an okay-ish job

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2 hours ago, Origami Cactus said:

Yeah, i like the noctua chromax line more, looks much better imo. It was weird that linus completely ignored the existance on chromax coolers, to push the sale of his own ones? He acted like his design was the first "non noctua" colored coolers from noctua, which was shady imo. 

Also Noctua Redux coolers look very good too imo, better than all black.


This isn't about the fans, it's about the tower. The black fans have been around since 2015 and LTT did have a partnership with Noctua on those too. If you watch that vid then you'll see that Linus explicitly says that they weren't involved in the technical design, the only thing they did was include the orange caps and slap their logo on a limited run.

It's the same with the tower. This is just a commercial partnership between LTT and Noctua, nothing shady about it.

The pic you included is a regular D15 with the black fans and the white covers on it. The covers cost an extra 20 to 30 euro's and besides looking good only have cons. They increase noise for one, so what's the purpose spending money on low noise fans and then spending extra money to undo that advantage?

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43 minutes ago, Zberg said:

I will say though the cost:

 

D15 85$

2x chromax black fans (20 each) 40$

White chromax covers 30$

 

You are approaching some serious coin to get a good looking version (while I do love its looks).  Doubles the price.  The all black version is something almost everyone will get for a bargain deal on a good looking, all-system-matching blacked out D15.  

No?

Atleast in my country you can buy the heatsink separately.

Heatsink with covers = 50€

2x fans (20 each) = 40€

total 90€, so only a little more than a standard cooler.

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Just now, Origami Cactus said:

No?

Atleast in my country you can buy the heatsink separately.

Heatsink with covers = 50€

2x fans (20 each) = 40€

total 90€, so only a little more than a standard cooler.

I did not know you could do that!

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