Anyone work with D15 before ?

[gh0st47]

I was wondering does anyone have any experience with the Noctua NH-D15 ? I'm planning on getting this cooler, what I notice is the cooler is so big that it's covering all the DIMM slots....
So I was wondering, if I were to access the RAM will I need to dismount the cooler ?? Based on pictures, doesn't seem like we can access the RAM if the cooler is installed. 
Whether when installing / uninstall RAM...and another thing is it difficult to remove the middle fan for cleaning once the cooler is installed on the Mobo and inside a casing ?? 

[tkell]

I can get to my memory ok with the cooler on, and the inner fan is easy to remove for cleaning things (didn't mention I am running the NH-D15S)

[Energycore]

Well you should be able to remove the first fan only and maybe you'll be able to get at the first two RAM slots.

 

Noctua actually made an updated version of the cooler with better RAM compatibility, it's called the NH-D15S. I bet if you contacted Noctua for a swap they'd give you that without charging for shipping

[paddy-stone]

45 minutes ago, gh0st47 said:

I was wondering does anyone have any experience with the Noctua NH-D15 ? I'm planning on getting this cooler, what I notice is the cooler is so big that it's covering all the DIMM slots....
So I was wondering, if I were to access the RAM will I need to dismount the cooler ?? Based on pictures, doesn't seem like we can access the RAM if the cooler is installed. 
Whether when installing / uninstall RAM...and another thing is it difficult to remove the middle fan for cleaning once the cooler is installed on the Mobo and inside a casing ?? 

Depends on the mobo, which do you have? on my z97 ATX board that I have that installed in I can access dimms 3+4 fully with the fan removed from above them, and dimms 1+2 are able to come out with a bit of a wiggle past, they are Kingston savage dimms for reference. But it's not a big deal even if you have BIG dimms as the heatsink isn't that bad to remove and put back on again, you don't even need new thermal paste if you have a helper to swap the ram out while you hold the heatsink out of the way, put back on and tighten... been able to do it in 5 mins tops on my own in a decent sized case with good access.

[WoodenMarker]

On 4/2/2017 at 1:28 AM, Energycore said:

I bet if you contacted Noctua for a swap they'd give you that without charging for shipping

Ha, I doubt it. 

 

I'd recommend getting a slimmer cooler like a NH-U14S if you plan to access the ram often.

[gh0st47]

2 hours ago, WoodenMarker said:

Ha, I doubt it. 

 

I'd recommend getting a slimmer cooler like a NH-U14S if you plan to access the ram often.

I'm actually debating with myself whether should I go with U14S or D15 / D15S...the U14S just like my current U12S guarantee no problem and ANY RAM height won't be an issue I'm using Corsair Vengeance DDR3 and it's no problem. 

On 4/2/2017 at 5:03 PM, paddy-stone said:

Depends on the mobo, which do you have? on my z97 ATX board that I have that installed in I can access dimms 3+4 fully with the fan removed from above them, and dimms 1+2 are able to come out with a bit of a wiggle past, they are Kingston savage dimms for reference. But it's not a big deal even if you have BIG dimms as the heatsink isn't that bad to remove and put back on again, you don't even need new thermal paste if you have a helper to swap the ram out while you hold the heatsink out of the way, put back on and tighten... been able to do it in 5 mins tops on my own in a decent sized case with good access.

In that case I'm unsure, because I'm planning this for my RyZen build. Most probably either Gigabyte X370 Gaming 5 or ASUS Crosshair Hero VI.
I wonder if there's a huge difference between U14S and D15...some benchmark shows as much as 4 - 6C...some show identical....( D15 with Dual Fans and U14S with Single too, could be dual I maybe mistaken ) 
I doubt I'm planing to OC either. But seems like the U12S is cooling the RyZen chips pretty well if you don't OC them that is..

There is one downside to the D15....if I were to get eye candy RGB RAM or board like Gaming 5 from Gigabyte...all the LED be hidden by the cooler itself lol...kinda sad....or should I get a D15S and only use 1 single fan...how much better will a D15S single fan vs U14S dual fans ?? 

[paddy-stone]

2 hours ago, gh0st47 said:

I'm actually debating with myself whether should I go with U14S or D15 / D15S...the U14S just like my current U12S guarantee no problem and ANY RAM height won't be an issue I'm using Corsair Vengeance DDR3 and it's no problem. 

In that case I'm unsure, because I'm planning this for my RyZen build. Most probably either Gigabyte X370 Gaming 5 or ASUS Crosshair Hero VI.
I wonder if there's a huge difference between U14S and D15...some benchmark shows as much as 4 - 6C...some show identical....( D15 with Dual Fans and U14S with Single too, could be dual I maybe mistaken ) 
I doubt I'm planing to OC either. But seems like the U12S is cooling the RyZen chips pretty well if you don't OC them that is..

There is one downside to the D15....if I were to get eye candy RGB RAM or board like Gaming 5 from Gigabyte...all the LED be hidden by the cooler itself lol...kinda sad....or should I get a D15S and only use 1 single fan...how much better will a D15S single fan vs U14S dual fans ?? 

While I love the D15 it does have it's limitations because of it's size. If there is a viable alternative, go with that.. if you are not overclocking the ryzen why are you getting an x370 mobo? does it have other features you would use or just for aesthetics? Personally I would go with a B350 and the 1700, the 1700 also comes with a fan that is fine even with a little overclocking and has LED on it.  Why not get a 120mm AIO watercooler, or even a 240mm from coolermaster  https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/sqmxFT/cooler-master-cpu-cooler-mlyd24ma20mbr1, you can get them as little as the cost of the D15 from  if you want the best look for your build and doesn't get in the way of RAM no matter the size.

 

I am waiting on an ASrock b350 m-atx board for a new build I am doing, with the 1700 at first, see how it dies with overclocking and get a better cooler then if needed. I will be doing a build for freenas corral and using VMs for PC use, that way the NAS has all the CPU power and more than it needs when VMs aren't running. I am at the moment looking into the usefulness of this working on my test machine. If it doesn't work out the way I need/want it to then I will just have a dual boot system instead or figure another way out of doing what I want.

[WoodenMarker]

7 hours ago, gh0st47 said:

I doubt I'm planing to OC either. But seems like the U12S is cooling the RyZen chips pretty well if you don't OC them that is..

how much better will a D15S single fan vs U14S dual fans ?? 

If you already have the NH-U12S, I don't see why you would need a new cooler if you're not shooting for higher clocks.

The NH-U14S comes with a single NF-A15. When you add an additional NF-A15, it performs similarly to the NH-D15S.

[gh0st47]

20 hours ago, paddy-stone said:

While I love the D15 it does have it's limitations because of it's size. If there is a viable alternative, go with that.. if you are not overclocking the ryzen why are you getting an x370 mobo? does it have other features you would use or just for aesthetics? Personally I would go with a B350 and the 1700, the 1700 also comes with a fan that is fine even with a little overclocking and has LED on it.  Why not get a 120mm AIO watercooler, or even a 240mm from coolermaster  https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/sqmxFT/cooler-master-cpu-cooler-mlyd24ma20mbr1, you can get them as little as the cost of the D15 from  if you want the best look for your build and doesn't get in the way of RAM no matter the size.

 

I am waiting on an ASrock b350 m-atx board for a new build I am doing, with the 1700 at first, see how it dies with overclocking and get a better cooler then if needed. I will be doing a build for freenas corral and using VMs for PC use, that way the NAS has all the CPU power and more than it needs when VMs aren't running. I am at the moment looking into the usefulness of this working on my test machine. If it doesn't work out the way I need/want it to then I will just have a dual boot system instead or figure another way out of doing what I want.

More for Aesthetic in general, but I think X370 boards overall quality are much better too.
And what I hate about Mobo manufacturers, as long it's " cheaper " Chipset, the entire board itself is " cheaper " too...like lesser SATA Ports ( though that's a B350 limitation ) 
Lesser side way SATA ports, lesser PCIE lanes etc. Lacking in Debug LED code, Power On / Reset switch on the board ( Well you can do it manually ). Some even missing Dual BIOS which is handy even if you don't OC, who knows you may F@$#ed up while flashing BIOS etc. 
Overall based on my opinion and knowledge you lose out alot on the lower Chipset boards not just OCing feature....but B350 is OCable as well luckily. But I won't suggest it lol...won't want your VRM to blowing up in flames now would you ( Hey it may happen lol who knows... ) 

16 hours ago, WoodenMarker said:

If you already have the NH-U12S, I don't see why you would need a new cooler if you're not shooting for higher clocks.

The NH-U14S comes with a single NF-A15. When you add an additional NF-A15, it performs similarly to the NH-D15S.

Because I'm gonna keep the U12S on this old PC I'm currently using, I be giving this PC to my Dad. It's about time to retire his 7 Years old Vista Dell pre-built PC lol...that poor thing...

[WoodenMarker]

18 hours ago, gh0st47 said:

Because I'm gonna keep the U12S on this old PC I'm currently using, I be giving this PC to my Dad. It's about time to retire his 7 Years old Vista Dell pre-built PC lol...that poor thing...

In that case, I'd recommend a NH-U14S unless you really need the bit of extra performance with the NH-D15.

[gh0st47]

6 hours ago, WoodenMarker said:

In that case, I'd recommend a NH-U14S unless you really need the bit of extra performance with the NH-D15.

Yeah I think I will go with the U14S instead. It's more " friendly " to work with and doesn't actually block off all the RAM....which I wanted to show off lol...
I think it should be enough to cool the RyZen chip. I've seen a couple more reviews, the D15 / D15S doesn't seem to be much further away from the U14S...
Even on an OCed i7 ( forgot model but I think it's those Extreme / X99 ones ) the U14S at most is only about 3 - 4C behind.