Noctua NH-D15 vs BeQuiet Dark Rock Pro 3

[thedons1983]

Need some advice on these two please, as I know that they are both excellent, but still quite different. I don't care about aesthetics in this instance, so that's not relevant to me. I've got an i7-4770K, and did have a Corsair H80, but it is now broken and I'm RMA'ing it. I never liked that cooler anyway, as it was far too noisy at idle, so I plan to sell it as soon as I get a replacement from Corsair (who were very helpful BTW), and buy either of the two in the title. Obviously temperatures are important, and I do plan to maintain my current 4.5GHz OC, but I am far more interested in the cooler doing it's job quietly. I would honestly rather run at stock settings than deal with excess noise, so I'd like some advice from those that know please, which cooler is better when acoustics are your priority. Cheers!

[LUUD18]

I would go with the Noctua. BeQuiet tends to be expensive.

[Guest]

The NH-D15 would have much better temperature vs DRP3 

While both will be pretty silent (DRP3 is a tiny bit quieter)

 

Noise level:

Spoiler

Temp level

Spoiler

 

[Enderman]

2 minutes ago, LUUD18 said:

I would go with the Noctua. BeQuiet tends to be expensive.

Both of these are expensive high end air coolers.

I would assume he can afford both if he,s asking about them.

 

In short,

DRP3: lower noise, way better looks

NH-D15: lower temps

[Guest]

Just now, Enderman said:

In short,

DRP3: lower noise, way better looks

NH-D15: lower temps

he doesn't care about looks though

[thedons1983]

3 minutes ago, LUUD18 said:

I would go with the Noctua. BeQuiet tends to be expensive.

Here in the UK, there's only like £5 difference between the two, and the BeQuiet is actually cheaper.

[Enderman]

2 minutes ago, deXxterlab97 said:

he doesn't care about looks though

I know, I was just stating the difference.

People can decide on their own which one they want based on those 3 differences.

[thedons1983]

17 hours ago, deXxterlab97 said:

The NH-D15 would have much better temperature vs DRP3 

While both will be pretty silent (DRP3 is a tiny bit quieter)

 

Noise level:

  Hide contents

Temp level

  Hide contents

 

Good to know, they are actually pretty darn close to eachother, so it's a toss up, but the lower noise might win for me! Cheers!

 

17 hours ago, Enderman said:

Both of these are expensive high end air coolers.

I would assume he can afford both if he,s asking about them.

 

In short,

DRP3: lower noise, way better looks

NH-D15: lower temps

Lower noise = better to me! Thanks

 

17 hours ago, deXxterlab97 said:

he doesn't care about looks though

Well... only when it comes to computer components like...

[LUUD18]

10 minutes ago, Enderman said:

Both of these are expensive high end air coolers.

I would assume he can afford both if he,s asking about them.

 

In short,

DRP3: lower noise, way better looks

NH-D15: lower temps

I mean expensive for what you get.

[thedons1983]

1 minute ago, LUUD18 said:

I mean expensive for what you get.

Fair enough, the Noctua does have a longer warranty right enough, so I take your point.

[Enderman]

8 minutes ago, LUUD18 said:

I mean expensive for what you get.

Not really, it's one of the best air coolers out there, and just like the noctua it costs just under $100.

The noctua is better at some things and the DRP3 is better at others.

Their price and value is pretty much the same.

[WoodenMarker]

13 hours ago, Enderman said:

Both of these are expensive high end air coolers.

I would assume he can afford both if he,s asking about them.

In short,

DRP3: lower noise, way better looks

NH-D15: lower temps

The NH-D15 also has a better warranty and is much easier to install.

If the system isn't running only components that is just as quiet as well, the NH-D15 is the easier recommendation. 

[Enderman]

2 minutes ago, WoodenMarker said:

The NH-D15 also has a better warranty and is much easier to install.

If the system isn't running only components that is just as quiet as well, the NH-D15 is the easier recommendation. 

Why do you need a long warranty on a chunk of metal....

The only kind of damage that can happen to it is something you do yourself, and warranty doesn't cover that.

[WoodenMarker]

Just now, Enderman said:

Why do you need a long warranty on a chunk of metal....

The only kind of damage that can happen to it is something you do yourself, and warranty doesn't cover that.

Fans can die and noctua's known for excellent customer service. I haven't as many good stories for BeQuiet. 

[Enderman]

5 minutes ago, WoodenMarker said:

Fans can die and noctua's known for excellent customer service. I haven't as many good stories for BeQuiet. 

Both bequiet and noctua fans are some of the best fans on the market.

They will not fail within 6 years, unless there is a factory defect in which case it will be DOA or make strange noises right when you get it.

[WoodenMarker]

1 minute ago, Enderman said:

Both bequiet and noctua fans are some of the best fans on the market.

They will not fail within 6 years, unless there is a factory defect in which case it will be DOA or make strange noises right when you get it.

They're excellent fans but not built to perfection. There can be defects that cause a fan to fail earlier than expected.

[Enderman]

2 minutes ago, WoodenMarker said:

They're excellent fans but not built to perfection. There can be defects that cause a fan to fail earlier than expected.

If someone wants lower noise, I would not try to convince them to buy a louder cooler for the 0.0001% chance of a fan failing within 6 years but after 3 years, and then have to spend $20 shipping the product to the manufacturer rather than spending $20 for a new fan.

[WoodenMarker]

Just now, Enderman said:

If someone wants lower noise, I would not try to convince them to buy a louder cooler for the 0.0001% chance of a fan failing within 6 years but after 3 years, and then have to spend $20 shipping the product to the manufacturer rather than spending $20 for a new fan.

The system is only as quiet as the loudest component. If the OP is running components that are as quiet, going with the DRP3 makes more sense. If that isn't the case, going with cooler that's slightly quieter wouldn't make a noticeable difference.

[Enderman]

Just now, WoodenMarker said:

The system is only as quiet as the loudest component. If the OP is running components that are as quiet, going with the DRP3 makes more sense. If that isn't the case, going with cooler that's slightly quieter wouldn't make a noticeable difference.

It will if they change their other components in the future.

Also, two fans at 20db are louder than 1 fan at 20db, so no, it is not "as quiet as the loudest component".

[WoodenMarker]

3 minutes ago, Enderman said:

It will if they change their other components in the future.

Also, two fans at 20db are louder than 1 fan at 20db, so no, it is not "as quiet as the loudest component".

It's generally a big IF for someone to make the entire system quieter than the NH-D15.

When I say it's only as quiet as the loudest component, it means that it can only ever be that quiet and no less. It can definitely be louder that the loudest component. 

[Ordinarily_Greater]

2 hours ago, WoodenMarker said:

The NH-D15 also has a better warranty and is much easier to install.

If the system isn't running only components that is just as quiet as well, the NH-D15 is the easier recommendation. 

It is because its SecuFirm technology!

[thedons1983]

3 hours ago, WoodenMarker said:

The NH-D15 also has a better warranty and is much easier to install.

If the system isn't running only components that is just as quiet as well, the NH-D15 is the easier recommendation. 

The easier install appeals for sure... Although from the videos I've seen, the people involved seem to be making a meal of fitting the DRP3! 

 

3 hours ago, WoodenMarker said:

The system is only as quiet as the loudest component. If the OP is running components that are as quiet, going with the DRP3 makes more sense. If that isn't the case, going with cooler that's slightly quieter wouldn't make a noticeable difference.

Everything in my system will be quieter or as quiet as the CPU cooler, so the DRP3 seems the better option to me on that basis. I agree with your comment that if other components drown the cooler out, then it's all irrelevant anyway, but I want as quiet a system as I can manage! Cheers

 

3 hours ago, WoodenMarker said:

It's generally a big IF for someone to make the entire system quieter than the NH-D15.

When I say it's only as quiet as the loudest component, it means that it can only ever be that quiet and no less. It can definitely be louder that the loudest component. 

It's not that big an if! I live in suburban Scotland where the only ambient noise in the room my PC lives, is my PC itself! Oh, and the birds outside! Therefore I need something quiet, very quiet. I run this system 24/7, and game on it too, so it has to be as quiet as possible in all circumstances. 1-2 dB is potentially a big deal to me, so I would always want my CPU and GPU coolers to be the loudest part of my system as those components need the cooling the most obviously. Right now however, my external HDD, is the loudest thing "in" my system, haha...

[WoodenMarker]

19 minutes ago, thedons1983 said:

It's not that big an if! I live in suburban Scotland where the only ambient noise in the room my PC lives, is my PC itself! Oh, and the birds outside! Therefore I need something quiet, very quiet. I run this system 24/7, and game on it too, so it has to be as quiet as possible in all circumstances. 1-2 dB is potentially a big deal to me, so I would always want my CPU and GPU coolers to be the loudest part of my system as those components need the cooling the most obviously. Right now however, my external HDD, is the loudest thing "in" my system, haha...

Neat. It's nice to see other people who strive for silence. I'm personally running my hdd's suspended in open cell foam molds and it makes a significant difference in acoustics. It should be easy enough to do something similar with an external hdd. Folded cloth should help.

[thedons1983]

9 minutes ago, WoodenMarker said:

Neat. It's nice to see other people who strive for silence. I'm personally running my hdd's suspended in open cell foam molds and it makes a significant difference in acoustics. It should be easy enough to do something similar with an external hdd. Folded cloth should help.

 

Yeah, silent running is actually my main aim with my personal machine. I hate hearing background noise, and would gladly take no OC, if it meant a quieter system.

 

The foam around the HDDs is a great idea by the way... I'm currently deciding on a mATX case to put my current ITX system into... All in the pursuit of better acoustics and temperatures, so foam around an internal HDD is really quite genius! I will be stealing that idea, haha!