Noctua U12A vs D15

[RusselTheMuscle]

I'm planning to buy a CPU cooler for my PC. My PC currently has an i5 4460 but I am planning on upgrading it to a Ryzen 3800X. I'm choosing between the Noctua U12A and D15.

 

I like the U12A because it offers more compatibility but the D15 offers more cooling.

 

Which cooler is more "future proof" so that I can use for years to come?

[Skiiwee29]

D15 is pound for pound the best air cooler on the market, so it would be the most "future proof". 

[Jurrunio]

If you dont care about RAM clearance (dont use tall sticks or dont care if memory sticks arent shown), D15 is better.

[LogicalDrm]

U12A would be the more future proof. Yes, D15 is one for more performance, but like said, its not better compatibility wise. Who knows, maybe you turn out like me and after 12 years on ATX want to go smaller size. And because of CPU cooler being too big, that really means full new system.

[Jeppes]

3900x + stock cooler > 3800x with any cooler. It makes no sense to invest a lot of money on coolers if you dont get a fast cpu first.

[Trentonxx]

4 hours ago, Jeppes said:

3900x + stock cooler > 3800x with any cooler. It makes no sense to invest a lot of money on coolers if you dont get a fast cpu first.

My 3800x stock cooler is annoyingly loud

[Jeppes]

41 minutes ago, Trentonxx said:

My 3800x stock cooler is annoyingly loud

Well get a decent 20-30€ tower cooler for it or google how to under-volt it.

[freeagent]

14 hours ago, Skiiwee29 said:

D15 is pound for pound the best air cooler on the market, so it would be the most "future proof". 

It’s not the best cooler pound for pound. There are many coolers just as good, if not slightly better. They are the most popular though.

[Skiiwee29]

1 hour ago, freeagent said:

It’s not the best cooler pound for pound. There are many coolers just as good, if not slightly better. They are the most popular though.

for air coolers, it is the best one. Its the top dog for air cooling. 

[freeagent]

52 minutes ago, Skiiwee29 said:

for air coolers, it is the best one. Its the top dog for air cooling. 

Oh, ok.

 

Well, here’s one review that shows it’s not.

 

https://www.techpowerup.com/review/thermalright-le-grand-macho/6.html

[Algebruh]

On 5/5/2020 at 5:44 AM, freeagent said:

Oh, ok.

 

Well, here’s one review that shows it’s not.

 

https://www.techpowerup.com/review/thermalright-le-grand-macho/6.html

The site also shows that U12S is same as U12A, which is questionable.

 

Also there are some cases report that le grand macho can't effectively cool zen 2 chips due to its convex copper base.

[freeagent]

I don't know, the review is from 2016, maybe it was added later, who knows.

 

As for convexity, its really not that bad. I'm not going to pull my cooler and take a pic with a straight edge. But I can say it is no worse than my old D14. Because you already know every top end Intel cooler made over the late decade or more has a little convexity to it. So maybe it was a user issue? Lots of noobs out there. Not pointing fingers or anything.. but you know who you are.. Shit even Im a noob to modern hardware, all my stuff is ancient. For Intel its a solid cooler. I will let you know how it works on AMD when I get one. Hopefully I wont have to do any lapping.