noctua nh d15 chromax compatibility ???

[konstantinosbm]

Hello everyone.Very happy to be part of this community and thank you for the amazing content .Its my first post here so i would be very grateful for any insight on my problem.I would ideally like to buy a noctua nh d15 chromax air cooler for my build but i ve come across several comments supporting that dual fan operation is only possible with 32mm ram or less. Unfortunately my ram dimms are 51 or 52 mm i believe so i guess i would be limited to only single fan operation .Though i am planning on using only 2 ram dimms (placed in the second and fourth slot respectively of the motherboard) so i am wondering if this will allow to use this air cooler in its full capacity (dual fan mode) ..can anyone enlighten me as to how this works exactly??

[Tanaz]

Depends on your case. In most cases you won't be able to fit the front fan as you would have to lift it up over the ram and install it that way but it's going to interfere with the side panel of the case. That's what happened to me and I had to replace the front fan with a 120mm one. What is your case?

[Boomy Beatle]

Real quick, what CPU, motherboard, and RAM are you using?

[Zando_]

If you have clearance over the I/O shield at the back of the mobo (assuming you're running mainstream with all DIMMs to the right of the socket), you can put the second fan on the back. Or just remove it, there's a 3C difference between 1 or 2 fans, so barely noticeable. 

[Tanaz]

2 minutes ago, Zando Bob said:

If you have clearance over the I/O shield at the back of the mobo (assuming you're running mainstream with all DIMMs to the right of the socket), you can put the second fan on the back. Or just remove it, there's a 3C difference between 1 or 2 fans, so barely noticeable. 

It's not about the degrees difference. When only one fan is installed it runs at higher RPM overall and the system is more noisy. The goal of a huge air cooler (at least for most people) is quiet operation especially when it comes to Noctua. Degrees don't do a good job illustrating the difference between 1 and 2 fans.

[Zando_]

Just now, Tanaz said:

It's not about the degrees difference. When only one fan is installed it runs at higher RPM overall and the system is more noisy. The goal of a huge air cooler (at least for most people) is quiet operation especially when it comes to Noctua. Degrees don't do a good job illustrating the difference between 1 and 2 fans.

There's no noticeable noise difference unless the rest of your components are so inhumanly quiet that your cooler is the loudest thing, or you sit with your ear duct taped to the side panel. I've ran 1 or 2 fans on my D15S (exact same heatsink with an offset, using the A15 fans the full D15 does) at max rpm and never noticed the noise. For the majority of CPUs you won't even need to run the fan on max unless you're stress testing or something, so it'll be even quieter. 

[Tanaz]

1 minute ago, Zando Bob said:

There's no noticeable noise difference unless the rest of your components are so inhumanly quiet that your cooler is the loudest thing, or you sit with your ear duct taped to the side panel. I've ran 1 or 2 fans on my D15S (exact same heatsink with an offset, using the A15 fans the full D15 does) at max rpm and never noticed the noise. For the majority of CPUs you won't even need to run the fan on max unless you're stress testing or something, so it'll be even quieter. 

I could easily tell the difference with my 3700x which is nowhere near pushing  the cooler to its limits. Maybe I have a sensitive ear.

[Zando_]

Just now, Tanaz said:

I could easily tell the difference with my 3700x which is nowhere near pushing  the cooler to its limits. Maybe I have a sensitive ear.

Could be that, I also ran it in a more restricted case though. Evolv ATX, chunky aluminum and thick tempered glass side panels so it doesn't let a lot of noise out unless you point the back exhaust fan at yourself. If the OP is super sensitive to noise or has a really open case that could definitely be something to take into account. 

[konstantinosbm]

14 hours ago, Tanaz said:

Depends on your case. In most cases you won't be able to fit the front fan as you would have to lift it up over the ram and install it that way but it's going to interfere with the side panel of the case. That's what happened to me and I had to replace the front fan with a 120mm one. What is your case?

thank you so much for the insight ..my case is a phanteks p500a with 190mm cooler clerance ..the noctua max heght is mentioned to be 165mm and my ram 56mm. Since it covers 32mm of ram in its default position i could lift it up 24 mm coming at a total of 189mm ..

[Tanaz]

1 minute ago, konstantinosbm said:

thank you so much for the insight ..my case is a phanteks p500a with 190mm cooler clerance ..the noctua max heght is mentioned to be 165mm and my ram 56mm. Since it covers 32mm of ram in its default position i could lift it up 24 mm coming at a total of 189mm ..

Your case is slightly deeper than mine so you actually might be able to fit the second fan all be it a little raised. The depth of your case is listed as 240mm while mine is listed at 204mm.