Noctua NH-D15 or aric liquid freezer II 240mm?

[TheSaiyan]

I have to choose between those two coolers, now i have a ryzen 1700 but i'm going to upgrade to a 5900x.

Noctua pros: air cooling has less failing points, probably more durable and more silent (i think)

Cons: it's very big and can have problems with the ram ( kfa2 HOF, very tall ram)with the headsinks of the motherboard ( x470 asus prime pro) and the case ( NZXT s340 elite).

Artic pros: a little more cooling performance, the cpu ares it's more clean and unoccupied, has a fan for the ram and the vrm.

Cons: more possible failing points and the consequences of water coming out are more dangerous, and my case don't allow to mount in the correct position showed by Steve from gamers nexus ( the tubs in the radiator down and not up) .

They cost the same so price is indifferent. 

[Tristerin]

If it were me:

 

Id get the D15 simply because I already own AIO's.  And I really want a D15 (or beQuiet Dark Rock Pro) and have been eyeballing them for some time.  Both restrict which case you can use (CPU cooler height or 240mm rad support) and both are good at cooling.  

 

If its your first AIO, go with the AIO, they are neat.  And then you can avoid all of the issues with RAM etc, and if we are being honest, when I put on large heat sinks (have a couple no namers) they are almost annoying with how hard it is to get them on, clip with no room, etc etc.  

 

But if it were just a cooler choice - Id go with the D15

 

EDIT - as for hose mount, yes there is a right way and a wrong way IF you have issues with air bubbles getting trapped in the CPU block/pump (hear grinding, loud, audible pump sound while operating).  If you dont, they are trapped elsewhere - just more likely to get trapped at highest point of loop so by putting the rad tubes down when the bubble passes through the radiator it gets stuck up top permanently due to gravity.  So if your CPU block ends up being higher than everything (hoses included) then it may have issues with air bubbles entering the CPU block.  Just try to make sure your hoses are higher than the CPU blocks highest point.

[Applefreak]

7 minutes ago, TheSaiyan said:

I have to choose between those two coolers, now i have a ryzen 1700 but i'm going to upgrade to a 5900x.

Noctua pros: air cooling has less failing points, probably more durable and more silent (i think)

Cons: it's very big and can have problems with the ram ( kfa2 HOF, very tall ram)with the headsinks of the motherboard ( x470 asus prime pro) and the case ( NZXT s340 elite).

Artic pros: a little more cooling performance, the cpu ares it's more clean and unoccupied, has a fan for the ram and the vrm.

Cons: more possible failing points and the consequences of water coming out are more dangerous, and my case don't allow to mount in the correct position showed by Steve from gamers nexus ( the tubs in the radiator down and not up) .

They cost the same so price is indifferent. 

If the NH-D15 is too big, get the NH-U12A instead. Not as much surface area but if you are not planning on overclocking, perfectly adequate. Your case does support the Liquid Freezer 280 as well. The positioning of the end tanks and tubes is not an issue but it will make noises, that will get louder over time. I run Noctua air coolers in all my personal and office rigs. With a bit of tinkering on the fan profile it will be nearly silent in windows. While gaming I have the fans spin up but they are still far away from noisy.

[TheSaiyan]

1 hour ago, Tristerin said:

If it were me:

 

Id get the D15 simply because I already own AIO's.  And I really want a D15 (or beQuiet Dark Rock Pro) and have been eyeballing them for some time.  Both restrict which case you can use (CPU cooler height or 240mm rad support) and both are good at cooling.  

 

If its your first AIO, go with the AIO, they are neat.  And then you can avoid all of the issues with RAM etc, and if we are being honest, when I put on large heat sinks (have a couple no namers) they are almost annoying with how hard it is to get them on, clip with no room, etc etc.  

 

But if it were just a cooler choice - Id go with the D15

 

EDIT - as for hose mount, yes there is a right way and a wrong way IF you have issues with air bubbles getting trapped in the CPU block/pump (hear grinding, loud, audible pump sound while operating).  If you dont, they are trapped elsewhere - just more likely to get trapped at highest point of loop so by putting the rad tubes down when the bubble passes through the radiator it gets stuck up top permanently due to gravity.  So if your CPU block ends up being higher than everything (hoses included) then it may have issues with air bubbles entering the CPU block.  Just try to make sure your hoses are higher than the CPU blocks highest point.

I've already had an aio but the incorrect position of the tubbings in the long time makes more bubbles and they constantly end in the bomb destroying the performance.

It was random but in the worst days my aio performed worst than the stock cooler of my ryzen.

 

1 hour ago, Applefreak said:

If the NH-D15 is too big, get the NH-U12A instead. Not as much surface area but if you are not planning on overclocking, perfectly adequate. Your case does support the Liquid Freezer 280 as well. The positioning of the end tanks and tubes is not an issue but it will make noises, that will get louder over time. I run Noctua air coolers in all my personal and office rigs. With a bit of tinkering on the fan profile it will be nearly silent in windows. While gaming I have the fans spin up but they are still far away from noisy.

Meh, i am more of a "go big or go home" style , and the cooler it's a birthday present from a friend who said me to choose which one of those i prefer.

Like i said before the problem isn't noise but the performance of the aio dropping when the air bubbles accumulated .

[thermalgoop]

I'd go with the D15. I have it. I love it. Yeah, it's big and unwieldy, I have to run mine with the fans pulling to clear my RAM. But it keeps my 4770k @ 4.5 barely touching 60C (with some Conductonaut under the IHS). I prefer air cooling, much less maintenance. If something fails, it's not catastrophic. Even if the fans did fail on the D15, there's so much surface area that the airflow in a decent case would be plenty to keep a CPU cool enough before you find the problem. And even a pair of Noctua's swankiest 140mm fans is cheaper than a new AIO. 

[atm0706]

I have an EVGA clc 240 paired with a 5900x and it gets the job done. I use the same fans as the arctic liquid freezer though (the P12). They are very quiet and work really well. The stock evga fans were a freaking joke when it came to noise levels. I would probably get a 280mm cooler though if you are going to get a 5900x, I just already had the 240 and didn't want to spend any more money when this one works fine. I run mine the "wrong" way with tubes up because there is no room for tubes down and gpu clearance in my case unless I put the radiator in the top position. I prefer the radiator as intake so it doesn't have to use the hot air from the gpu. It works fine like this and there no noise. 

 

Liquid coolers are nice because they take a lot longer to heat soak. They can technically be more prone to failure, but I'd still consider it a rare occurrence.

 

Either one will work well, I just prefer the cleaner look of an AIO.

[Fuzzyy]

Just go with the D15, Noctua's air coolers are easier to install, no pump noise, no air bubbles, no worrying of reliability. Just make sure you have the space for the big chungus, ram, side panel clearance etc...

[pro101]

That's a mistake, don's purchase air cooling for 5900x the CPU is rly hot, especially if ur going to OC it. Plus new 3xxx NVIDIA cards r hot as well, so don't even think about air cooling, take liquid freezer II 360 on top of the case, it will be great.

[TheSaiyan]

Thanks to all, i'm going for the noctua.

The difference in cooling it's minimal and it's more reliable.