NH-U12A or NH-D15 small case

[tony95]

I am trying to decide which to get for a Cooler Master N400 case where two things will be happening.  I have a 5700xt mining crypt-o and a 5800x encoding video.  This case has lots of fan slots but I am not sure the top fans will be usable especially depending on which cooler I choose.  I have the Asrock B550 Phantom which doesn't have large top heat sinks so that shouldn't be a problem.  NH-D15 Pros: Cheaper, Cools better in theory Cons: Bigger, Might not be able to install a top fan  NH-U12A Pros: Smaller, definitely won't block top fan slot and will have bigger gap between cooler and GPU Cons: Expensive, not as good at cooling in theory.  Does anyone have any thoughts on whether the larger heat-sink on the NH-D15 is going to block enough airflow to offset its benefits? 

[CWALD]

I am currently using the NH-D15 and I can vouch that it is massive, with my motherboard I actually have to remove my cooler in order to reach either the lock on my GPU slot or My CPU power pins. I also have to aware of how tall the memory I buy is and am unable to fit a fan on the rear side of the cooler and a rear case fan at the same time. According to reviews, the actual cooling difference between the two coolers is minimal in practice. Going forward, if I ever have to buy another one, I would probably go for the NH-U12A although I would expect the D15 to last me for many years to come.

[tony95]

1 hour ago, CWALD said:

I am currently using the NH-D15 and I can vouch that it is massive, with my motherboard I actually have to remove my cooler in order to reach either the lock on my GPU slot or My CPU power pins. I also have to aware of how tall the memory I buy is and am unable to fit a fan on the rear side of the cooler and a rear case fan at the same time. According to reviews, the actual cooling difference between the two coolers is minimal in practice. Going forward, if I ever have to buy another one, I would probably go for the NH-U12A although I would expect the D15 to last me for many years to come.

Thanks for the input.  I think if I am going to go air cooling then I better do the NH-U12A.  I already have a couple of them and they do pretty well and I only use one of the fans. I think the difference is only going to be a degree or two and it is possible that it may be equal if I can't get the airflow I need through the case with the NH-D15 installed and also that heat sink would be right against a hot GPU back-plate. Problem is that the NH-U12A is about $122 after tax, so that is just about cost prohibitive.  I currently have the 5800x on a custom water loop, so I think I am going to see if I can't get two 120mm radiators in this case since I already have them laying around.  Right now it is in a Antec P100 and I want to put it at the bottom of my new server rack, so that is why I bought a smaller case.

[CWALD]

2 minutes ago, tony95 said:

Thanks for the input.  I think if I am going to go air cooling then I better do the NH-U12A.  I already have a couple of them and they do pretty well and I only use one of the fans. I think the difference is only going to be a degree or two and it is possible that it may be equal if I can't get the airflow I need through the case with the NH-D15 installed and also that heat sink would be right against a hot GPU back-plate. Problem is that the NH-U12A is about $122 after tax, so that is just about cost prohibitive.  I currently have the 5800x on a custom water loop, so I think I am going to see if I can't get two 120mm radiators in this case since I already have them laying around.  Right now it is in a Antec P100 and I want to put it at the bottom of my new server rack, so that is why I bought a smaller case.

I did not realize the U12A was that much. Still going to be a lot less then water cooling if you have another place to use those rads but now your leaving my realm of knowledge  

 

Good luck!

[tony95]

16 hours ago, CWALD said:

I did not realize the U12A was that much. Still going to be a lot less then water cooling if you have another place to use those rads but now your leaving my realm of knowledge  

 

Good luck!

I am sure those rads are more expensive today, but I don't think in total it is much more than the U12A.  At least not for what I paid a couple of years ago., just not sure I can get a top one installed in that case and I don't know if one rad will be enough.  Currently it is running on one 240mm + one 120mm radiator and still is in the high 70s C when encoding videos.  I will probably switch the cheap freezemod block with a EK Evo, maybe that will help.  Trying to get away from water cooling because I don't ever feel like maintaining them but they do cool slightly better than air if you can get enough radiator in the case.

[freeagent]

I would check out a Thermalright FC140. Its very good. I bought mine from AliExpress the day it was released

[tony95]

@freeagent, that's a 140mm cooler.  I am trying to limit size but it does look like its only slightly taller than a 120mm fan cooler.  I have decided to try the Scythe Fuma 2.  It's $60 and looks like it can beat the U12A when either adding a 3rd fan or using 2 faster fans. It's only 155mm total height so pretty much on target.  If I add a third fan for $15 that's only $75 to beat the U12A by a couple of degrees and the U12A is very good.  I have 2x Scythe WS120 and 2x Thermaltake Toughfan 120 on the way.  I will probably move the stock fans to the case and use these high rpm fans on the Fuma 2.  Will be interesting to see results.

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

7 minutes ago, tony95 said:

@freeagent, that's a 140mm cooler.  I am trying to limit size but it does look like its only slightly taller than a 120mm fan cooler.  I have decided to try the Scythe Fuma 2.  It's $60 and looks like it can beat the U12A when either adding a 3rd fan or using 2 faster fans. It's only 155mm total height so pretty much on target.  If I add a third fan for $15 that's only $75 to beat the U12A by a couple of degrees and the U12A is very good.  I have 2x Scythe WS120 and 2x Thermaltake Toughfan 120 on the way.  I will probably move the stock fans to the case and use these high rpm fans on the Fuma 2.  Will be interesting to see results.

 

I'd suggest the thermalright pa120 instead

[tony95]

26 minutes ago, Kinda Bottlenecked said:

 

I'd suggest the thermalright pa120 instead

That is compelling, but I can't find how it compares to U12S or U12A

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

4 minutes ago, tony95 said:

That is compelling, but I can't find how it compares to U12S or U12A

 

its within 1-2 degrees of the nh-d15 

 

 

Turn on cc for english subs.

[tony95]

I have a U12S, PA120, and Fuma 2 on the way.  I will let you know which one works best with 2x TT Toughfan120s and the 5800x

[freeagent]

49 minutes ago, tony95 said:

I have a U12S, PA120, and Fuma 2 on the way.  I will let you know which one works best with 2x TT Toughfan120s and the 5800x

That is impressive! I forgot about PA120, it’s a sweet cooler. I have a bunch of Thermalright coolers and I still am thinking about buying that for my 5600X. Thermalright has many coolers that directly compete with D15. But I love the coldplate on their new gen coolers, they do very well with Zen3. Even PA120 had a higher TDP rating then the D15 iirc.

[tony95]

On 8/19/2021 at 1:43 PM, freeagent said:

That is impressive! I forgot about PA120, it’s a sweet cooler. I have a bunch of Thermalright coolers and I still am thinking about buying that for my 5600X. Thermalright has many coolers that directly compete with D15. But I love the coldplate on their new gen coolers, they do very well with Zen3. Even PA120 had a higher TDP rating then the D15 iirc.

So, I am not even going to test the U12S, I'll just return it.  I have D15 coming, I know it's going to win but I decided to use the Rosewill Challenger S case which is a little deeper than the CM N400 but I imagine it will be cramped enough that either the PA120 or the Fuma2 will be my ultimate choice.  I am so rooting for the PA120 because at $40 and a couple of Toughfan 12s you can't beat the price.  The only way I am keeping the D15 is if it is the only option to keep my 5800x at an expectable temp, but I imagine it is only going to be a degree or two off, but not sure.  My case is stuck in Memphis for some reason, so I can't test yet, I will update though because not much info out there on the PA120 and maybe someone will get some help from the test.

[freeagent]

28 minutes ago, tony95 said:

So, I am not even going to test the U12S, I'll just return it.  I have D15 coming, I know it's going to win but I decided to use the Rosewill Challenger S case which is a little deeper than the CM N400 but I imagine it will be cramped enough that either the PA120 or the Fuma2 will be my ultimate choice.  I am so rooting for the PA120 because at $40 and a couple of Toughfan 12s you can't beat the price.  The only way I am keeping the D15 is if it is the only option to keep my 5800x at an expectable temp, but I imagine it is only going to be a degree or two off, but not sure.  My case is stuck in Memphis for some reason, so I can't test yet, I will update though because not much info out there on the PA120 and maybe someone will get some help from the test.

I hope it works out for you! The only reason why I have not bought PA120 is because I have Le Grand Macho RT already, and I like the cooler. Its pretty good with 5600X, but not as good as FC140, even though LGMRT is rated for 320w and FC140 for 275.. I have seen my 5900 do 240w and 5600X do 140w. These were designed for 11th gen and Zen 3. They changed up the cold plate on the new gen of Thermalright coolers to deal with the denser heat loads a little better. I think PA120 is rated for 260w? People say TDP doesn't matter.. but it does. I have Le Grand Macho RT and True Spirit 140 Power, and on old school muscle like X58 they are awesome, they actually get warm. On Z77 they still do pretty good, but chip runs hot at the tippy top, cooler is cool. Zen 3 runs cool to me, I don't have any of the hot temps people complain about until I turn to all core clocks on the 5900.. 7nm is a bear at the top end. I own a 5600X, 5900X and just sold a 3600XT. That XT could be run passively on LGMRT, no fan installed

 

I am running my FC140 with a single fan, only 3 case fans installed, and it boosts to and holds 5150 on some single core stuff, and usually between 4650-4950 for mc stuff, it really depends on what's running. Linpack Xtreme runs at 4500, WCG and F@H run at 4600-4750, OCCT runs at 4750, TM5 runs at 4850, 3dmark runs a bit higher. 2 of my case fans rev to 2500-3K when the load hits so its not quiet when its busy 

 

/ramble 

[tony95]

I think I could only tolerate 2500 rpm if I wasn't in the room.  

[tony95]

Got my testing done and here are my results.  I installed two ThermalTake Toughfan 12s on the ThermalRight Peerless Assassin 120 and also tested the same fans on the Scythe Fuma 2;  I ran my 5800X at 4.417GHz in Prime95 Small FFT until it topped out then I ran it some more and ran it some more.  The PA120 decidedly beat the Fuma2.  The PA120 topped out at 87.5 C and the Fuma 2 was running about 92 C.  The Fuma2 eventually started throwing errors in Prime95 and I ended the test since it was pretty sure it had reached it's max temp. I didn't test stock fans but I am certain the PA120's 1500 RPM fans would beat the 1200 RPM fans on the Fuma 2.  I did noticed that the TT Toughfans were spinning closer to 1900 RPM when they were on the PA120 and near 2000 RPM when on the Fuma2.  I am guessing this was caused by PA120 having a denser fin stack but I can't tell by looking.  Lastly, the smaller coolers are pretty tight in my case so I am not going to test the DH-U15. Love the Toughfan 12s, they are super quiet and did a great good job.  Two Toughfans plus a PA120 is about $82 so a ($109) NH-U12A killer for sure.  Can't wait to get the 2300 RPM Wonder Snail fans, if those are better then oh man, you have the best $75 cooling solution I can think of.

[freeagent]

I figured it would beat the Scythe. Noice

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

Even the stock config of the pa120 has so much value since you can get it cheaper than a mugen 5. 

[freeagent]

My FC 140 can tame my 5900X with just a single fan. Mind you that fan is a 3K iPPC but still

[tony95]

41 minutes ago, Kinda Bottlenecked said:

Even the stock config of the pa120 has so much value since you can get it cheaper than a mugen 5. 

I agree, I already ordered a second.  If I had used the stock fans on both then it would have been a bloodbath considering that not only are the Scythe stock fans slower but one is only 15mm thick.  With the TF12s blasting 1900+ RPM I could barely hear it running from about 6 feet away so if I can get another 400 RPM without a noise penalty, I gotta do it.

[tony95]

36 minutes ago, freeagent said:

My FC 140 can tame my 5900X with just a single fan. Mind you that fan is a 3K iPPC but still

Since the PA120 seems to be cooling almost as well as the 240mm + 120mm custom loop I had it on then I would say we are at about the thermal limit for cooling, maybe not.  Do you need to run your fan anywhere near 3000 RPM, ever?

[freeagent]

6 minutes ago, tony95 said:

Do you need to run your fan anywhere near 3000 RPM, ever?

Yes it will spool that high. Just for heavy work, or some heavy benchmark stuff.

[tony95]

Another point I would make about the comparison, the Fuma2 is slightly wider, this was making installing top fans in my small case impossible, so that is another downside on the Fuma2.  However the first fan on the PA120 is directly over all my memory chips, I have a small gap but if you are going to use tall memory or want to see your memory then you would probably need to move the fans toward the back of the case and that would mean setting up a pull configuration or exhausting toward the front of the case, so that might effect performance.  Also, the PA120 is right up against my GPU backplate, I actually had to remove the GPU to install the fans. Installation on the Fuma2 was definitely easier.  I might rotate the PA120 180 degrees and I believe the heatsink will skew more toward the top of the case but then I have to see if that will block top case fans.

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

36 minutes ago, tony95 said:

I agree, I already ordered a second.  If I had used the stock fans on both then it would have been a bloodbath considering that not only are the Scythe stock fans slower but one is only 15mm thick.  With the TF12s blasting 1900+ RPM I could barely hear it running from about 6 feet away so if I can get another 400 RPM without a noise penalty, I gotta do it.

 

I have the pa120 for my 5900x. When rendering and it doesn't hit thermal limits like my mugen 5 used too. 83*C max when stressing all 12 cores. 

 

I believe the pa120 might benefit from higher sp fans since the stock ones aren't too good. Thermalright themselves have fans that share the same platform as the toughfan and gt fans.

 

It'll be interesting to see if the new phanteks t30 fans fit on the pa120 since they're the best performing 120mm fan in existence currently.  

 

[tony95]

1 hour ago, Kinda Bottlenecked said:

 

I have the pa120 for my 5900x. When rendering and it doesn't hit thermal limits like my mugen 5 used too. 83*C max when stressing all 12 cores. 

 

I believe the pa120 might benefit from higher sp fans since the stock ones aren't too good. Thermalright themselves have fans that share the same platform as the toughfan and gt fans.

 

It'll be interesting to see if the new phanteks t30 fans fit on the pa120 since they're the best performing 120mm fan in existence currently.  

 

Oh, I am sure they would knock several degrees off the stock temps. The 25mm fans seemed kind of loose on the PA120, so if you can get the 30mm fan between the towers you might be able to hook it on.  If you are price conscious or just wanting to get above 2000 RPM you might look at the Scythe WS120, you have to order them a few weeks in advance but they are 2400 RPM (I hear they actually reach about 2300) for $16.  I think anything above that they will be way too loud unless you have your PC in another room.  If they are good, I probably won't be pushing them much above 2000 RPM and hopefully get my temp down another degree or two.