Review - Noctua NH-D15 CPU cooler

no thermalright silver arrow (sb-e , ib-e) no phanteks , so nothing to see here

 

How old is that Prime95 version? The new ones (and preferrably the 64-bit on) that use AVX are way, way more stressful and produces more heat. My cpu needs ayt least ~1,25V to be stable at 4,5 GHz without WHEA errors. Hottest core is around 80c in Prime95 when the most demanding workloads start. In normal usage it is nowhere near that though. Still, True Spirit does rather nice job.

 

All the cooling benchmark tables I've seen to date have always displayed the stock cooler for the processor being tested.

 

What's the point of that if you can't even test and OCed CPU with it?

All these beefy coolers are made to OC with. You're not gonna buy a 80 Euro CPU Cooler to run it at stock.

 

IIRC it runs about 5 degrees cooler than my current NH-D14, and it's nearly on par with a H110 under full load. That's not half bad.

 

lol very true. I'm sure some of the lower-clocked (3GHz and under) intel CPUs could even operate with this without the fan, as long as you don't run stuff like prime95 all day.


Crazy how huge this HSF is. I have the Asus Arctic Square (it was $25 but works great on AM3+ CPUs) which is roughly half the mass of the NH-D14 and even that is almost too bulky to work with. It performs great though - the thing with these types of heatsinks is you really need a direct "tube" of airflow. They don't seem very effective by themselves.

 

I don't think it's that much better. Your PC may run hotter, but you have another chip, another TIM and another ambient temperature.

Hilbert did pretty consistent test here and it sits exactly on same spot as D14.
If it was that much better I would be getting it since I have D14 too.

I simply believe it is designed to have as good cooling capacity but has different size so it fits more PCs.

 

My question as well. I have the Silver Arrow SB-E which has performed extremely well. I'm always looking for their coolers in these comparisons but rarely see them mentioned if at all. Wonder why?

 

Probably because there are five billion coolers by all different companies who are all coming out with slightly better models each year who might not give review units each time? And honestly does it even matter? I appreciate the reviews of these products to see what they look like and stuff.. but I've mounted my CPU-370 four times within a 2 hour period and had a max temp variance of 4c. All four times I used the exact same method to apply thermal paste (pea sized bead in middle). The results give a general picture on how the unit performs.

If you feel like your Silver Arrow performs extremely well then it's probably well within the top 10 category in which case you probably shouldn't bother buying a different one.

 

well , my silver arrow ib-e extreme , on i5 3570k 4,4ghz @1.145v , delided , removed ihs (direct on die , removed the socket retainer), with mx-4 , keeps it at 60(on 2 cores) 65(the other 2 cores) , which is good~very good

 

Well gee, I am sorry for considering using this for something other that OC'ing. The article was so informative about how nice and quite and effective at cooling that I actually thought it might keep my computer nice and quite in summer. But hey, best not bother with this product cause its for OC'ers only.

 

I guess it's because the price point and size of this cooler are a bit overkill so it's seen as more of of a enthusiast model or such specifically for overclocking, you could likely achieve similar cooling results with the CPU at stock speeds with other smaller and cheaper fan models.

Though of course with this cooler it might run near silent or even turn the fan off entirely when temperatures are low enough for it so if low noise is important it might be worth considering, though water based cooling might be even better for that.
(If socket compatibility allows for it you could then also keep this for the next CPU upgrade.)

 

I doubt water is more silent, i bet you can hear a pump buzzing over a D15 at 750 RPM.

 

It seems this cooler gets better the hotter the CPU is, relative to competitors I mean.

 

I use NH-D14 + NT-H1, fan speed controlled via potentiometer and set to inaudible level.
I max out temperature while using intel burn test 64°C.
In games temp does not go over 56°C.
And yes all 4 cores @4.5GHz and at 1.3V.

Considering your delidded CPU, your cooling solution is average or not properly set.

 

WOW, that is a BIG cooler!

I would definitely go for one of these over water cooling but when coolers cross section's are approaching the size of the motherboard itself, surely that's the limit of air cooling? We might need a new motherboard/case specification soon!

 

i use intel burn test too, the fans are on auto , not at full!
also that is my temp in games too ~55
you have 2500k , sandy bridge is known to have lower temps than ivy bridge so there's that...
also i looked in 3570k delidded charts , and that's where i saw temps like mine , and considered it good temps, i know i should be (maybe) lower by 3~5 degrees , also my room temp is quite high , as i play a lot , and my case is open , with no exhaust fans except the ones on the cpu cooler , i only have another fan blowing into thge hard disks , and another blowing into the video card (which cools it by 5 degrees)

 

Yep, completely agree. Unfortunately case reviews here are just like that too. Everything but the actual performance review.