Noctua NH-D15 - some notes

[Jovec]

While debating the running of some temperature tests on the NH-D15 (which aren't likely to show anything different than what's already out there), I thought I would post a few notes about it.

1) (Pics below) At 150mm wide, it might block the top-most expansion slot depending on mobo/slot location.
2) (Pics below) As the second fan is no longer a 120mm fan, raising that fan to clear RAM will have a greater impact on total cooler height, and the NH-D15 may not fit in cases that had clearance for the NH-D14.
3) The two included 150mm NF-AF15 fans are PWM and run at 1500rpm. This differs from the retail version of these fans which run at 1300rpm.
4) The included fan clips are different than the NH-D14 clips, but are similarly designed for 120mm fans, or round 140/150mm fans with 120mm mounting holes. Using square 140mm fans would require bending the clips out of shape and/or rigging something up (i.e. zip ties).

While I'm not disappointed in the NH-D15, some portion of the extra cooling most reviews show over the NH-D14 has to come from the fans. The included 120mm and 140mm fans on both my NH-D14 (3-pin) and NH-D14 SE (PWM) all spin at 1300rpm. A fan replacement on the stock NH-D14 fans could negate some portion of the NH-D15 gains, if not most/all. While I have no clearance issues, I would probably prefer if Noctua kept the same 140mm/120mm arrangement and included their 120mm NF-F12 PWM for the second fan, to reduce case/RAM clearance issues.

The size of the box as compared the NH-D14:

A quick picture installed:

1) The 150mm width will block the first PCIe slot, as you can see in the following picture. Looking just above the GPU, a 1x slot is seen in the background, with the bottom left edge (as installed) of the cooler to the right.

2) When sitting the second fan about as low as it can go on top of my 39mm RAM sticks, it will be raised by about 16mm above the tallest heatpipe, giving the total height requirement as 165mm (from the box specs) + 16mm, or 181mm. If measuring for your own system, I'd use 185mm just to be safe.

 

[MongGrel]

I'd still been curious about how those performed.

Not a major jump from a 14 I imagine, but if I still ever upgraded to a X5680 or something down the road taking the 14 off this with the X5650, and putting the 15 on here.

Looks pretty nice to me for air, still.

 

[sam_816]

what is the smallest cabinet we can fit them in? i am looking to make a gaming pc in silverstone rvz01. and i have shortlisted dh-14 version but not sure if this will help in a crampped cabinet.

 

[Jovec]

Silverstone lists the rvz01 as having 83mm of clearance for the CPU cooler. The D14 comes in at 160mm.

 

[Ramses]

The big fans were really a squeeze on my Antec 1100. I replaced a d14 that had PWM 120mm upgrades. I think the PWM 140's are quieter for the same air movement, but I don't see that the thing cools any better for my 8350. I also had to trim the side window fans slightly to clear where the 14 fit(barely). Waste of money but that's why they call it a hobby I guess. I'll never need, or want, to upgrade the cooler on this platform unless it's to real liquid.

 

[Essence_of_War]

what is the smallest cabinet we can fit them in? i am looking to make a gaming pc in silverstone rvz01. and i have shortlisted dh-14 version but not sure if this will help in a crampped cabinet.

Let me introduce you to its much smaller sibling, the NH-L12, because there is no earthly way you'll get an NH-D15 in that case

 

[BonzaiDuck]

The big fans were really a squeeze on my Antec 1100. I replaced a d14 that had PWM 120mm upgrades. I think the PWM 140's are quieter for the same air movement, but I don't see that the thing cools any better for my 8350. I also had to trim the side window fans slightly to clear where the 14 fit(barely). Waste of money but that's why they call it a hobby I guess. I'll never need, or want, to upgrade the cooler on this platform unless it's to real liquid.

I resemble that remark!

I've been following the news about the NH-D15 from early this year, and I was thinking I might just buy one to satisfy my curiosity. I had posted a thread [title mentions the Gentle Typhoon AP-30 fan] showing how I constructed a foam-art-board duct for my NH-D14 with "acoustic enhancements" that might cause my critics to gasp: Everyone thinks the AP-30 is just too extreme for the noise.

So I was thinking to do the same thing with an NH-D15. I still think the problem of the PCI-E x1 slot is not too severe: you can change the orientation of the D15, and a simple ducting mod would still accommodate the usual rear exhaust fan. I was hoping that I could best the benchtest results on the D15 by an additional 5 to 10C.

I'm still not sure that I won't eventually buy a D15 "just to see." I'll need to wait until some chump-change piles up and a feel the urge to spend it.