Here's the spec:
Dimensions (Heatsink): Dimensions(With Fan): FPI: Weight: Inc. Fans: Intel Socket: AMD Socket: | 135(L) x 150(W) x 160(H)mm 161(L) x 150(W) x 165(H)mm 12 1000g(Heatsink), 1320g(With Fans) 2x NF-A15 PWM Fans LGA2011 (Square ILM) & 115X sockets AM2, AM2+, AM3, AM3+, FM1 FM2, FM2+(backplate required) |
Accesories: wx Low Noise Adaptors, 1x PWM Y-splitter cable, 1x set of case screws and anti-vibration mounts for a case fan, 1x Noctua NT-H1 thermal compound, 1x screwdriver, 1x metal case badge
Design
Heatsink:
Noctua, after many years of work have brought out the successor to the NH-D14 the previous king of the cooling community and without a doubt the most famous air cooler ever made. The NH-D15, designed to succeed the D14 is maybe similar from a distance but there are very subtle differences, most of which are linked to some of their newer products and technologies, things the D14 never had. The biggest difference and the one that affects the entire product from almost every angle is the fact the dimensions of the heatsink have been made to match those of their new NF-A15 PWM fan (or was the fan made to match the D15?). Because of this they have made the cooler both wider and longer, accommodating the 150mm width of the NF-A15's anti-vibration design, this can and may have an affect on compatibility but I'll cover this further in the review.
The change in width has it's benefits, allowing the six U-shaped heatpipes to be spread further apart which we all know will improve the performance by allowing a more even and distributed spread of heat over the fin array. As far as the heatpipes are concerned we are looking at 6mm heatpipes that are in the area of 400mm's long and spread with about 17mm between each other. The four central heatpipes protrude over four times further(9mm) out the top than the outer two(2mm) which from an aesthetic standpoint is nice as it follows the pattern of the NF-A15 fans curve, subtle yet effective.
Because both the NH-D15 is so big and Noctua having recently focused a lot more on compatibility, the bottom 7 fins of the D15 have been cut back by about 40%, leaving only the inner portion behind the heatpipes. This leaves the cooler quite a bit less attractive than the NH-D14 but at the same time a lot more compatible. The fins have been removed to make way for taller ram modules that would otherwise interfere with the cooler. Having this feature on both sides may not be beneficial to the user putting it in your 'standard' atx system but those using socket 2011 boards or server boards for that matter where we see modules on both sides of the CPU and quite close to the socket, this will help them meaning better compatibility across the board, Noctua aren't leaving anyone behind here.
With 45 total fins, the 7 fins represent 15.5% of the total fin stack and basic maths therefore dictate that surface area may have only been lowered by 6.2% to make this enormous cooler compatible with tall ram modules on both sides. This wont directly translate into 6.2% performance decrease and won't be a true number as not every section of the fan and therefore heatsink, performs as well as the others, and I am sure Noctua have a more accurate figure but this just gives you some sort of idea.
With 45 total fins, the 7 fins represent 15.5% of the total fin stack and basic maths therefore dictate that surface area may have only been lowered by 6.2% to make this enormous cooler compatible with tall ram modules on both sides. This wont directly translate into 6.2% performance decrease and won't be a true number as not every section of the fan and therefore heatsink, performs as well as the others, and I am sure Noctua have a more accurate figure but this just gives you some sort of idea.
Moving on to the coolers aesthetics and how you can set it up, the NH-D15 comes with two NF-A15 fans which you can install, one between the fin stacks and the other on the outside of one. Practically having an OCD for symmetry, I find the NH-D15 quite hard to love aesthetically. It is lop sided in its design, having one fan outside the fin stack and the other in the middle, for me, doesn't look good. The tiny gap between the inside fan and the opposing fin stack also agitates me and in every direction you look it's lop sided. Even if you were to rotate it so the heatsink faces down, even then the Noctua logo on the top wouldn't be the right way round. This being said, it must have had someone extremely masculine involved in it's design because there is something raw and uncensored about it, there's no paint, no anodisation, its straight metal and a lot of it, It even has spikes!
So while it IS hard to love aesthetically, you just DO love it. There's no pomposity about it like you see with other coolers. It's not trying to make a statement in any aspect of its design because being a Noctua product its made to prove it through its actions and performance. This is reflected in the way Noctua advertises their products or lack thereof. In their mind the performance speak for itself and I suppose they definitely have a point when it comes to their products.
In summary as far as the dual fan set up goes it's not perfect, the low/normal mounting of the outside fan is affected by the high clearance cut out on the fin stack so the bottom half of the NF-A15's anti-vibration mount barely even touches the fan, this can be annoying when mounting it. It also will lower clearance the lower you have the fan though you can position the fan at any height you want.
So while it IS hard to love aesthetically, you just DO love it. There's no pomposity about it like you see with other coolers. It's not trying to make a statement in any aspect of its design because being a Noctua product its made to prove it through its actions and performance. This is reflected in the way Noctua advertises their products or lack thereof. In their mind the performance speak for itself and I suppose they definitely have a point when it comes to their products.
In summary as far as the dual fan set up goes it's not perfect, the low/normal mounting of the outside fan is affected by the high clearance cut out on the fin stack so the bottom half of the NF-A15's anti-vibration mount barely even touches the fan, this can be annoying when mounting it. It also will lower clearance the lower you have the fan though you can position the fan at any height you want.
Removing the second fan leaves you with the NH-D15 at it's most compatible state, still pulling air through both the fin stacks, this is going to be a good way to go for someone who wants a high performance cooler but maybe doesn't have space for both fans. My educated guess would be that this set up will perform better than a large single tower with two fans will though we have yet to test such a set up on this specific test bench so I can't give any direct comparisons.
Before I move on to talk specifically about the topic of compatibility, here are a few final points I want to make about the cooler. On the heatsink sample I received the bends in the heatpipe down at the base seemed a little more 'stressed' in appearance than I'm used to, if this was in a more visible area I would take issue but gladly it's not so aesthetics won't be affected. With fan mounting we get this dual layered system with two sets of spikes. I am not sure exactly what the purpose is for having two sets of spikes and whether or not this is just an aesthetic feature but in regards to fan mounting, the system of having quick mounting clips is both efficient and well, it works. On the NH-D15 we don't see any anti-vibration mounts though like we saw on the NH-D14, this I believe is simply down to the fact they have move this feature over to the fans. Fin density is something I have also noticed is different. To Noctua coolers I have reviewed at least. At 12 FPI this is quite a lot less than the 17 we see on the NH-L9i and slightly less than the 13 on the NH-L12. Being a larger cooler this means air flows more smoothly, with less restriction allowing for |
slower rpm, lower static pressure fans that will be quieter in your system and still perform adequately. Thanks to the SecuFirm2 mounting system this cooler is also a doddle to install. Noctua have made it so you do all the hard work first without even touching the cooler and then thanks to the supplied screwdriver, you literally have two screws to tighten to install the cooler itself. I did notice quite a bit of resistance on the spring loaded mechanism of the D15 in comparison to some of their smaller coolers but i suppose that's to be expected considering the heatsink alone is an entire kilogram.
Situational Compatibility:
Rather than just calling this section 'compatibility' I have made a reference the individual situation for a reason. As far as products go if you have 200mm of height available a 35mm high cooler is no more compatible than a 100mm one and so you have to look at coolers and see if they can fit in reference to your specific system. I was extremely impressed with NH-D15 when we used it on our test bench. As far as ram clearance went we use Gigabyte's Z87N-WIFI board which being an itx board and a Gigabyte one means we have very little space between the socket and the ram modules. With low profile corsair vengeance memory we were actually still able mount it in any orientation we wanted though for standard height ram we would have to go with the normal horizontal way, in which case we would still have no issue.
In our test bench, having both the Gigabyte Z87N-WIFI and the BitFenix Prodigy means that if we were to use an air cooler of any size we would block the expansion slot and if we use our SilverStone TD02(our stock cooler) we have to remove the 5.25" drive bay and the majority of the 3.5" drive bays. Shockingly it seem as though Noctua's NH-D15 was specifically built for our set up. Sadly while we still lose out on the expansion slot which is not Noctua's fault, we can still fit EVERYTHING else in! there is only a few millimetres between every component but when orientated in a vertical position, the preferred orientation for air cooling in the prodigy, we can fit all our drive bays and the second NF-A15 fan. I have never ever been so impressed with how perfect a product fits into a system than I have been with the NH-D15 here. See the photo's below for proof, note we had taken the second fan off during some of the photo's but it does fit, exhausting warm air out the left side panel if you use the non-windowed panel.
In our test bench, having both the Gigabyte Z87N-WIFI and the BitFenix Prodigy means that if we were to use an air cooler of any size we would block the expansion slot and if we use our SilverStone TD02(our stock cooler) we have to remove the 5.25" drive bay and the majority of the 3.5" drive bays. Shockingly it seem as though Noctua's NH-D15 was specifically built for our set up. Sadly while we still lose out on the expansion slot which is not Noctua's fault, we can still fit EVERYTHING else in! there is only a few millimetres between every component but when orientated in a vertical position, the preferred orientation for air cooling in the prodigy, we can fit all our drive bays and the second NF-A15 fan. I have never ever been so impressed with how perfect a product fits into a system than I have been with the NH-D15 here. See the photo's below for proof, note we had taken the second fan off during some of the photo's but it does fit, exhausting warm air out the left side panel if you use the non-windowed panel.
You probably won't be able to fit any long OD's on the 5.25" bay but it is there for anything else you wish to install. If you plan on using a Gigabyte board and are aiming for a high performance system for say 2D proffessional work, this is a near perfect set up as you have all the storage space you require and the best cooling fit in a case with a small footprint.
I couldn't have asked for a more perfect example for this review than this, it sums up perfectly that you can't just write off products because they are big and you don't think it will fit. This product is MORE compatible than any 240mm water cooler that is a definite fit in the Prodigy. When looking for coolers you need to actually study your own set-up and figure out what you're limitations are and where. For example if you want both a graphics card and this cooler you may have to change the motherboard in this scenario. It's all specific to your scenario and I feel I have drilled that in enough here.
We had absolutely no trouble fitting the NH-D15 at all though on a standard ATX board you may still come into problems with vertical orientation and the first expansion slot on your board.
I couldn't have asked for a more perfect example for this review than this, it sums up perfectly that you can't just write off products because they are big and you don't think it will fit. This product is MORE compatible than any 240mm water cooler that is a definite fit in the Prodigy. When looking for coolers you need to actually study your own set-up and figure out what you're limitations are and where. For example if you want both a graphics card and this cooler you may have to change the motherboard in this scenario. It's all specific to your scenario and I feel I have drilled that in enough here.
We had absolutely no trouble fitting the NH-D15 at all though on a standard ATX board you may still come into problems with vertical orientation and the first expansion slot on your board.
Performance:
Test Bench:
Component: Case Processor Cooler Thermal Paste Fans Motherboard Ram Power Supply Storage | Product: (Reviews linked) BitFenix Prodigy Intel Core i5 4570 Silverstone TD02 Noctua NT-H1 Silverstone AP123 Gigabyte Z87N-WIFI Corsair Vengeance LP 2x4GB Cooler Master V450S Samsung 840 EVO 120GB | Sponsor: BitFenix HZmedia Silverstone Noctua Silverstone Gigabyte HZmedia HZmedia HZmedia |
Temperature Results:
Our testing showed the cooler to perform almost exactly how I expected it to at stock. Having already review the NF-A15's I knew that even running at max the cooler would run quite quietly and effectively. The Delta temperatures show that the only cooler we have currently tested stock that beats the D15 is Silverstones TD02 which is not your average water cooler. We are talking about a cooler with a 45mm thick radiator, 50% thicker than normal, not only that but the stock fans that came with the TD02 we monsters and sounded it too. The 3 degrees difference we are seeing here in the results I can put purely down to the fans that came with the TD02 and at the expensive of your ears. The NH-D15 performs well both in dual and single fan mode with 1.7 degrees difference between them.
Still discussing noise levels, the NH-D15 was similar to Noctua's other coolers and quieter by far than both the stock cooler and the TD02.
Still discussing noise levels, the NH-D15 was similar to Noctua's other coolers and quieter by far than both the stock cooler and the TD02.
Moving on, we replace stock fans on each cooler with either the NF-F12's or NF-A15's from Noctua depending on the coolers fan size for a fairer comparison between the coolers directly by disregarding stock fans and standardising the noise levels. We saw an interesting change here. As Noctua's NH-D15 already comes with the A15's we kept the same results, the TD02 on the other hand saw its temps rise(and noise levels fall dramatically) to the point where the NH-D15 outperformed the TD02 by 0.6 degrees. On the other hand it was still beaten when in single fan mode so the D15's best compatibility mode does have a small effect on performance. I believe the NH-D15 beats the TD02 in this scenario because we are seeing a 140mm fan cooler up against a 120mm and therefore the NH-D15 has a higher maximum potential than the TD02. Stick a delta fan on the NH-D14 and I bet we would see load temps as low as it's idle temps.
Conclusion:
I was pleasantly surprised with the NH-D15. It may not be the nicest looking cooler but it performs and at that it does exceedingly well. You will inherently come into compatibility issues as you look into some funny shaped cases and SFF cases but this is something no high performing cooler, air or water can avoid. This being said we were able to fit the Noctua NH-D15 in the BitFenix Prodigy while still being able to fit all of our storage bays, something that is impossible to do with any water cooler that will want to compete in the same class as the D15. I have never in my life seen 3 products(motherboard, case, Cooler) work so perfectly well together and it's just a reminder to me and everyone that the size of a cooler doesn't always have to mean a trade off in another area. the NH-D15 has cut-outs in it's fin stacks to allow for tall ram modules but install low-profile modules and you won't even have to consider needing this.
The problem Noctua are giving the rest of the market is value for money. No other coolers on the market are able to offer their coolers with Noctua fans so if you want Noctua fans you might end up paying double overall compared to buying a Noctua cooler with their fans already factored in. This cooler is already cheaper by quite a bit compared to water coolers that will perform the same and as we saw, even the slightly more expensive although substantially better looking TD02 needed its fans replacing to compete on noise and only performed a little better at stock than the D15 did.
We gave Noctua's NH-D15 a total rating of 89/100 meaning it receives our SILVER AWARD and was only one point shy of our GOLD. The D15 really is Noctua's golden child and is clearly going to continue the NH-D14's legacy of being an ever present competitor in the cooling industry for years to come.
The problem Noctua are giving the rest of the market is value for money. No other coolers on the market are able to offer their coolers with Noctua fans so if you want Noctua fans you might end up paying double overall compared to buying a Noctua cooler with their fans already factored in. This cooler is already cheaper by quite a bit compared to water coolers that will perform the same and as we saw, even the slightly more expensive although substantially better looking TD02 needed its fans replacing to compete on noise and only performed a little better at stock than the D15 did.
We gave Noctua's NH-D15 a total rating of 89/100 meaning it receives our SILVER AWARD and was only one point shy of our GOLD. The D15 really is Noctua's golden child and is clearly going to continue the NH-D14's legacy of being an ever present competitor in the cooling industry for years to come.
Verdict:
Performance: Build Quality: Features & Compatibility: Aesthetics & Packaging: Value For Money: | 36/40 14/15 11/15 8/10 20/20 | Total: 89/100 |