News Noctua's next-gen flagship CPU cooler finally arrives — Noctua NH-D15 G2 released at $150

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We have reached a point in CPU thermals where extra cooling is offering little average performance increases. Overclocking used to provide a big boost to CPU performance. These days with the boost technology the headroom for overclocking is narrow, and in my opinion not worth the headaches that come with it, including the increased cost in cooling solutions.
 
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The way I see it, the only improvement they could possibly make is adding a vapor chamber to the base.

I have a NH-D14 from 12yrs ago, it still works, but it had its crown taken away by the U14 and D15 not too long after I bought it. And back then, it only cost C$60 on sale.
 
ingtar33 said:
This is a little high priced for a tower cooler. when i got a ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III 360mm for $99

and that arctic tops all the cooling charts.
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Thing is, air coolers last forever and Noctua offers free mounting kits with proof of purchase if continue to use on different sockets. Their mounting system and build quality is pretty good, so really, can't argue you won't see benefits from a $150 cooler that'll serve you pretty much a life time. And in saying that, and this goes for any decent tower cooler, never will i have an aio in a computer. It may look pretty but that's all it is, pretty. Well air coolers don't look bad either, but no, aio's is not practical long term imo. Unless water is absolutely necessary then ok but let's be honest, it's mostly not. Just the uncertainties surrounding how long the pump would last and the added costs in replacements that can make aio cooling solutions more expensive along with anxiety disorders 😛
 
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Amdlova said:
With thermalright selling AIO with a price TAG lower than 60usd it's hard to see the market for these noctua air coolers
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I replaced my NH-D15 gen 1 with a Thermalright Frozen Notte 240 and gained an easy 50w thermal headroom on my 13900kf. And added no noticeable noise. Also gained the space to put a fan on my ram. When the FN240 dies in 4 more years maybe I will go back. But we might be on a different socket mount by then.

Big air has it's benefits, but having the best cooling isn't one and Noctua isn't just competing with AIO cooling, but with air coolers that are nearly indistinguishable in performance for a fraction of the price.
 
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I like air cooler more than you guys. Got lots of them over the years... but 150 usd for an air cooler are nuts. With that price tag you can grab 3 cheap AiO for the years to come.

Long time a go I was a fierce overclocker with air coolers and delta fans... but today just put the bigger air cooler to get no noise.

But nothing with 150us price tag. Prefer put that money on another thing :)
 
vanadiel007 said:
We have reached a point in CPU thermals where extra cooling is offering little average performance increases.
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If you're talking about gaming performance, then I think you're right.

However, for utilizing most of its multithreaded performance, you really need to get a CPU like the i9-14900K well above 125 W and that's going to take a lot more than the equivalent of a boxed cooler. Sure, Thermalright has some affordable options, but your cooler absolutely does matter.
 
Amdlova said:
With thermalright selling AIO with a price TAG lower than 60usd it's hard to see the market for these noctua air coolers
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Not actually, these last 20 years, while those AIOs can break down in few years...
But if you needs RPG for you cooling, these are not for you!
But if you instead need reliable cooler, these are easily worth of their money.
 
Amdlova said:
With thermalright selling AIO with a price TAG lower than 60usd it's hard to see the market for these noctua air coolers
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They're awesome? If the price were over a thousand, you'd have a point. But it's not that much money.

I'm not saying the price/performance doesn't go to Thermalright, but i would happily part with my cash for a premium product that feels and performs like one. That isn't just bling.
 
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Would I go for an air cooler over AIO? No but if something could march performance at a lower cost, I'd consider it.

A aircooler at this price? Not a chance. I'm sure plenty of R&D went into this and Noctua makes quality parts but at the end of the day, all this is, is machined (or cast) metal, some copper, and two fans.

Not at all worth the price tag IMO when and AIO is an option to those that have it.
 
$150 for a lifetime heatsink that will be supported on many sockets. Buy new fans after 10 years or something, IDK - they freaking last.
Buy a more affordable or expensive(your call) AIO, the lifetime of which both pump and fans is finite. They are leak resistant, not leak-proof.

We don't share the same value of the buck either, which affects purchasing decisions, and probably never will. Things like, "how much does cost matter if you can set it and forget it?", or "so what if something needs replacing every so often, if you have a steady income?"

I could see myself buying one for my overdue platform upgrade, but not without seeing some reviews first.

Albert.Thomas said:
$150 for an air cooler? What is Noctua smoking?
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Support, R&D costs?
They gotta be giving their attention - perhaps too much - to certain details that other brands are skipping, or not focusing as much on. Things we might not be seeing as a big deal.
Like, why have we yet to see any white fans or heatsinks from them, but black has been fine? Is there more to black and white paints besides colors?
There's sound profiles too:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7ia_FZcthQ
 
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1. $150 is not expensive for such a massive air cooler
2. Noctua fans IMO have one of the worst high-RPM noise profile (and not what GN is talking about)
3. Whoever claims they replaced air with AIO without adding noticable noise they are either deaf, lying, or sitting next ot a highway with open window -- water pump buzz is way louder than any air cooler fan and usually has to be kept constant
4. Noctua coolers have consistently had top of the line cooling performance for the last decade or so, I have yet to see proof that they have been beaten.
 
CmdrShepard said:
2. Noctua fans IMO have one of the worst high-RPM noise profile (and not what GN is talking about)
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Which size are you talking about? I've been pretty satisfied with their non-PWM 120 mm and 140 mm fans. Also 150 mm PWM.

Recently, I've dabbled with some of their 92 mm PWM fans and I was disappointed with the high-RPM noise profile, as you say. However, I'm not actually sure if my fan controller might be at least partially to blame. Fan controllers sometimes support both voltage modulation and PWM. The BIOS on that board doesn't provide an option, so I'm not sure which it's using. However, it came with a 3-wire CPU fan, that clearly was ramping up & down its RPMs, so that's not a good sign that it's using PWM.

Plus, is the PWM carrier frequency even standardized? Could you have two different fan controllers that use different frequencies, thus exhibiting different noise profiles?

CmdrShepard said:
4. Noctua coolers have consistently had top of the line cooling performance for the last decade or so, I have yet to see proof that they have been beaten.
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I think everyone is referring to this:
 
boju said:
Thing is, air coolers last forever and Noctua offers free mounting kits with proof of purchase if continue to use on different sockets. Their mounting system and build quality is pretty good, so really, can't argue you won't see benefits from a $150 cooler that'll serve you pretty much a life time. And in saying that, and this goes for any decent tower cooler, never will i have an aio in a computer. It may look pretty but that's all it is, pretty. Well air coolers don't look bad either, but no, aio's is not practical long term imo. Unless water is absolutely necessary then ok but let's be honest, it's mostly not. Just the uncertainties surrounding how long the pump would last and the added costs in replacements that can make aio cooling solutions more expensive along with anxiety disorders 😛
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Fans do not last forever, anymore than pumps do. At the reported $39/fan that's nearly $80 to replace both. As ingtar33 stated, the ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III 360mm is only $99 for the whole kit, and it looks a lot nicer than this 1980's throwback brown monstrosity, imo.

Why have anxiety over liquid cooling? They've been utilizing non-conductive liquids for years.
 
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