NZXT x62 vs H115i vs Noctua NH-D15

[zLukez]

I will be replacing the fans on these radiators with Corsair ML or possibly Noctua. Any recommendations on Noctua fans?

 

[JackNaylorPE]

The NH-D15 is an air cooler and outperforms both of the other two CLCs.

Noctua's best heat sink fan is the NF-A15 which is outperformed by 6.3C by the Phanteks PH-F140SP at the same rpm. Phanteks has several different letter suffixes for the same fan each suffix representing the fan shroud design. SP is standard mounting others for example provide 120mm screw mount spacing for a 140mm fan to make heat sing mounting easier on smaller heat sinks. For the NH-D15, I'd suggest doing what they did here, picking up 3C and lowering rpm by 300:

http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/phenteks_f140/3.htm

Same result in the chart here here:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1345-page7.html

However on rads, you have to take fpi and materials into account. CLCs use aluminum rads which have two negative side effects:

1. In the same loop with the copper water block, once the corrosion inhibitors wear off, galvanic corrosion starts.
2. More relevant to the discussion however is that aluminum has far less of a heat transfer coefficient than copper so most CLCs employ extreme rpm fans and that brings the associated noise that comes with them.

There is no way around that. If you are going to replace those 1800 (X62) and 2000 rpm (H115i) fans with something quieter, that's going to mean lower rpm. And lower rpm means performance will be impacted negatively. Now with radiators with 8 - 18 fpi (fins per inch) you are just fine with slow / quiet fans (1200 rpm) on a copper rad; you'll need something mush faster with aluminum radiators. If fpi is higher, there will be greater resistance due to trying to force the air thru the tight spacing and you will b]need a higher SP fan which again comes with higher rpm.

Noctua's industrial line fans run 2-3k rpm but with those, you'd want head phones. Go my ears, fans running > 850 rpm are unacceptable because if i can here it, it has to go in another room

http://www.frozencpu.com/search.html?mv_profile=keyword_search&mv_session_id=HRmBgnvw&searchspec=Noctua+industrial&go.x=0&go.y=0

The NFA14IPPC30P for example hits an "advertised" 41.3 dB(A) and it's 0.55 amp rating limits you to one fan per header.

Be aware that Corsair PWM fans are problematic ... if you run too many on a single channel., you lose speed control. You shouldn't have a problem tho with max of 4 per channel.

We use the PH-F140Sps on all rads when doing a water cooling build controlling them between 350 and 850 rpm (when called to run below 350, we have them set to shut off) ... but that won't cut it on the aluminum rads.

If they will just be used for gaming, the A14's shouldn't be bad tho 31.5 dB(A) *advertised* x 4 fans (or 8 if doing push / pull will be a bit loud.,,, but should not be annoying if wearing headphones or speakers cranked up. The Corsair M series will be significantly louder

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA9PV3Y64440

 

[zLukez]

Can you do TLDR, it's a bit difficult to process. Also that's interesting, however I'm also going for looks and I think the NZXT will perform similar to the Noctua.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Not every decision in life is black and white and can be answered with a once sentence "do this", especially when the question doesn't include stated goals. My approach to posting is not to tell people what to do but to give them the necessary information to make their own decision since, unless stated, I can't guess what their goals are.

My thinking is, if peeps have the relevant information going in to the cooler purchase, no one would ever purchase a CLC. An OLC purchase would have Switching to a fan without knowing what effect it will have might only make matters worse.

Can't speak to the X62, but I see nothing that shows me it will be different than the X61 as all the test results point out. I don't see it being able to keep pace with the D15 .... to get into the thermal performance range of the D15, the X61 needs to be 6 times as loud, actually approaching vacuum cleaner noise levels. If making a selection based purely on looks, you will run the risk of higher thermals, more noise or even decreased CPU performance.

I would say that if you haven't purchased the X62 yet, you would be far better served by buying the Swiftech H240 X2. Better pump, copper radiator, included reservoir, less money ... and you can simply add water cooling to your GFX cards or additional radiators as all the parts used are custom loop parts pre-assembled at the factory. And it looks better too

http://www.swiftech.com/h240x2.aspx

 

[zLukez]

Well I already bought the NZXT x62, so that option is gone. I mean the Noctua is definitely good, no doubt, however it's not light and moving your PC can cause damage.

 

[zLukez]

Maybe next tim I'll consider th swift tech and Noctua