Noctua Cooler Comparison

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whispercat
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Noctua Cooler Comparison

Post by whispercat » Fri Aug 03, 2018 11:36 am

So, I'm thinking of getting the Ryzen 2700 X, and looking at potential coolers for it.

There's a couple of Noctua's that caught my eye. 1). NH-D15 SE-AM4 2). NH-U12S SE-AM4

Would I notice much temp difference between them? Just wondering if the D15 is worth the extra cost.

Abula
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Re: Noctua Cooler Comparison

Post by Abula » Fri Aug 03, 2018 3:16 pm

This is more rambling on my part, on Computex2018, noctua showed the upcoming NH-U12v2, where it will come with twin NF-A12x25 PWM, where they mention the cooler will perform very close to the NH-D15, so by this comment you can conclude that the current NH-D15 is superior to the current NH-U12. One thing that i dont like about the U12 is the NF-F12, idk what is it really but i dont like the sonic signature of the fan, while i do like the NF-A12x25. Now one thing that i have found out recently that applies to NF-A15 and TY147, is that when they pull from heatsink (NH-U14 TR4) they have dronning sound very audible at high rpms, but below 1k rpms it blends away, and below 600rpms its inaudible, not sure how will the NH-D15 behave with the middle fan.

Now thinking on going with a single fan cooler, the best that i have tested was the HR22, now what its being sold as Le Grand Macho RT (with fan TY-147B), so if i were to spend $80 on cooler that would be my pic over the NH-D15, but around $50 is where the best coolers for the money are, so Scythe Mugen 5, Thermalright Macho Rev B or if you can fit the height of the Thermalright True Spirit 140 power.

That said, im waiting for noctua to release the NH-U12v2, im really interested on seeing the performance, specially with a much smaller size than most of the coolers that i'm use to, but probably around christmas we will see.
Last edited by Abula on Fri Aug 03, 2018 9:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.

whispercat
Posts: 376
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Location: Calgary, AB, Canada

Re: Noctua Cooler Comparison

Post by whispercat » Fri Aug 03, 2018 5:59 pm

Thanks Abula. I hadn't heard of La Grand Macho RT, even though it's a two year old cooler. I've just been out of the loop.

After reading some reviews of it, it seems very good, even beating the Noctua D15 in some reviews.

The La Grand Macho isn't on Newegg.ca or a few other places that I usually shop. Is the fanless version still available? Would it be even better if one replaced the TY147B fan with a NF-A12x25?

What do you think is the absolute best air cooler on the market right now?

Abula
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Re: Noctua Cooler Comparison

Post by Abula » Fri Aug 03, 2018 8:11 pm

I forgot you were in Canada, most of the scythe and therlmaright coolers are overpriced there, even more than Noctua, so for you Noctua is probably a better choice overall.
Is the fanless version still available? Would it be even better if one replaced the TY147B fan with a NF-A12x25?
Not that know of, usually the original design from thermalright stay like that for a year then they release cheaper version, saving on the mount and sometimes extra pipe. That said the HR22 or now the Le Grand Macho is a very capable cooler, beside the NOFAN 95C, its the cooler that can stand the most fanless, that said heavy load it will fail without a fan, now this cooler has very large fin spread helping it a lot with low airflow, so this is where it shines and wins over most, now if you go full rpms, most high end coolers are the same, including silver arrow, macho rev b, etc. That said, probably for you it will go to high in price to make it worth your while.
What do you think is the absolute best air cooler on the market right now?
Well most are very similar at high rpms, most twin towers will be with in one or two C, but to me where it matters is a cooler that can do more with less, so better temps with lower rpms, thats where to me Le Grand Macho shines, that said dont expect it to handle everything at 400rpms, there are limits where you will need the fan to spin up.

Either way, for Canada go Noctua, i would probably just avoid the NH-U12 for the fans, so i would go with NH-D15 AM4.

whispercat
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Re: Noctua Cooler Comparison

Post by whispercat » Sat Aug 04, 2018 9:33 am

The NH-D15 seems rather bulky, especially with two fans. Since it interferes with the RAM slots, how do people normally use it?

This made me wonder about something: In an air cooler, which of the components is doing most of the cooling...the heatsink, or the fan? If it's the fan, would adding a second fan to any heatsink make it better?

Also, what do you think of the Cryorig H7?

Abula
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Re: Noctua Cooler Comparison

Post by Abula » Sat Aug 04, 2018 11:29 am

whispercat wrote:This made me wonder about something: In an air cooler, which of the components is doing most of the cooling...the heatsink, or the fan? If it's the fan, would adding a second fan to any heatsink make it better?
This is a very simple but at the same time complex subject. The reality is that the heatsink is what does the cooling, the fan aids into making it the process more efficient, we could can cool components without fans, you can see chipset, capture cards, with pure heatsinks, the problem is when the heat generated is too high, you would need a heatsink the size of a case to do it fanlessly (kinda like the kalycos build), but its not viable for todays CPUs, specially on the higher end side. One big problem that we are facing as we progress is the architecture reduction lowers heat and makes it more efficient, but at the same time being smaller the heat is more concentrated and harder to transfer, this is the reason why Threadripper is getting by so good with bigger size and spread dies allow that heat monster to be cool as easy as an any CPU you have today (not overclocked though). At the end both are important, to me coolers like Le Grand Macho are really nice because of its are real state and we could think that with that mass it would put into shame any cooler, but its not the reality, the heat transfer is not as efficient for the size to matter as much, that said, still under low rpms it performs very good.
whispercat wrote:The NH-D15 seems rather bulky, especially with two fans. Since it interferes with the RAM slots, how do people normally use it?
The newer S versions are retailing with a single fan, so is the new upcoming Silver Arror TR4, the first fan makes a ton of difference, the second fan usually in my limited testing drops you around 4C (depends on the cpu among other things), the third fan most of the time dont do anything aside from adding noise (i did it on a build to test it out, and left it just for looks).
whispercat wrote:Also, what do you think of the Cryorig H7?
I have never tried it, seems a very decent cooler though, i like their oval shape design, not sure how is the fan, but you could always upgrade to an NF-A12x25 later on if you dont like it.

Another option that you could do is to buy an NH-U14S and send your request to noctua for the free AM4 mount, you will have to wait some time for it to reach, but its also a very nice cooler for the money (crosscheck that the S is compatible with the AM4 mount, if it isn't then it would have to be the none S).

whispercat
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Re: Noctua Cooler Comparison

Post by whispercat » Sat Aug 04, 2018 9:18 pm

It looks like I can order the Le Grand Macho from Amazon.com (US), and they will ship to Canada.

Impressive review from TechPowerUp: https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/The ... cho/9.html

Do you think it's worth putting a second fan on it? Or swapping out the TY147B fan?

Abula
Posts: 3662
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:22 pm
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Re: Noctua Cooler Comparison

Post by Abula » Sat Aug 04, 2018 9:32 pm

whispercat wrote:It looks like I can order the Le Grand Macho from Amazon.com (US), and they will ship to Canada.
Nice, but be advised that Canada will charge you taxes for importing, probably pricing will go up much more than any noctua cooler you can buy locally or online in canada.
whispercat wrote:Impressive review from TechPowerUp: https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/The ... cho/9.html
If you wish to read more check OCN ** Thermlright Le GRAND MACHO is out! **
whispercat wrote:Do you think it's worth putting a second fan on it? Or swapping out the TY147B fan?
No to the second fan (in most cases you wont even have space for a second fan) and no to swapping to me its a very good PWM fan, it can be droped to inaudible, its operational range is 300-1300rpms. If you don't like the fan for whatever reason, you can change it later.

Again before ordering, check closely how Canada custom works, most of the people that i know from Canada says its a lot, to the point its not worth it, unless you cant get something locally, that in this case you can with Noctua or Cryorig.
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whispercat
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Re: Noctua Cooler Comparison

Post by whispercat » Sat Aug 04, 2018 11:58 pm

Yes, Amazon automatically calculates all that when you go to check out. The Le Grand Macho works out to being only around $20. more than the Noctua NH-D15 (from Newegg.ca). I'd rather have a single than a double heat sink.

I can't get your attachments to open or enlarge. The SPCR website is acting weird again and causing me to log in 2 or three times just to post a comment.

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