Best air cooler without brown (****) looking
Cheapest at the moment
Noctua NH-D15 Chromax Black CPU Cooler $158.6 Delivered @ Newegg AU
670
Related Stores
closed Comments
Finally. Might upgrade my old ***** colour as mentioned before.
D15S is $137.50 + shipping. I think the S has better compatibility and possibly a better deal.
https://www.newegg.com/global/au-en/noctua-nh-d15s-chromax-b…
And the poop colour even cheaper (over 30 dollars cheaper) think I'm gonna have to go with poop
https://www.newegg.com/global/au-en/noctua-nh-d15s/p/N82E168…I'm in the same boat. This one comes with two fans too.
https://www.newegg.com/global/au-en/noctua-nh-d15/p/N82E1683…Yeah for sure. I just have concerns about my ram and compatibility size wise so the single fan will be the way I go. Still 220tdp
Brown s model keeps going up and down in price. Managed to get one for 120ish aud delivered
@RI4V4N: yeah, if it cant be seen after install, and you really cant care any less about the color, (even thought it is ****), just go for the brown color.
If you are not going beyond 150 to 200 watts of heat, the U14S usually offers better cooling at a lower noise. Its a single tower I know, but offers better performance. Just that its 165mm tall, so take note if you are considering one :)
Does it comes with additional fan clips?
D15 (with poo colour!) is/was $109 at newegg if youre not fussed about the colour
EDIT https://www.newegg.com/global/au-en/noctua-nh-d15/p/N82E1683…
vomit.
nah its balla!
The poo brown is Noctua's big fan energy saying they've got the best air cooling
The poo colour might be ugly, but it's instantly recognisable as Noctua, and people don't buy it for the looks, so they've largely succeeded.
Thanks mate. Picked one up for the new build.
$50 for a coat of paint; man, I love this industry some times…
Cheers OP, decided just last night that I wanted an NH-D15S which they also have for a good price.
Pretty cool looking.
I forgot how ugly my D14 looks until I opened the case first time in in 5 years. It was a blessed decision to not go with tempered glass side window.
Clean your pc more often 😜
Lol, actually also one of my reasons not opt for the glass, I can have my eyes closed and not looking at the dusts.
Just buy some spray paint.
Save $50.psst, I don't think they got it.
Nice find OP
Rather get an AIO at this price
Is there a real risk of motherboard damage if I move the PC with this cooler attached? I'll need to move in the future. And are AIOs very reliable? Hate to think an AIO could just stop working one day without warning, as opposed to these air coolers, which I guess would fail slowly allowing time for replacement.
I haven't built a PC for over 15 years so these water coolers are completely foreign to me.
I would add that I need the fan to be as quiet as possible too.
Thanks in advance.
No risk unless you drop it.
Ive had my cooler master AIO for 3 years and haven't ran into any problems with it. And moving the computer around won't damage the mb as it's securely attached to the Board and case. I'd actually be more concerned moving the PC with a fan cooler that size haha.
If you want reliability then go air cooled. AIOs will fail, they're fairly reliable for 3-4 years of normal use before needing replacement. (Coincidentally my mate's AIO failed after 4-4.5 years).
The only things on air coolers to fail are the fans and dust build up, but both can be solved easily.
Nah, its gonna be louder, especially around the 150 range.
Uh, depends on the AIO. The Arctic Liquid Freezer 280 was available for around $170 and will blow the D15 out of the water in absolute or noise-normalized performance.
Almost the same story with the 240.
The recently on sale Corsair H115i Pro for $180 is also a good candidate
The EK AIO for $169 is quite good as well
For $10-20 more, I'd definitely pick up a good AIO over this. The D15 is perfect around $110, not $160 unless the black look is that important to you.Ignoeing the price difference for a second, gn standardise to a level that is pretty loud. Like i said, the d15 under normal conditions will be quieter.
@Jenny Death: This says otherwise. Do you have source or are you just speaking your opinion?
35dba is a whisper-level quietness, that's nowhere near loud. And at the end of the day, it's normalized for a reason, to show you how the coolers perform with respect to each other.the d15 under normal conditions will be quieter.
You are being vague aren't you? Without the specifying the chip,freq and the temp, quieter how exactly. The GN and kitguru articles show you how the D15 is being destroyed on both ends, even VRM thermal which isn't a strong point for AIO.
Ignoeing the price difference for a second
But that's the whole point though, it's perfectly fine for the D15 to be destroyed at $110, not at $160.
@rookie317: Interesting results. Im suprised to see a hyper 212 is quieter than a d15 under load. I was a bit vague, yeah i mean predominantly under idle the d15 will be quieter. Suprised to see the 3db difference under load though.
@Jenny Death: Well the Hyper 212 is a single fan cooler and it's 5+ C warmer than the D15 so it's not that surprising honestly. If anything that chart shows, it's a testament to be quiet! on that quietness front with the Dark Rock Pro 4.
Just in case it wasn't clear, the kiguru article is for the Arctic Liquid Freezer 240, the 280 should offer more performance and lower noise overall in theory. Which the GN article and several other reviews do confirm.
These cool just as good and even better than most AIOs. Other pros of air over water is that AIOs only have a life cycle of 3-5 years where as air goes 10+ and all you need to do is replace the $20 fans.
Two sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VzXHUTqE7E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23vjWtUpItkI'm curious as to what the fluid in these water coolers is composed of. Before someone says plain water, if you are so certain, has anyone broke one open and tried to drink it? With all the chemicals/fumes emitted from a PC these days, I don't want to add another one to it, should it be avoidable.
Obviously, I'm presuming that the fluid inside ever so slowly escapes via some evaporation process.
An air cooler might be safer from this point of view.
But I could be wrong. Can anyone confirm?
Usually some sort of propylene glycol mixed with distilled water. You definitely do not want to be drinking the liquids in AIOs.
The liquid doesn't evaporate but permeates into the tubing over time.@Trance N Dance: That's bad enough for me - won't ever be buying an AIO or liquid cooler.
Are there any tests available that prove there is no evaporation or other method of the internal liquid escaping into the air?
AIO and liquid cooler manufacturers should be open about this.
@JeBs: No, because the internal liquids do not escape into the air. They're also closed so cannot evaporate into the environment, hence why the loss of liquid is only to permeation into the tubing.
With all the chemicals/fumes emitted from a PC these days
Your pc shouldnt be emitting any fumes or chemicals at all.
@Jenny Death: With all the heat generated in a PC, along with the chemicals used in its internal composition, it's unlikely that there are no chemicals/fumes emitted. You won't be able to see it or smell it, but it's still there. A quick Google search shows phenol, toluene, 2-ethylhexanol, formaldehyde, and styrene as potential culprits.
@Jenny Death: Head to Google and run a search on “chemicals emitted from PCs” and look at the first result from National Library or Medicine. There are hundreds if not thousands of articles on the subject.
Buyer beware.
So I recommend an air cooler to all.
@JeBs: Probably should stop eating chilies, fruit and drinking coffee as they all contain phenols and formaldehyde.
Also stop living houses with wooden frames, they emit formaldehyde as well.
Unless you're actively ingesting the computer, the exposure to chemicals isn't an issue. Walking outside for 2 minutes will cause more harm.@Trance N Dance: It’s called being informed. If you don’t care, good for you. But with how health conscious society is these days, people have a right to know.
They can make up their own minds.
@JeBs: By that same reasoning, water should come with a warning…
There's a difference between something that has a significant potential to harm and something that technically occurs but will do nothing. The hyper eager want to label everything has lead to things like California's Proposition 65 (great in theory, stupid in practice). Manufacturers are now just whacking the warning label on things that aren't even required to have them just to placate a law. Also look up what happened with coffee in California.
Newegg coming through with the cooler deals.
Have this one. Looks great and out performs my old 2 fan AIO.
Gotta be super careful with moving my PC now though, super heavy.
The D15 shouldn't be heavier than a 240mm AIO, overall weight should be similar if not lighter moving to the D15. The problem is now all the weight is hanging off the CPU mount rather than the chassis fan mounts.
exactly
C'mon Trance, you knew what he meant right?
What's the benefit of an air cooler of this cost over an all in one water cooler? Especially in a hot climate like most of Australia?
The thermal capacity between this cooler and a liquid cooler of the highest specs are about the same. Benefits are predominantly quieter operational noise levels and a higher level of reliability (inb4 people misinterperate this to mean an aio will always fail).
Decent AIOs are quieter than air coolers of the same thermal capacities.
AIOs will fail, just a matter of when (pump will die, or enough liquid permeates into the tubing, or gunk builds up due to the break down of gaskets or corrosion of the hot plate)I have to disagree. It's not just the fans that produce noise in an AIO but also the pump. I find top tier air coolers to be much quieter than all AIOs.
Does this fit in the lian li dynamic? I'm guessing if it does its an extremely tight fit
I have a similar question about the lian li dynamic XL with corsair platinum ram, worried about clearance of both.
It won't fit in the O11 Dynamic, the cooler is 165mm and the O11 fits up to 155mm.
In saying this it will fit the O11 XL as it has 167mm clearance (with up to 32mm height ram). It will fit the corsair dominator ram if you get the single fan version (D15S)ah ok thanks for clearing it up, I was a dope and was reading fan height lmao oops.
haha all good!, it doesn't really have the easiest to interpret info on the page, so I went to noctuas website to see full dimensions
For reference, I've got one in a Fractal R6 TG with G.Skill Ripjaws V ram. I had to put the second fan slightly higher to fit it over the ram. It's got about 1-2cm clearance from the glass side panel.
Ordered. Hope it's compatible with my MSI MAG X570 Tomahawk. I heard there may be Ram clearance issues, but its possible to move secnd fan up or remove altogether. Note this is new build so haven't chosen Ram or case yet.
Let me know how it goes, I've ordered the same Mobo as you so far.
Won't be building until December. Only bought motherboard, CPU (5800X) and now cooler
Noctua's homepage has some good information on clearances and compatability.
I have checked compatibility list, my motherboard isn't there. Think it is too new
One of the greatest air coolers ever. I've been using a stock color version for a few years now, and it's very quiet and efficient. They also have adapters for different socket types, and will certainly release new adapters for future sockets as well, so you can expect to use it with your future 2-3 CPUs without issues. Be very aware of your clearance though, high-profile ram sticks might not be compatible with this, and you will likely have to install your GPU before mounting the heat sink.
Batman approves
How long does shipping usually take from Newegg when they're sending from Taiwan?
Dark Rock Pro 4 $139 at PCCG. Black too, same if not lower temps, and quieter. Am I missing something or is this a way better deal?
Currently on pre-order from them, as well as PCCG having insane shipping prices. Otherwise, definitely worth considering as they are pretty close in terms of thermals and sounds.
I currently have Dark Rock 2. Is it worth the upgrade to this Noctua?
I've got this and it is awesome!
Thats a t h i c c b o i.