Conclusion

The Noctua NH-D15 G2 exemplifies premium build quality, showcasing Noctua's commitment to excellence. Compared to the first generation NH-D15, Noctua has been able to increase the number of heatpipes by two and also increased the fin surface area – all without increasing the cooler’s volume – highlighting thoughtful engineering aimed at maximizing cooling efficiency. Every single fin is soldered on the nickel-plated heatpipes for maximum mechanical cohesion and reliable heat transfer. However, the thinner, more numerous fins can be fragile, requiring more careful than usual handling to avoid damage. Overall, the build quality is impressive, blending functionality with Noctua's traditional elegant, minimalist aesthetic.

In terms of thermal performance, the NH-D15 G2 stands out as the best air cooler currently available. At its maximum fan speed, it achieves an average thermal resistance of 0.0849 °C/W, surpassing the original NH-D15 and rivaling many dual-fan liquid coolers. Even at inaudible fan speeds, with the performance dip to 0.115 °C/W, it maintains exceptional cooling capabilities. This cooler is particularly suited for high-performance systems, offering remarkable efficiency and reliability, even under substantial thermal loads.

The acoustic performance of the NH-D15 G2 is equally noteworthy. Noctua's fan speed offset technique seems to be effective at reducing noise levels, with the cooler operating at a slightly quieter profile than its predecessor. At full speed, the noise output is 38.8 dB(A), which decreases to 33.3 dB(A) at half speed. Running the fans higher does lower the thermal resistance of the cooler measurably, allowing it to dissipate higher volumes of thermal energy efficiently, making the NH-D15 G2 highly suitable for high-wattage applications. The balance between cooling performance and noise levels is ideal for users seeking both power and quiet operation, allowing their systems to be quiet most of the time but with a cooling solution capable to handle massive thermal loads if need be.

We should also note that while there have been reports of vibration "rattling" noises coming from some early samples of the cooler, we did not encounter this issue with our test sample under any testing conditions.

At a retail price of $150, the Noctua NH-D15 G2 is undeniably a significant investment. Noctua set out to build a halo product, and this is exactly what they've accomplished; putting together a chart-topping cooler with a superior build quality, thermal performance, and acoustic refinement.

Suffice it to say, this is not the product we would recommend to everyone – only builders with very powerful and/or overclocked processors are going to come close to needing it – but Noctua did not design the NH-D15 G2 for the masses anyway. For budget-minded builders there are far better options at half the price – and even the classic NH-D15 is still a darn good cooler for $40 less – but none of those will match the NH-D15 G2. This is a halo product, one that is unrivaled in cooling performance while giving Noctua the right to claim that they have the best performing CPU air cooler available today.

 
Testing Results
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  • Hresna - Sunday, August 18, 2024 - link

    Water-cooling is an option for people that want to operate recent-gen intel at full-power stock defaults, but it’s not the only option. The chips remain very performant if you tune them down a bit, and the efficiency increases substantially. They will never be as efficient as their Ryzen contemporaries in PPW, but their feature set might still make them worthwhile for a lot of use cases.

    Granted, turning down a CPU for efficiency is a decidedly unpopular thing to do, even among enthusiasts. But I think we might see it become a bit more common for them to release with more conservative performance profiles. AMD even seems to have left a good amount of headroom on their 9000 series, perhaps looking to avoid some of intels’ recent pitfalls.

    Some data on 13th gen power scaling:
    https://www.reddit.com/r/hardware/comments/10bna5r...
  • Silver5urfer - Tuesday, August 13, 2024 - link

    Wasn't there a factory defect on these ? Noctua did not announce any recall but it was under investigation.

    https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/cooling...

    That said the Cooler this round is overpriced. I have the Chromax Black DH15 on an LGA1200 socket. There's very minimal advantage going the G2 route. Also no Chromax edition, no G2 Chromax fans either, the heatsink cover is also not there yet. Skip it.

    As for convex/concave designs, Intel LGA1700 is a disaster that must be avoided at all costs due to CPU bending, Socket PCB bending, latest RPL silicon degradation due to poor silicon engineering. There's no reason why anyone should even consider buying this cooler for that platform, not only it will be inadequate for a 13th 14th gen i9 processors but also worthless. The heat density is also higher on 13th and 14th like of 11th gen, too hot for an Aircooler.
  • Khanan - Tuesday, August 13, 2024 - link

    It was a small problem with the first batch and was fixed quickly by Noctua / not even all were affected (afaik).
  • rpg1966 - Tuesday, August 13, 2024 - link

    The final chart that Anandtech includes is great. But I don't understand why none of the tech sites I read don't plot noise vs temp-over-ambient, maybe additionally colouring or sizing each plotted point to indicate the price.
  • Ryan Smith - Tuesday, August 13, 2024 - link

    The issue comes down to temp-over-ambient at what power level. It's a 3 dimensional function, which makes for a very ugly plot.

    That's why E opted for noise vs thermal resistance. TR is (mostly) constant, so it allows you to plot noise versus just a single variable on a 2D graph.
  • rpg1966 - Wednesday, August 14, 2024 - link

    Understood. It might take a couple of charts, e.g. one at 100W, one at 200W (or whatever)? Anyway, good job with the last chart, great info.
  • casteve - Tuesday, August 13, 2024 - link

    Thanks for the review. I love the thermal resistance vs sound pressure graph...but..this is clearly an air cooler designed for much higher loads than 100W. At 100W, I'd throw the U12A and U12S on there as the competition - The U12S is half the price, and at 100W cools just fine and is significantly quieter. I'm guessing the 550rpm @ low speed is at or below your noise floor.

    Add the 200W results, please.
  • NorthRocks - Monday, August 19, 2024 - link

    Currently using 2-3 original D15 models.The fact that the older models actually performs better at lower RPM makes upgrading seem bit pointless to me. The CPUs I use (Ryzen 9 7900X etc.) seldom run at maximum power.
  • dqniel - Monday, August 19, 2024 - link

    Absolutely insane price. The performance and support is good, but so is the performance and support of other companies... without the insane price.
  • Oxford Guy - Thursday, August 22, 2024 - link

    Considering how long these last and inflation, $150 is hardly insane.

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