- Noctua has made three variations of the NH-D15 cooler to cater to everyone’s requirements, named HBC, LBC, and Standard.
- The new NH-D15 G2 boasts a total of 8 heat pipes, as opposed to 6 of its previous iterations.
- The fans use liquid crystal polymer material for better performance and more endurance.
Noctua has come again with its latest cooler, which is essentially an upgrade to its famous NH-D15 cooler. The NH-D15 made a name for itself when it launched back in 2014 due to its excellent cooling performance and quiet operation. This made the cooler one of my favorites and is one of the reasons why I’m excited to try the new iteration of this cooler named NH-D15 G2.
The Improvements So Far
Roughly 10 years after its initial release, this new iteration sure has some solid upgrades to offer to fit right in with the current hardware and not feel obsolete right on arrival.
Three Different Variants
Noctua is launching the NH-D15 G2 in three different variants that specifically prioritize different use cases. The first one is the Standard G2, which is basically an all-rounder and works like any other Noctua cooler, as it has the standardized cold plate.
The second variant is called the Noctua NH-D15 G2 HBC, the last word stands for High Base Convexity. The cold on this variant is more convex, which fits right in with the IHS of Intel 1700 socket CPUs.
The third is the LBC variant, which stands for Low Base Convexity. As in the name, this variant has an LBC cold plate which provides a flat contact patch and is specifically made for AMD CPUs, be it AM5 or AM4.
More Heat Pipes
CPUs have become so hot and power-hungry, that they ask for highly competent coolers to cool them down. Keeping this situation in mind, Noctua has increased the number of heat pipes from 6 to 8 in the NH-D15 G2.
This is a welcome and significant upgrade that will surely pay off while cooling down some high-end CPUs like the Ryzen 9 7900X3D and i9 14900K that are capable of consuming power between 100 and 200 watts.
New & Improved Fans
This can’t go unnoticed, the NH-D15 G2 is equipped with the all-new Noctua NF-A14x25r G2 Fans. The new fans feature 9 fan blades instead of 7 that were on the NF-A15 fans. Additionally, these fans are based on PPA/PPB design by Noctua, which helps them mitigate the chances of beat frequency by offsetting fans’ speed by 25 RPM on both.
Moreover, Noctua has used liquid crystal polymer to produce these fans to achieve 0.7 mm space between the blade’s tip and the inner frame of the fan. It’s an expensive material to build fans, but does a great job of achieving more endurance and the required length for the fans.
I know it’s a little nerdy, but in layman’s terms, it means the new fans are much quieter and can offer better performance than the rest.
A True Successor
From what I have come to know about the cooler, it seems like a promising upgrade and has got me excited to try these new variations as soon as possible. Being, priced at $150, the cooler has to perform competitively against its liquid-cooled rivals. Otherwise, buying an air cooler at this price wouldn’t make any sense.
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[CPU Coolers & RAM Expert]
Hayyan Serwer is a tech enthusiast, with a love for PC building and article writing. Hayyan specializes in writing about CPU coolers and RAM kits. Hayyan has been familiar with the tech industry for over half a decade now, and has now stepped into providing quality reviews for the latest and greatest tech.
Get In Touch: hayyan@old.tech4gamers.com