If you’re reading this site, Noctua almost assuredly needs no introduction to you. It’s rare that Austria’s premiere purveyor of puissant cooling apparatus actually launches a new product, and rarer still that it replaces its top-end, flagship cooler. That’s exactly what’s happening here, though: after many delays, the venerable NH-D15 is finally getting replaced by its younger, cooler progeny: the NH-D15 G2.
Okay, okay, it’s fundamentally the same thing: two big 140-mm fans attached to a gigantic pair of finstacks connected to a hotplate by heatpipes. That doesn’t mean it’s literally the same thing, though. Every single part of the NH-D15 G2 has been updated from the original recipe, and we do mean every single part. The asymmetrical finstacks, the bump to eight heatpipes (from six), the new 140mm fans, the mounting system, and even the baseplates—of which there are three different variations, now.
For starters, the second-generation NH-D15 comes with a pair of Noctua’s new “NF-A12x25r G2” fans that not only move a ton of air with high static pressure, but also come configured for a fan speed offset that apparently helps avoid undesirable harmonic resonance which can manifest as “vibrations or periodic humming.” The “SupraTorque” fans are also configured such that they maintain a constant rotational speed even when faced with considerable static pressure, which helps with noise management.
Indeed, it’s easy to forget sometimes, but Noctua’s actual genesis as a company is down to the search for silent cooling for noisy computers. That doesn’t mean sacrificing cooling performance, though, and the changes for the NH-D15 G2—like the staggered, asymmetrical finstacks—have increased the cooling performance of the D15 G2 over 150W from the already-impressive previous version. Noctua says that the NH-D15 G2 can handle chips putting out over 600 watts of heat—truly incredible stuff for an air cooler.
The NH-D15 G2 is available in three variations, each intended for a different CPU and socket configuration. The actual recommendations are a little complex (thus the chart below), but the short version is that AMD fans should probably buy the “Low Base Convexity” or standard versions, while users of recent Intel platforms will probably want the “High Base Convexity” (or standard) design.
Base convexity is exactly what it sounds like: the degree of outward curve of the heatsink’s base. The heatsink is designed this way because the mounting hardware will force it flat, and CPUs tend to be slightly concave in the center. However, some are more concave than others. AMD’s Socket AM4 and AM5 processors tend to be flatter, while Intel processors—especially those deformed by the heavyweight socket loading mechanism—tend to be extra curvy. Selecting the correct base can slightly improve cooling performance.
If you’re dying to get what is probably one of the greatest air coolers to date (if not the greatest), you don’t have to wait; it’s available right now! You can snag it all over the web, but we’d sure like if you’d grab it from Amazon using one of the affiliate links above. Thanks for supporting HotHardware, and if you get a D15 G2, let us know what you think!