Performance
Test setup and Testing Methodology
The system used for testing is listed in the table below. Ambient temperatures were kept at 24 degrees Celsius +/- 1 degree. The thermal paste used was CoolerMaster thermal fusion (for testing consistency). For the overclocked results I upped the voltage to 1.30v and attained a clock speed of 4.2GHz. The cool and quite mode was disabled to prevent the CPU idling at lower voltages to attain accurate temperatures at idle. The fan speed was set to auto. The idle temperatures were recorded after 10 minutes of idle and max temperatures were recorded after a 5 minute torture test using Prime95. The software used to monitor temperatures was HWMonitor courtesy of CPUID.
In the graph below we see the idle temperatures for both stock and overclock. The NH-D15S is right in the middle shows really good cooling capabilities at idle but remember these are idle temperatures and the fan on the Noctua NH-D15S is merely spinning 800 rpm and the fan noise is hardly noticeable.
The NH-D15S Performs as advertised. Right in the mix to claim the top stop. The 40 degree mark on overclock is an awesome mark. I do not see many coolers achieving that cool of a temperature unless you throw liquid to the setup. I am impressed with the cooling capabilities of the NH-D15S.
The peak noise levels were recorded while performing the torture test. During the test on stock settings the meter recorded a dB level of 35 with a fan speed of 1080 RPM. During the test with an overclock the meter recorded a dB level of 35 with a fan speed of 1025 RPM.
One thing Noctua offers with this cooler is a set of low-noise adapters. The purpose of the low-noise adapter cables are to reduce the voltage sent to the fans, in turn limiting the RPM at which they will spin. The low-noise adapters will prevent the fans from spinning over 1200 RPM. This accessory is a nice added bonus from Noctua. As you can see from the results below we did lose performance in the cooling area but we did achieve dBs at lowers levels.
While testing with the low-noise adapters, the increase in temperatures, were at a mere one-to-two degrees Celsius.
The peak noise levels were recorded while performing the torture test. During the test on stock settings the meter recorded a dB level of 32 with a fan speed of 874 RPM. During the test with an overclock the meter recorded a dB level of 32 with a fan speed of 825 RPM. As we can see the low-noise adapters reduced the RPM of the fans around 200-300. The adapters do quiet the fans a reasonable amount and the loss in cooling performance is very minimal.
There we have it! The NH-D15S brought to us by Noctua! Let us cover a few final thoughts and conclusion of our review.
