Noctua NH-D15 air cooler performance versus other air and water models in overclocking setups for Skylake 6700K builds
Noctua NH-D15 air cooler performance versus other air and water models in overclocking setups for Skylake 6700K builds
Air cooling offers greater reliability and longevity, making it ideal for Skylake systems. Tom recommends the Noctua NH-D14 as a solid option.
Instead of rearranging the fans or raising them on the cooler, consider purchasing DIMMs without such long heat spreaders.
Here is a RAM compatibility chart for the Noctua NH D14. I own a cooler that works well with the Crucial Ballistix Tactical, and the table confirms several Crucial DDR 4 DIMMS also fit the NH D14.
I strongly suggest the NH D14—excellent cooling and quiet operation.
Yogi
Instead of rearranging the fans or relocating them to the top of the cooler, consider purchasing DIMMs without such long heat spreaders.
Here is a RAM compatibility chart for the Noctua NH D14. I own a cooler and the Crucial Ballistix Tactical works perfectly. Of course, my rig uses DDR 3, but the chart shows several Crucial DDR 4 DIMMs that also fit the NH D14.
I strongly suggest the NH D14! It offers excellent cooling and quiet operation.
Yogi
The NH D14 is also superb, just like the newest NH D15s, though the latter lack the necessary space for RAM. However, reports suggest they don’t perform quite as well during overclocking compared to the 14 and 15, which helps keep CPU temps down. Still, it’s a solid choice. Low-profile RAM is another option, but I spent a lot of time choosing and ended up with Tridents. Many people, for valid reasons, prefer higher-profile rams like Ripjaws, Dominator Platinum, and others, while still having plenty of low-profile options available. In this situation, you shouldn’t worry about compatibility—just adapt accordingly so the Tridents can still fit.
I've added some performance data from testing my desktop configuration using the Noctua NH D15. All components are functioning well together. The air cooling setup with a 6700K processor, over-clocked to 1.264v to 4.5 GHz, paired with an Asus Z170-A mainboard and G.Skill Trident Z 32 GB RAM at 3333 MHz (OC), shows impressive results. In a room temperature range of 17 to 20 degrees, it typically idles around 19 degrees, while under normal load it stays between 20 to 26 degrees. Most of the Prime 95 was operating between 62 to 69 degrees, with spikes reaching up to 81 degrees and CPU temperatures reaching as high as 1.39 v during the most demanding stress tests on all four cores. With 32GB of overclocked RAM at 3333 MHz, running Office, a web browser, YouTube 1080p videos, multiple monitoring tools, integrated graphics, and two monitors at 1080p resolution, the performance was notable. I might need to review the fan speed settings, as they were expected to reach near maximum, but in practice they stayed between 340 and even under maximum stress in Prime 95—2 fans never exceeded 745 and 748 RPM, despite the rated 1200 RPM. The low-noise adapter didn’t fit. After the most intense tests, temperatures dropped quickly back to 60s, and when stopped, Prime 95 returned to 26 degrees, even lowering to 18 degrees. I examined the fan profiles; it looked like they were set for ultra quiet operation, activating only at 80 degrees or higher. I’ve changed the profile, so I’ll need to try again with the new settings.
I began my first overclock yesterday. I'm currently posting on the CPU forum with my question marked as an error. My setup includes a Fractal R5 case, an Asus Maximus VIII Hero MB motherboard, a Noctua NH-D15 heatsink, an Intel i5 6600K processor, and G. Skill with 8 GB x 4 Ripjaws V RAM. I'm only running the middle fan on the D15. I relocated both Fractal fans to the front, removed the 5-bay drive cage, and installed the extra Noctua A15 fan as a rear case fan (connected to the CPU_OPT header). To maintain voltages under 1.4 (maximum measured at 1.44), temperatures stayed excellent, with the highest reaching around 73 degrees—about 55 degrees above ambient. I believe the i7 model gets warmer than the i5, possibly because of hyperthreading. Using the built-in video instead of a separate card also increases heat. All fans remained under 1000 RPM during Realbench stress tests. The Noctua SecuMount is top-notch, and I have no worries about damaging the chip or motherboard (though I’m not shipping it). The Hero MB might be more durable than the A170. Feel free to ask any questions about my configuration. (And check out my post in the CPU forum)
Bearmann :
I started my first ever overclock yesterday. I currently have a thread in the CPU forum, where I put my overclocking question in error. I'm using a Fractal R5 case, an Asus Maximus VIII Hero MB, a Noctua NH-D15 heatsink, an Intel i5 6600K, and G. Skill 8 GB x 4 Ripjaws V RAM. I'm only using the middle fan on the D15. I moved both Fractal fans to the front, took out the 5 bay drive cage, and made the extra Noctua A15 fan a rear case fan (plugged into the CPU_OPT header). Since I am trying to keep my voltages below 1.4 (max measured 1.44), the temps have been great with the highest about 73 degrees (it's cool here, that's ~55 degrees over ambient). I think the i7 does get a bit hotter than the i5, I hear, due to the hyperthreading. It's also hotter if you use the onboard video instead of a separate video card. None of the fans ever exceeded about 1000 RPM in Realbench stress testing. The Noctua SecuMount is the best in the business and I have no concerns about the chip or MB being damaged (though I am not shipping it). The Hero MB may be a bit more robust than the A170 however. Any questions about my set-up, ask away. (and read my post in the CPU forum)
I also have a Fractal Design R5 case, its a really good case with so many options. After getting the Asus Z170-A board, i did wonder if should have gone for Hero, but on reading specs the one I went for does do all I wanted and it appears to be as good a quality with extra cost for additional features. It is really very good value and some good reviews remarking on it not skimping on features, its just extras and there isn't that big a difference between the A and De-luxe or Hero and cost is important overall, so as long as quality isn't compromised and I must say the A series board is good and does seem well-built. I didn't need wi-fi and am not likely to need more than one m.2 slot and it does have PCI express for further high speed cards.
I ordered the board first and by the time the i7 chip and ram became available i had the board over a month, but saying that it is a good board and seem sot be well made, possibly as good as the Hero but without the extra features. Regarding ram speed 3400 an din my case 3333 MHz is probably fast enough for most people on Skylake platform, any faster and like hifi is following diminishing returns. It is certainly a point in using a graphics card,I am aware with using the on-board graphics it will place more load on the chip, but it seems designed to cope, just as long as its not for gaming that is. In fact performance up to 2-d is quite amazing, its 3-d when the graphics cards really take off, but saying that using graphics card will let processor and as graphics are constantly used should help keep temps a bit lower. I do want a grpahics card, but from what ive read the Pascal series are such an improvement and match a lot of the features of Skylake, its worth waiting and in the meantime use integrated graphics. I'm also using 32GB ram with all 4 dimms which will add a bit more heat possibly, although from my first test it doest seem to make that big a difference, more benchmark difference, but higher capacity fast ram does seem to help performance.
I also read about the issues some are having on attaching heat-sinks to Skylake processors, but Noctua do seem to be extremely well built with a very good solid mainboard adapter plate. I also would consider detaching for transportation, but I think that may be a good idea for most heat-sinks, certainly air cooled ones. As regards pressure, water cooler heat plates also if fit too tight or from a lower quality may have the potential to be just as damaging so the answer in attaching any cooler whether air or water, is to do it carefully. The Noctua fitting seems ot be one of the best available and seems to enable attachment with a good balanced contact and easy to fit without over tightening. I also found the cross method of thermal paste effective.
Regrading fans I have set manual profiles that both allow quiet running, but move into turbo from 60 degrees,I've made a new profile since the test I did the other day, that follows quiet pc mode up to 50 degrees then has a steep curve to high at 60 degrees and full at 70 degrees. In addition to the 2 fractal fans that are very good and quiet, I'm using both, I've added a Be Quiet silent wings 2 as a second front fan. I'm also going to get an M.2 to be my main SSD supposed to arrive this week and have another Be Quiet fan I'm going to put in the base in front of the power supply, and this is well placed to blow cooler air across the m.2 and towards the processor and ram, so will have 3 input fans, 2 in the front, one underneath and 2 fans on the cooler, one output fan. I am considering with having 3 input fans, may add another output fan at the top, but think I'd need some kind of cover above the fan to stop dust dropping down into pc when not switched on, or use an air filter and a high static pressure output fan.
Update on using the Noctua NH D15 in normal PC usage, temperatures have been low and run very quiet. I have changed the fan profiles through UEFI that were set at quiet and normal to turbo settings, that stay as quiet at low to mid temperatures then instead of not going to full speed until over 70 degrees C going up to full speed at 60 degrees C so cooling is increased earlier and maintained until temperature fall to lower levels, which is also more rapid. I have also added another fan at the base when I installed a Samsung 950 Pro M.2 SSD to use for Windows 10 operating system and gives very positive air pressure, but ensuring a powerful fan at rear the Fractal Design one is connected to main-board enabling full power. I've got the processor over-clocked to 4.5 GHz at 1.3v offset and mostly it runs at much less and ram at 3333MHz with 16 18 18 38 and it is performing fantastically. CPU temperatures in normal usage at 16 to 24 degrees C. and along with a Corsair RM750i power supply is very quiet whilst high performance.
Update: I have overclocked the Intel i7 6700K processor at 4.4GHz with 100 BCLK, adaptive mode. I found setting it at 1.30v works but 1.32v allowed stable operating for more demanding tasks and mostly at very low voltages such as 0.795v. I had a close call using offset, as there was an error when using Asus software tweak, immediately corrected and was not my fault, as I had only set it to 0.01 and ensured I had, but has put me off using offset. The 2 Noctua CPU fans kicked in instantly going to full and gave enough time to take voltage down to 1.2v manual, allowing to cool and later setting up a decent adaptive setting. I also found offset tended to use higher than required voltages, as did the Asus software set-up. Manual allows full control but meant to ensure stable , always running more than required. Adaptive is proving very good, mostly running very low voltages and very low temperatures, with Noctua NH D15 air cooler maximum temperate 63 degrees C. with Ram set at 3466MHz (Intel XTU Benchmark on Asus Dual Intelligent Processors 5 software).
As I am using my desktop pc just with integrated graphics until Pascal graphics cards are released, didn’t want to overstretch the processor as all graphics are currently being run from the CPU only, I have therefore changed the overclock to 4.4 GHz and when add a graphics card may up it to 4.5Ghz. I have also added Intel Tuning Replacement Plan https://click.intel.com/tuningplan/ via Intel website as discovered overclocking Is not included in standard 3-year warranty terms, but that allows for any major error that may occur including not user error, so no matter how careful one is, software, hardware UEFI bios etc, that may damage the processor. Of course when one gets it running well don’t want to change processors, just as well to be covered, so can just enjoy the performance of the processor with ram.
The Noctua NH D15 performs superbly and in regular use am finding temperatures between 17 and 23 degrees C and ultra quiet in Fractal design R5 case, as in would require am amplified microphone to detect, so ideal for quiet and cool pc.
I noticed you began this discussion a month back and you've already bought all your parts. Still, I believe we're both happy with the R5 case and the Noctua D15 cooler.
Bearmann :
I didn't notice you began this discussion a month ago, nor that you've already bought all your parts. Anyway, I believe we're both satisfied with the R5 case and the Noctua D15 cooler.
Yes, precisely, the R5 case is excellent. I chose a white one with a window—it looks great and works well. It's also very quiet, perfect for ultra-quiet computing, production tasks, and offers many removable bays for airflow or large storage solutions like a hard drive raid system, as well as SSDs. There are plenty of options for air or water cooling, including custom loops, and of course it's great for gaming. For me, air cooling is preferable to water cooling; cheaper water systems carry risks of leaks, maintenance, and monitoring since water doesn't mix with a PC. But for those who overclock heavily, the case supports any water solution, with big radiators and powerful graphics cards in SLI. The Noctua cooler stands out as stylish, industrial, and functional, with the right LEDs—it can match any water cooler in appearance.
Hey CreativeTiger
I'm facing the same issue you mentioned. I have the fractal design r5, i7 6700k and an ASUS Z170 motherboard. The challenge is picking a CPU cooler. I currently use a HyperX Savage 2666 MHz CL13 2x8 GB RAM, which runs at 1.35 volts and stands 34.5 mm tall. Noctua suggests it only supports RAM up to 32 mm with a dual fan setup. I got the HyperX Savage 30% off, so I don’t want to return them for low-profile RAM. I really need low-profile RAM to fit my Noctua NH-D15. I noticed you have a Noctua NH-D15 and Trident Z RAM that aren’t low-profile. How did you manage it? Did you adjust the fan height or try another method? I’m excited to build my PC but am stuck on choosing the right cooler :/