CONCLUSION

    When the NH-D14 CPU cooler by Noctua made its debut roughly 16 years ago it was the best model in the market, even compared to other dual-tower sandwich type ones by the competition. Same exact thing happened when Noctua unveiled the NH-D15 roughly 5 years after the NH-D14 even though there were far more dual-tower sandwich coolers available by then. 11 years have passed since Noctua unveiled the NH-D15 and the new NH-D15 G2 (Gen 2) doesn’t disappoint by delivering almost 2 full degrees Celsius less in comparison during my LGA2011 tests (unfortunately it does so with higher noise levels). Where the focus should be however is its cooling efficiency with the Intel Core Ultra 285k and here it does very well by even managing to surpass one of the 360mm AIO models in my charts. What about cost, however?

    Premium cooling efficiency and build quality are the two highlights of Noctua products and well, that’s also the reason they cost more compared to their competition. To be more specific both the NH-D15 G2 MBC and LBC models currently retail for USD179.95 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 156.20Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de) and well, that’s just too much. You can easily find lower cost 360mm AIO liquid CPU coolers that can surpass the cooling efficiency of the NH-D15 G2 and that’s its single most important drawback. That being said let’s not forget that unlike AIO liquid CPU coolers the Noctua NH-D15 G2 will keep going pretty much forever and that along with its impressive performance (for an CPU air cooler) are more than enough for our Golden Award.

PROS

- Excellent Build Quality
- Top Cooling Efficiency (Air Cooler)
- Zero Clearance Design (GPU, RAM & Motherboard Modules)
- MBC, HBC & LBC Models
- Overall Noise Levels
- 6 Year Warranty

CONS

- Price (For Some)
- Large Size (For Some)