FrostyTech Mk.III Synthetic Thermal Heatsink Test Results Intel Core i7, Extreme Edition class heatsinks tested at a 200W heat load. Results based on readings from a 38x38mm copper interface die with 200W heat load on the Intel version of the Mk.III Test Platform. Temperature results listed for each heatsink were calculated by determining the rise over ambient temperatures at time of test. Information on Frostytech's test methodology is available here. Socket LGA2011/1366 compatible CPU heatsinks
manufacturer:	model no.:	*fan speed:	200w thermal test (°c)	noise level (dba)
Coolermaster	Nepton 280L	high	10.6	58.8
Coolermaster	Nepton 140XL	high	11.8	59.6
Coolermaster	Seidon 240M	high	13.4	55.6
Silverstone	Tundra TD02	high	13.6	53.0
Coolermaster	Glacer 240L	high	14.1	52.5
NZXT	Kraken X60	high	14.5	60.7
Noctua	NH-D15	high	15.8	49.8
Noctua	NH-U14S		17.0	47.3
Coolermaster	Seidon 120V	high	17.5	54.3
NZXT	Kraken X40	high	18.2	59.4
Silverstone	Tundra TD03	high	18.7	58.1
Silverstone	Argon AR01	high	18.8	53.0
Coolermaster	Eisberg 240L	high	19.1	50.5
BeQuiet	Dark Rock Pro 3	high	19.5	43.7
Raijintek	Themis	high	19.7	52.8
Coolermaster	V8 GTS	high	20.0	59.7
Corsair	Hydro H80i	high	21.1	64.0
Noctua	NH-U12S		21.1	46.2
Raijintek	Ereboss	high	21.4	49.7
Zalman	Reserator 3 Max	high	21.6	58.9
Scythe	Mugen 4	high	21.7	41.9
Zalman	LQ315	high	21.9	50.8
Silverstone	NT06-P	high	22.1	51.6
Raijintek	Pallas	high	22.2	43.2
Raijintek	Aidos	high	23.0	55.6
Silentium	Fera2 HE1224	high	23.4	37.6
Noctua	NH-D15	low	23.8	31.8
Zalman	LQ310	high	23.8	52.7
Scythe	Ashura Shadow (SCASR-1000SE)	high	24.2	51.4
Raijintek	Nemesis	high	24.6	47.8
Zalman	LQ320	high	25.5	50.2
npowertek	NPH-1366-115HC (LGA1366)	high	28.7	44.8
Dynatron	G556 (LGA1366/2U)		29.1	68.4
Dynatron	G555 (LGA1366/2U)		30.4	67.8
Dynatron	G666 (LGA1366/2U)		31.8	68.7
Silverstone	NT01-Pro	high	35.8	40.4
nPowerTek	NPH1366-140HC (LGA1366)	high	36.3	48.1
Zalman	FX-100 (w/h ZM-F2 fan)		36.9	28.5
Dynatron	G199 (LGA1366/1U)		47.6	62.6
Zalman	FX-100 (hor, ver)		63.0	0.0
			200w thermal test (°c)	noise level (dba)
*heatsinks are ranked according to the 200w thermal test results column (rise over ambient temp.). low temperatures with low noise levels are considered best. for reference heatsinks with variable-speed fans, only the high speed (12v) fan test result is included in the comparison sheet; more detailed results reside in each specific heatsink review.

frostytech's most recent synthetic thermal test platform stresses Intel socket LGA2011 and LGA1366 compatible heatsinks with a 200W heat load. Additionally, because the AMD Integrated Heat Spreader and Intel LGA2011 IHS both measure ~38x38mm, these test results can be directly extrapolated to AMD processor scenarios.

With a 200W heat load applied by the Intel LGA2011/1366 version of FrostyTech's synthetic thermal test platform, Noctua's NH-D15 heatsink yields an excellent temperature test result of just 15.8°C over ambient, with both fans spinning at 1500RPM. Decreasing the speed of the two 140x150mm PWM fans to 650RPM caused test temperatures to increase to 23.8°C over ambient, while noise output dropped to a whisper quiet 31.8 dBA.

Where LGA2011 Intel processors are considered, the Noctua NH-D15 heatsink is the best performing tower CPU cooler we've tested thus far, exceeded only by all-in-one liquid coolers.

In Summary

The Noctua NH-D15 is a big heatsink, standing 162mm tall and a boxy 151x161mm wide, but it's an excellent thermal solution if your computer chassis can accommodate it.

Exactly how does the Noctua NH-D15 stack up?

On all three of Frostytech's synthetic thermal test platforms the Noctua NH-D15 heatsink offers the best, quietest cooling performance of the tower-class heatsinks we've thus tested. In other words, that means several all-in-one liquid cooler models do perform cooler than the NH-D15, but they're also much louder. The only two tower coolers which have a slight edge are also much louder.

As far as sub-162mm tall heatsinks go, well... the Noctua NH-D15 rises to the top of the list if we consider sub-54 dBA coolers only and it only outputs 49.8 dBA noise!

Compared to previous Noctua heatsinks like the NH-D14, the Noctua NH-D15 heatsink tested a little louder but performed 1.2°C cooler on the 150W test and ~0.3°C cooler on the 125W test platform.

With both it's 140mm fans slowed to 650RPM, which incidently is half the fan speed Noctua suggest with the supplied 1200RPM "Low Noise Adaptor" fan speed resistor, the NH-D15 heatsink offers very good thermal performance at essentially inaudible noise levels. On the 200W thermal test, the cooler does struggle under this restricted air flow situation, but the NH-D15's still manages to outperform a bunch of LGA2011 heatsinks.

Bottom line, Noctua's NH-D15 twin tower CPU cooler is an excellent heatsink for Intel and AMD platforms, particularly if a self-contained watercooling system isn't the direction you want to take your computer system. Highly recommended.

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