Page 4 - Conclusion
When I first laid my eyes on the Noctua NH-D14 over five years ago, I literally laughed out loud. That cooler was so big, it was almost comical. Granted, it was one of the best air coolers at the time, and it was so successful, the company optimized it into the NH-D15 I reviewed last year. Although the NH-D15 is a technically more refined version of its predecessor, it did not completely fix a fundamental problem with these mega-sized D-series coolers, and that is its physical compatibility. The original NH-D14 interfered with anything other than low profile RAM, as well as the first expansion slot closest to the CPU socket. The NH-D15, for the most part, rectified the first issue, but the second one remained. The Noctua NH-D15S promises both excellent RAM and PCIe compatibility. By offsetting the fin stack slightly with relation to the CPU base, was Noctua successful? As simple as this change may sound, I think so. Of course, there is going to be reduced space around the CPU socket for you to work with, so just make sure you connect your motherboard's EPS 8-pin power first, and connect the CPU fan if you cannot get your hands in there later -- but this may be the only downside to this change. The NH-D15S continues to rock the charts with great results as an air cooler, and being a Noctua product, it comes with crystal clear installation instructions, perfectly organized accessories, and one of the best mounting systems in the industry, just as we have seen in the past. Carrying a price tag of about $80 at press time, the Noctua NH-D15S is about $20 cheaper than the NH-D15, since it does not come with a second NF-A15. To be honest, I have never used the second fan with my original NH-D15, since it was horrible for RAM compatibility; not to mention the cooler itself delivered class leading performance already. There are not many bad things I can say about this cooler, other than the fact it is big, which is intrinsic to its design, so we will have to resort to this, haha.
Noctua provided this product to APH Networks for the purpose of evaluation.
APH Recommended Award | APH Review Focus Summary:
9/10 means Excellent product with very minor drawbacks that does not affect the overall product.
8/10 means Definitely a very good product with drawbacks that are not likely going to matter to the end user.
-- Final APH Numeric Rating is 8.3/10
Please note that the APH Numeric Rating system is based off our proprietary guidelines in the Review Focus, and should not be compared to other sites.
The Noctua NH-D15S is a mega sized cooler that is no longer mega in incompatibility.
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Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Hardware; Installation
3. Test Results
4. Conclusion
