Noctua NH-D15 G2 Chromax.black Heatsink Review

In this review we looked at the Noctua NH-D15 G2 chromax.black.  This is a chromax.black edition of the popular NH-D15 complete with a black surface finish, chromax.black NF-A14x25 G2 fans.  This popular variant has been powering high performance gaming builds for over 15 years.  Systems have changed a lot since then making the occasional upgrade and revision a welcome change.

The Noctua NH-D15 G2 chromax is only available in a single version while the traditional NH-D15 G2 can be found in two different configurations, LBC (basically flat) and HBC or High Base Convexity making it optimized for the LGA 1700 series of processors.  In this review the chromax.black will be of the LBC variety and might find better thermal performance on AM5 processors but, is no slouch on the Intel side of things either.

With the launch of the NH-D15 G2 chromax.black we can celebrate the option to have high-performance coolers available in black having the same performance and efficiency advantage found on the flagship Noctua coolers and fans.  The new NF-A14x25 G2 chromax.black fans offer a significant upgrade over the previous edition chromax.fan offerings with a new blade design that will direct the airflow into a vertical column without the need for a focus flow frame or variable pitch stator guides.  I found them to be extremely quiet with a smooth motion and very little “bleed” at the frame.

Overall, I see the Noctua NH-D15 G2 chromax.black to be a worthy option for those reluctant to use Noctua products for fear of clashing color themes.  Performance was extremely good and rivaled that of AIO coolers while offering the ease of aircooling.  Dual tower coolers like the NH-D15 G2 are extremely large and while the radiator fins have cut-outs for memory access there are situations where interference is unavoidable.  During our tests I needed to raise the forward most fan to clear our Viper Xtreme5 DDR5 memory.

Thermal performance is enhanced by the larger 8-heatpipe design and when combined with the new fan design allows the NH-D15 G2 to handle the larger multi-core processors while still offering considerable headroom for overclocking, which is what helped make these coolers famous.

Great 140mm Cooling Performance
Dual Tower Design
Excellent Performance
Noctua Mounting System
New Cooling Fan Design
Large 8-Heatpipe Cooler
Black on Black Color Theme

LGA 1200 and 1700 mounts easy to mix up
Fan to Memory clearance