INTRODUCTION

    It's no secret that CPU air coolers pushed the limits of cooling efficiency only when the first dual-heatsink (sandwich) type models made their debut in the PC market roughly 16 years ago and well, that's still the case today. Certain manufacturers have tried to further tweak their dual-heatsink models either by adjusting their fin design, using thicker heatpipes or adding more powerful fans but for the most part cooling efficiency has remained at around similar levels. Noctua was among the very first PC cooling manufacturers to announce the availability of a dual-heatsink sandwich model (NH-D14) and after several improvements over the years (which resulted to new models like the NH-D15) last year they released their latest and largest CPU cooler to date, the flagship NH-D15 G2.

    Designed in Austria, Noctua’s premium cooling components are internationally renowned for their superb quietness, exceptional performance and thoroughgoing quality. Having received more than 6000 awards and recommendations from leading hardware websites and magazines, Noctua’s fans and heatsinks are serving hundreds of thousands of satisfied customers around the globe.

    Noctua currently has 3 available NH-D15 G2 models, the standard (MBC - Medium Base Convexity) which is the best all-rounder if you like swapping out CPUs and motherboards a lot, LBC (Low Base Convexity) which is ideal for flat CPUs (AMD AM4/AM5 and Intel LGA2066 and LGA2011 sockets primarily) and the HBC (High Base Convexity) which is aimed towards deformed CPUs and CPUs without modifying their sockets (Intel LGA1700 socket primarily). All three NH-D15 G2 coolers are dual tower (sandwich) models that feature two of their state-of-the-art, speed-offset NF-A14x25r G2 PWM fans (1500RPM/91.58CFM/24.8dBA), a total of eight nickel plated copper heatpipes, asymmetrical fin-stacks (57 aluminum fins on each heatsink) and their latest SecuFirm2+ torx-based mounting system. Also, since both the MBC and LBC models arrived in the lab I'll be testing them on 2 different CPUs, the Intel Core Ultra 285K (LGA1851) and my much older Core i7 3930K (LGA2011 - addon bracket) which I used for CPU cooler tests for roughly a full decade (noise levels are identical between both NH-D15 G2 variants).