Final Thoughts
When someone asks me about getting a new CPU cooler if they are going the air route I always suggest Noctua as their coolers are proven and on top of that they are always easy to install. With the NH-D15 SE-AM4 you get both of those things.
In our testing on the Ryzen 7 1700 the NH-D15 SE-AM4 was able to keep it at 26C during idle and 40C during load. That is very impressive! Even beating out Corsair’s H110i all-in-one liquid cooler. On top of that even with the low-noise adapters installed you get very good performance. Without the low-noise adapters installed the fans really are not that loud at all.
Noctua has used their SecureFirm2 mounting system for years now and we love it. All of their coolers, even large ones like this are extremely easy to install, even for a beginner. It took us about 10 minutes to get this cooler fully installed and you can easily install this cooler with your motherboard inside of your case.
If you are looking for a CPU cooler to cool down your new Ryzen processor the NH-D15 SE-AM4 is a great choice and I would even recommend it over many AiO liquid coolers as it is easier to install, provides better performance, and is quieter. Right now you can pick up this cooler at our favorite online retailer for $89.90, which puts it at the very top-end of air cooler, but again you are getting better performance than most liquid solutions.
Overall ThinkComputers gives the Noctua NH-D15 SE-AM4 CPU Cooler a 10 out of 10 score and our Recommended Award!
Pros:
– Great performance
– Easy installation
– Quiet operation
– LNA adapters included
– No real clearance issues
Cons:
– Price
40 degrees at 100% load?? Is this 40 over ambient or just the actual temperature of the CPU being 40? If it’s the latter, what’s the ambient temperature?
I know AMD uses some sweet thermal compound between the CPU and the heatspreader. But this seems absolutely crazy. An 8 core CPU at 40 degrees at full load.
First on the list would be to spray paint those fugly fans with a better color.
I have an R7 1700. At stock, maximum all core clock speeds are only 3.2GHz, and my Noctua U14S does similar temperatures. Overclocked to 3.8GHz all cores, the temperatures do push the high 60s.
do not forget the temperature offset used by many Ryzen CPU (1800x-1700x) unless you have a program reading the proper temperature AMD did state the temps are actually reported as 20c higher from the factory
https://www.kotaku.com.au/2017/03/amds-ryzen-cpus-arent-running-as-hot-as-they-say-they-are/
Either way ~60c fully loaded all cores is actually not bad though I would expect better from a noctua unit, but still much better then many Intel higher end core i chips let alone previous bulldozer/piledriver chips hitting in the 70-80s 😀
Man those fans are fugly bastards. Might be one of the best coolers. Wont win any color contests. Noctua needs to switch all fans colors over like the NF-F12 iPPC-3000. Beautiful.