Noctua NH-D15 G2 – Long Live the King

Noctua NH-D15 was released in April 2014 and has dominated air coolers for an entire decade – an incredible feat. Of course, other coolers have emerged, matching or even surpassing the D15 in performance (e.g., Deepcool Assassin IV, CoolerMaster MA824...), but it took a good 7-8 years for this to happen. Nevertheless, the NH-D15, due to the manufacturer’s support, likely remained the number one in sales...

Today we have the successor of this legend in the form of the D15 G2.

Noctua NH-D15 G2 - Introduction and Specifications

Even though Noctua could have kept the D15 on the market for at least another year, maybe even two, they introduced a new cooler, or rather an improved version of the D15, under the label G2.

The changes are definitely not just cosmetic:

Improved cooler:

• Increased the number of heat pipes from 6 to 8.
• The cooler’s weight increased by 200g.
• Improved SecurFirm 2 mount, now labeled SecurFirm 2+. Noctua replaced cross screws with Torx screws.
• Three versions of the cooler: G2, G2 HBC (High Base Convexity for LGA 1700), and G2 LBC (Low Base Convexity for AMD AM5 and other Intel CPUs). However, Noctua recommends the standard G2 for most applications, which has the same base as other Noctua coolers

Improved NF-A14x25r fans:

• with a smaller gap between the blades and the fan frame
• improved blade shape called Progressive-Bend

• A new feature in the form of SupraTorque - when the fan loses performance under pressure, the fan automatically increases its speed.

• airflow of the fan increased by 11% and the static pressure by 23%. The final numbers are 155.6 m³/h and 2.56mm H2O, respectively.
• reduced gap between the two towers should improve cooling performance, specifically enhancing the performance of the fan positioned between the towers.

Specification