Next, overclocking. We used the Asus Rampage V Extreme Motherboard 6 core overclock pre-set and manually set the DDR4 to 2666Mhz.
For the overclocking, idle and load tests, the results are now showing up the single fan configuration. The NH-D15S manages a good third place and when you think about it, you are not really any worse off than a Dark Rock Pro 3 owner, though you are very slightly!
This is where it gets interesting again. Managing a good second place for sound performance, could we have beaten the Dark Rock Pro 3 in the overclocking temperature tests? Maybe, but it’s a quieter third place overclocker than the second place entrant in the temperature competition.
It is also in first place for load testing during overclocking, and though two fans will not be twice as loud as one, the single fan configuration is working here, despite possibly spinning a little faster to achieve it. Remember the possible fan turbulent? Overall, excellent.
Conclusion
It’s awesome, why are we putting two fans on anything? Well, there are good reasons but when you look at the performance of the Noctua NH-D15S CPU single fan cooler, a good solid heatsink may not need two fans to work well, it just needs one good one.
On most good sites there is at least £5 pounds between them, which should increase as the sales increase also. The NH-D15 is the king of the hill for us when it comes to air coolers, the NH-D15S needs to take second place, but not just for the results. Results may vary with a single fan cooler, specifically if you have an older generation Intel CPU that is effectively a cooker. You may need the second fan, even just for piece of mind.
If you have a modern AMD or Intel cooler, you need to look at this cooler. You will only need one fan header as well, welcome for any mATX users too. Think about what you truly need to cool your CPU, the NH-D15S might just be the intelligent option.
