Cooler Comparison Testing

Cooler Testing Methods

To best gage the quality of the system coolers under review, system CPU temperature and cooling system audio measurements were taken with the CPU idle and under load. To replicate CPU idle conditions, the system was rebooted and allowed to sit idle for 10 minutes. To replicate a stress system load, AIDA64 System Stability Test was used in conjunction with EVGA OC Scanner X for 30 minutes per run. After each run, the system was shut down and allowed to rest for 10 minutes to cool down. Then the CPU cooler was removed, cleaned, and remounted to the CPU with fresh thermal paste applied. This procedure was repeated a total of 12 times for each cooler – three times each for the stock and overclocking speed runs on the Z87 and X99-based systems.

Temperature measurements were taken directly from the CPU thermistors using RealTemp (the newer Tech|Inferno edition) for the Z87 testing and CoreTemp v1.0 RC7 for the X99 testing. Because of the volatile nature of the Haswell and Haswell-E thermistor readings, the system temperatures were measured as follows. For idle temperatures, the highest recorded value was used for the run. For load temperatures, a series of three values were notated: the average (high and low) across all cores, the average (high and low) across the single highest core, and the high temperature.

To adequately measure the performances of both coolers, performance testing was done for all scenarios under single fan mode using vendor provided fans. Fans were directly connected to the PSU and run at full speed for all tests performed.

Note that the temperature values are reported as deltas rather than absolute temperatures with the delta value reported calculated as CPU temperature – ambient temperature. For all tests, room ambient temperature was maintained between 23-27C. Sound measurements of the system cooler where taken with the sound meter placed 3 feet away from the system with all other devices in the room silenced. The Sound Meter Pro applet on a Samsung Galaxy S3 mobile phone was used to measure decibel level.

Intel Z87-based Haswell System Testing

CPU Stock Speed Testing

The CPU stock speed testing was conducted with the BIOS defaults set for the CPU (including enabling of the CPU-integrated graphics processor) and Turbo Mode disabled, equating to a 3.4GHz CPU speed, 1600MHz memory speed, 3.4GHz ring bus speed, and 100MHz base clock. The Intel Speedstep functionality remained enabled for the duration of the testing to get realistic CPU idle performance conditions.

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Both Noctua units performed within expectation compared with other tested coolers with each cooler's performance differing little from the other. Neither unit seemed to have a distinct cooling advantage over the other.

CPU Overclocked Speed Testing

The CPU overclocked speed testing was conducted with known stable settings from a previous board review with Turbo Mode disabled, equating to a 4.68GHz CPU speed, 1780MHz memory speed, 4.0GHz ring bus speed, and 167MHz base clock. Also, the CPU-integrated graphics processor was disabled to reduce the processor heat generation. The Intel Speedstep functionality remained enabled for the duration of the testing to get realistic CPU idle performance conditions.

Board voltage settings were configured as follows:

  • CPU Core Voltage – 1.25 + 0.005
  • VCCIN Voltage – 1.90
  • DRAM Voltage – 1.55
  • CPU Ring Voltage – 1.125 + 0.005
  • CPU SA Voltage Offset – +0.100
  • CPU IO Analogue Voltage Offset – +0.100
  • CPU IO Digital Voltage Offset – +0.100
  • PCH 1.05 Voltage – 1.120

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When used in conjuction with an overclocked Haswell processor, both coolers again performed on par with the other. While both coolers were able to maintaing system stability during the runs, both were unable to prevent processor throttling during their runs. The NH-C14S was able to keep the processor throttling to 10% while the NH-D15S runs saw throttling hit 12%.

Intel X99-based Haswell-E System Testing

CPU Stock Speed Testing

The CPU stock speed testing was conducted with the BIOS defaults set for the CPU and Turbo Mode disabled, equating to a 3.0GHz CPU speed, 2133MHz memory speed, 3.0GHz ring bus speed, and 100MHz base clock. The Intel Speedstep functionality remained enabled for the duration of the testing to get realistic CPU idle performance conditions.

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The Haswell-E processor with its larger surface footprint proved more of a challenge to both coolers. While each maintained system stability without issues as stock settings, the NH-C14S managed to slightly outperform the NH-D15S.

**UPDATE**: After being provided a second set of samples from Noctua, the cooling performance of both the NH-D15S and NH-C14S improved by a few degrees at stock speeds with the NH-D15S having a slight performance advantage over the NH-C14S. The NH-D15 continues to outperform both, maintainly due to its massive airflow potential from its dual fan configuration.

CPU Overclocked Speed Testing – Maximum air cooled speed

The CPU overclocked speed testing was conducted with known stable settings from a previous board review with Turbo Mode disabled, equating to a 4.25GHz CPU speed, 2666MHz memory speed, 3.5GHz ring bus speed, and 125MHz base clock. Also, the CPU-integrated graphics processor was disabled to reduce the processor heat generation. The Intel Speedstep functionality remained enabled for the duration of the testing to get realistic CPU idle performance conditions.

Board voltage settings were configured as follows:

  • CPU Core Voltage – 1.275
  • DRAM Voltage – 1.23
  • All other settings set to Auto or stock settings

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The overclocked Hawell-E processor proved too much for the NH-D15S cooler, whereas the NH-C14S had no problems keeping the CPU temperatures under control and throttle-free. The NH-D15S quickly became overwhelmed by the Haswell-E's heat output, spiking to 105C across all cores with a the processor throttling as high as 25% for runs where the system remained stable. The downward airflow of the NH-C14S may have contributed to its better handling of the Haswell-E processor.

UPDATE: With the new cooler samples from Noctua, the NH-D15S and NH-C14S show a marked improvement over the previous runs with neither having any trouble keeping the overclocked Haswell-E processor cool and stable. both performed well with the NH-D15S performing slightly better than the NH-C14S, but neither able to match the dual fan might of the NH-D15.

Sound Testing

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In all operating modes, both the NH-D15S and NH-C14S maintained Noctua's promise of whisper quiet cooling with neither unit being audible over the normal system fan noise.

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