Noctua NH-D15 Gen 2 on it’s way after 8 years of fan development
An 8-year long development cycle before we could get to see Noctua NH-D15 Gen 2
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Any Noctua enthusiast has probably noticed that the highly regarded manufacturer has been as silent as their fans for a while now. Well, they’ve been working on NH-D15 Gen 2, a follow up to one of the best CPU coolers on the market right now. Even though the original was released close to a decade ago, it still holds up to this day. A trust testament of the quality of Noctua.
In the meantime, they’ve been developing a new next-gen 140mm fan design for the past 8 years, which is something they’ve showcased over in Taipei as part of the Computex convention. Noctua have also been showing off other coolers at the booth, and even a Noctua-cooled drinks cooler. Let’s stick to computer hardware for now though.
Noctua NH-D15 Gen 2 CPU cooler details
With an ETA of Q2 2014 for the NH-D15 successor, there is plenty to look forward to from Noctua. Their fans are designed with only the highest quality in mind, and the time it has taken to make a breakthrough in development shows this.
Right now, there is no currently no product name for the device – all we know is that it’s the 2nd generation of the NH-D15, so it will likely have a similar name.
One of the most noticeable changes to the cooler is the number of heat pipes – heading up to an impressive total of 8, that’s 2 more than it’s predecessor. These heat pipes have also been fine tuned further, with a composite approach which mixes multiple designs into one build currently in place, however this could change. Tweaking heat pipes could mean adjusting their length or testing performance during dry out (of the thermal paste) conditions in different orientations and temperatures.
The cooler design is also asymmetrical, which may seem odd – but it opens up a little more space for your graphics card, which are only getting bigger.
The coldplate is also larger this time around, which allows for more leverage and maximum coverage on powerful CPUs. Aside from the CPU cooler itself, the D15 will be arriving with a few additional extras. This includes thermal paste, Noctua screwdriver, and offset mounting kit.
8 years of development for a single Noctua fan
As part of the development for the Noctua NH-D15, the Austrian manufacturer has been hard at work putting together the best 140mm fan design they can imagine. You can see that this has been a long and thoughtful process, and they even brought a bunch of their prototypes to Computex to let us have a look.
This long 8-year development cycle has all led up to the reveal of this news during Computex 2023. Their current prediction sets a Q1 2024 release date for the currently unnamed 140mm fan itself, with the full CPU cooler NH-D15 Gen 2 arrived in the following quarter.
As you can see from the image below, Noctua experienced with all sorts of different fan blades, shapes, and even number of blades. This about balancing the design so it works for all kinds of cooling solutions, from radiators to honeycomb mesh layouts.
There is also much to be said about the kind of plastic used. LCP (Liquid Crystal Polymer) is a kind of plastic which Noctua are moving over to, which provides better tolerance and protection against expansion from spinning and heat, but the added cost is a challenge to overcome.
