The Noctua NH-D15 chromax.black is a beautiful CPU cooler to look and work with. All Noctua product have high build quality and superb performance. The product has won many awards during its launch and now we can understand why...The retail package is complete and will cover all your needs during its installation process, which at least for the AMD platform is very easy to do so. The package includes two 140mm fans that are very silent as well. With this CPU cooler there is no limit at how TDP your processor is, since it manages all released processors very well for almost all released CPU sockets: Intel LGA2066, LGA2011-0 & LGA2011-3 (Square ILM), LGA1200, LGA1156, LGA1155, LGA1151, LGA1150 & AMD AM2, AM2+, AM3, AM3+, FM1, FM2, FM2+, AM4 and even with LGA1366 and LGA775 with extra the optional NM-I3 mounting kit, very impressive.

Users should , before buying, check the special Noctua has with supported CPUs/motherboard and of course cases. There should be enough space at the case for this big CPU cooler to fit. We measured that you need at least 20cm clearance from the motherboard since the first 140mm fan is above the memory module, at least with our Asus 570X E-Gaming motherboard so it rises up further from the main CPU cooler body. Users with high profile memory modules won’t have any problem since due to its symmetrical design, there is plenty of space and the outer area. All of our tests performed at controlled environment ~25 celcious with the AMD Ryzen 5600X processor. We tried to set all tests at similar conditions, but keep in mind your results may vary, especially with different setups and voltages.

Passing to the tests area, this CPU cooler won't disappoint you and will perform very good. The design and the two big coolers managed to give our AMD Ryzen 5600X low temperatures during "normal" operation (CPU Ratio Auto with Vcore 1.10V) and in any case average temperatures (as reported from HWiNFO) were lower than 60 celcious. The noise levels are also superb and we measured from 1m distance average 40dB emitted from the case (that includes the case fans and psu fan as well).

Due to tis design the Noctua NH-D15 chromax.black can also support a three (3) fan setup. In order to do this you need to order a third setup of fan clips and of course an additional fan as well. Since we had in our lab the Noctua NF-A12x25 LS-PWM fan and a spare set of clips we performed additional tests... During "normal" operation, a third fan didn't help much either with max or average temperature values. It did help but it was under 1 celcious which we don’t think worth the extra money. So you better stick with what the retail box includes.

Passing to overclocking, which is after all a must with such a big cooler, we made things easy for entry level users and we used the AMD Ryzen Master software, which offers plenty of option for overclocking. With its AutoOC mode, it sets max CPU multiplier at 48.5X which results 4850MHz. Here with the two-fan setup, we saw under 80 celcious temperature values, while the three-fan setup, did helped this time and dropped average temperature values even up to 3.30celcius which was nice to get.

Concluding this review, we have to say that we are impressed from the Noctua NH-D15 chromax.black! We loved its mat back colour, the over design and of course its running operation during our tests. You really won’t be disappointed from this product and the retail price of ~110 USD/Euro, while may sound high, in fact isn't, since you get a very good designed product with absolute performance. Another special bonus is that you get the best possible socket mount compatibility and for sure Noctua will offer future mounting options for upcoming sockets from Intel/AMD so even wanting to upgrade, your CPU cooler won’t be wasted. Another top product from Noctua and highly recommended!

The Good:

+ Excellent design and matt black finish
+ Lot of empty space for even high-profile memory modules
+ Complete retail package. includes all components, Noctua NT-H1 thermal compound and long screwdriver
+ Includes two x 140mm Noctua fans
+ CPU design allows up to three 1400mm fans for enthusiast
+ Noctua products support all currently sold and probably future Intel / AMD sold sockets
+ Great performance with open air testbed for "normal" use (Office/Internet/etc.)
+ Excellent cooling performance with AMD Ryzen 5600X and the bequiet! Silent Base 802 case
+ Supreme low noise levels even at full running speed (~40dB)
+ Noctua has detailed compatibility information at their website
+ Installation procedure is easy to perform (at least for the AMD platform)
+ Noctua products have 6 Years Warranty
+ Adding an (extra) third fan will improve temperatures during overclocking

Neutral:

• Users should check compatibility before buying, since this is a big sized CPU cooler
• Price is good considering the performance and features
• Noctua offers different colors for its 140mm fans in case you want to customize your fans

The bad

- We would love Noctua to have a spare third fan clip at the retail package