NOCTUA NH-D15S vs Alpenföhn Brocken 3 for a 3700x?

KeanuIsLife · 23 Oct 2019 at 15:08

Hi all

I have built a new PC which includes a 3700x. I kept the stock fan as I'd heard good things about the AMD stock coolers compared to the usual stock CPU coolers. It has been doing it's job but it can get rather loud under load and is even audible idle, which is noticeable and I would prefer a quieter system overall.
I have done some research and can see that the NH-D15S is considered one of the very best cpu fans and has good clearance for RAM and the top PCIE slot. It is far more expensive than the Brocken 3 however, which has similar compatibility, is equally quiet and only appears to cool a few degrees hotter.
For the 3700x is the Noctua worth the extra £30 or would I be fine with the Brocken 3 for my use case?
Thanks all for any advice!

Steveocee · 23 Oct 2019 at 16:54

Noctua also do an all black version which looks SO good. D15 is pretty much the king in air coolers.

Grimley · 23 Oct 2019 at 16:54

Couple of things to think about:
1. Will either cooler fit in your case (I made that mistake with my current cooler, thankfully it did)
2. Case airflow is important if your cooler is to do its job, its a bit pointless if you buy a good cooler & your case airflow is bad, all the cooler will do is re-circulate the hot air if it cant get out of the case.
3. If you can afford the Noctua, then buy it especially if you think its more up to the task than the Brocken 3. I bought a Noctua for my everyday PC a few years ago & I've not looked back.

EsaT · 24 Oct 2019 at 18:31

KeanuIsLife said:
I have done some research and can see that the NH-D15S is considered one of the very best cpu fans and has good clearance for RAM and the top PCIE slot.

Memory clearance of dual/twin tower heatsinks is that of "shadowing"/reaching over some DIMM slots.
And despite of "Slim" claims NH-D15S is no different:
https://www.tweaktown.com/image.php..._24_noctua-nh-d15s-cpu-cooler-review_full.jpg
https://www.tweaktown.com/image.php..._23_noctua-nh-d15s-cpu-cooler-review_full.jpg
"Off center" design Scythe Fuma 2 is pretty much only dual tower which leaves DIMM slots fully open and hence easily accessible regardless if you have board inside the case.

For 140mm fanned heatsinks also clearance of the uppermost PCI-e slot relies on CPU socket being precisely centered in top area of motherboard.
This board has CPU socket clearly mid way between top edge and slots and it's still tight fit.
https://www.tweaktown.com/image.php..._24_noctua-nh-d15s-cpu-cooler-review_full.jpg
https://www.tweaktown.com/image.php..._21_noctua-nh-d15s-cpu-cooler-review_full.jpg

And there are boards with CPU socket closer to slots than board's top edge.
In this board that 1cm more reach would be at touching distance of card in the topmost PCI-e slot:
https://www.tweaktown.com/image.php...scythe-mugen-5-rev-cpu-cooler-review_full.jpg
In some boards it might even reach to touching distance of card in main x16 slot.
Like in this:
https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/PRIME-X570-P/gallery/
Actually don't see the topmost x1 slot being available with any high end cooler in that!

So for good clearances single tower and 120mm fan size is pretty much must.
With 155mm height £43 Scythe Mugen 5 also fit into almost any standard type tower case.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/scythe-scmg-5100-mugen-5-rev.b-cpu-cooler-hs-046-sy.html

In performance its step behind top.
Doing 0.7C hotter, but 1.5dB quieter against NH-D15S in here:
https://www.nikktech.com/main/artic...he-mugen-5-cpu-cooler-review?showall=&start=5
And using two fans in push-pull could likely squeeze out little more performance if necessary.
(extra fan clips included)