Noctua Introduces Chromax.black CPU Coolers

[Kenrou]

https://www.techpowerup.com/259920/noctua-introduces-chromax-black-cpu-coolers

TLDR: "Noctua today introduced the long awaited all-black versions of its award-winning NH-D15, NH-U12S and NH-L9i CPU coolers. Staying true to the successful formula of the original models, the new chromax.black versions with their black fans and black coated heatsinks combine the same signature quiet cooling performance with a sleek stealth look. The NH-D15 chromax.black and NH-U12S chromax.black will initially be exclusively available in a Linus Tech Tips limited edition that includes extra orange anti-vibration pads and custom fan stickers."

 

[mackerel]

I've ordered a D15 which will go on my 3700X when I receive it. Ditch the AIO which I don't trust for long term use...

 

[maxfly]

ive no need for another hsf but man these suckers are badass. makes me want to buy a u12s just cuz lol. 3 rigs and they are all wced.

whats up with the silly linus corner pieces? ill pass.

 

[mackerel]

whats up with the silly linus corner pieces? ill pass.

The first batches are LTT limited edition "while stocks last", which has the orange corners as a free extra. You still get the black ones. So even if you don't want orange, you don't lose out.

 

[maxfly]

ah i see. still wondering why linus is hooked up with noctua? just seems odd.

 

[Kenrou]

Amazon already has the new Chroma but they are ~$10 more expensive here [emoji24]

 

[mackerel]

ah i see. still wondering why linus is hooked up with noctua? just seems odd.

They have history. He long complained about the default brown. There was a previous limited edition of black with orange corner fans. I guess Noctua thinks it helps get the news out there's a new series to do a limited edition to launch with.

 

[maxfly]

Hahaha i love it! if he helped get them to FINALLY offer something other than beige n brown in a hsf im all for it!

 

[Woomack]

Looks like I have all 3 on the way to me. The U12A handles 3700X like higher series AIO so I expect that the U12S will be similar. Personally, I like the U12 series more than the D15 just because it's not so much worse in cooling but takes significantly less space. Another thing is that U12A perfectly fits my new ITX box and U12S in black will look only better

 

[mackerel]

I only grabbed the D15 because, in case of doubt, get the biggest! I was lazy on the weekend and didn't get around to fitting it onto my 3700X in place of a 240mm AIO.

Time for some research later. Would the U12S perform better than a D9L? I'm running a prime finding challenge elsewhere, so think Prime95 like loading. 3600 stock with D9L is running around 90C... I could use something nicer.

Edit: I wonder how much performance difference there is between U12A and U12S. The "A" is 58mm thicc (excl. fans) with 7 heatpipes, whereas the "S" is 45mm thick with 5 heatpipes. Based on Noctua's webpage I suspect going from D9L to U12S is a sidegrade so not worth it on performance.

 

[Woomack]

I only grabbed the D15 because, in case of doubt, get the biggest! I was lazy on the weekend and didn't get around to fitting it onto my 3700X in place of a 240mm AIO.

Time for some research later. Would the U12S perform better than a D9L? I'm running a prime finding challenge elsewhere, so think Prime95 like loading. 3600 stock with D9L is running around 90C... I could use something nicer.

Edit: I wonder how much performance difference there is between U12A and U12S. The "A" is 58mm thicc (excl. fans) with 7 heatpipes, whereas the "S" is 45mm thick with 5 heatpipes. Based on Noctua's webpage I suspect going from D9L to U12S is a sidegrade so not worth it on performance.

I have now U12A on the 3700X closed in this case https://www.raijintek.com/en/products_detail.php?ProductID=54 and the CPU goes up to 86°C max in AVX stability tests. This is so far the best result on air coolers that I had (I wasn't testing D15 yet). On the same CPU, D9L with 1 fan was going up to 94°C on open test rig and up to 92 with 2 fans. For D9L you need 2 fans to keep temps below throttling point in all cases (like 25°C+ ambient, limited airflow etc). During typical work, the CPU will be at high 70' so it's not a problem so even D9L is good enough. Worse is that under high load these 92mm fans already make some noise when the CPU has 90°C+.

I was talking with Noctua rep today and he said that even the L9i should handle Ryzen 3600. In my tests 3600 and 3700X have about the same temps and I guess I will test this small cooler with the 3700X.
I assume that the U12S will be 1-2°C worse than the "A" and D15 maybe 1-2°C better than the "A". I guess I have to test that to find out.
I like U12 series more than D15 because it's not much worse in performance but has ~155mm so can be installed in most new PC cases while D15 is simply too big for some setups. Right now I play with ASUS CHVIII Impact and the U12A was the largest cooler that I could install without issues with memory or the card with M.2 sockets.

 

[mackerel]

While running stock, it isn't too difficult to hit the 88W PPT limit on single CCD Zen 2 models. Specific workload might not matter so much in that scenario. Certainly Cinebench R15 and Prime95 both hit 88W on my 3600, and I assume it'll do so earlier on 3700X. I didn't check they reached same max temps, since Cinebench isn't continuous. I have 2 fans on a D9L but feel it just needs a bit more metal area to work with.

Main thing I dislike about D15 is it makes access to ram slots a pain and depending on the mobo layout it may obscure the top PCIe slot. Bad for a tinkering system, but ok if you build something and rarely change it again. I know, that's more challenging for many of us on this forum...

 

[Woomack]

This is how U12A looks like in my ITX case. The CPU has max ~86°C in the closed case as I mentioned earlier.
3700X/GTX1660Ti/CH8 Impact/16GB Dominator RGB/650W Enermax SFX

 

[Bustos]

Main thing I dislike about D15 is it makes access to ram slots a pain and depending on the mobo layout it may obscure the top PCIe slot. Bad for a tinkering system, but ok if you build something and rarely change it again. I know, that's more challenging for many of us on this forum...

Tell me about it! Thank goodness the S2 has removable top brackets so I had plenty of access for that top left corner mobo mounting screw and hooking up cables along to the top of the mobo without getting cut up by the D15. If I have to do it all over again, I think the heat sink will be the last component to add.

I wonder if the black paint dulls the fins a bit or affects heat dissipation?

 

[mackerel]

While it is well known that black will absorb radiation better than white, I think the reverse also applies. It emits better too. Not sure how it compares to metallic surfaces though. Having said that, these heatsinks work more on conduction, so I'm not sure radiation effects would be significant.

 

[EarthDog]

Conduction is how it moves heat through itself, radiation is how it gets rid of that heat, no? I'd think most any paint would act as some some sort of insulator unless the paint itself had some added properties to move that heat energy?

 

[mackerel]

Conduction is a contact transfer of heat. So for a heatsink, it is heat moving from the metal to the air to be carried away. Radiation is a different process. For example, it works in a vacuum where conduction could not.

 

[EarthDog]

Hmm, for some reason I thought conduction was the process both IHS to heatsink and the property of the heatsink saturating (heat moving through the device itself - which is correct), where radiation is how the heatsink actually dissipates the heat off itself.... if that makes sense. The heat 'radiates' off the fin stack of the heatsink... fans improve this by making the surrounding air cooler and more turbulent.

 

[ehume]

Conduction is how it moves heat through itself, radiation is how it gets rid of that heat, no? I'd think most any paint would act as some some sort of insulator unless the paint itself had some added properties to move that heat energy?

Normally, this would be true, which is why Noctua took so long researching this. Their CEO addressed this specific point in their press release.

 

[mackerel]

Ok, the whole path for conduction we have is die to IHS to heatsink to air, give or take some TIM here and there. Also conduction happens within materials. I was thinking more of the metal to air transfer last time as that is the step where radiation could also contribute.

Radiated heat would be in the form of infra-red radiation. It surely happens, but I don't think it is a significant process in our use cases. If you stick a heatsink in a vacuum (fan would be pointless), I don't think it would be very effective. Because of the fin layout, a large proportion of radiated energy would just hit another part of the heatsink and be re-absorbed. The externally facing parts are not a large area in proportion. For that reason I consider the main process to be conducted from metal to air.