Noctua NH-D15 RAM height for second fan?

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So, I'm building a new PC and I didn't want to deal with water cooling, so I wound up getting a Noctua NH-D15 air cooler because it was said to be one of the best. Supposedly these 125W CPUs run hot enough that my old standby, the Hyper 212 EVO, wouldn't be sufficient to cool it.

I haven't gotten the RAM yet, but I realized after ordering my fan and my RAM that I made a big mistake. I didn't realize I needed shorter RAM in order to have a second fan fit on there properly. I wound up with this kit:

https://www.newegg.com/p/0RN-00NP-00037?Description=xlr8 3200mhz 32gb&cm_re=xlr8_3200mhz 32gb-_-0RN-00NP-00037-_-Product

It was a lot less than the pictured price when I purchased it, though. about $156. So I'm wondering what I should do. AFAIK, I have basically three options:

1. Use the CPU cooler with the second fan fitted on improperly, poking up above the heatsink.

2. Return this RAM unopened, and get Vengeance LPX memory or something. I hope I don't need to go for VLP memory, because that would be hard to find at good speeds and capacities.

3. Remove the heatspreader from the RAM and hope it works fine without it. Would this remove enough excess height to make the second fan fit properly?

I have no idea what the best course of action is at this point.
 
Assuming your case can handle the height, I would probably go with the first option. You could also use only one fan, which is what I do and temps should be fine.
 
#1 is fine, I did that on the D14 with some memory that was taller than the bottom of the heatsink. You can also just run one fan, 2 does not increase performance by much.
 
You can also do what I did with mine and put the second fan on the back and leave the middle one where it is. I could have fit the fan over my corsair dominators, but I wanted to be able to see the blinkenlights I paid for. Runs plenty cool with no problems with my setup.
 
If option 1 doesn't work out, try #4 remove the front fan and replace it with a 120mm A12x25. (or other 120mm fan of your choice.) You'll get nearly all the benefits without the clearance hassle.
 
If option 1 doesn't work out, try #4 remove the front fan and replace it with a 120mm A12x25. (or other 120mm fan of your choice.) You'll get nearly all the benefits without the clearance hassle.
This. Works well, and what I did in the same situation. PM me for my spare 120mm NF-F12.
 
^^ I put a 120mm fan in the front of my D15S as it solves the height issue. I didn't really notice much of a difference in cooling so option 1 is totally cool.
 
I have the NH-D15S and Corsair LPX RAM, and even still the front 140mm fan that I added pokes out over the heatsink, and that's with it literally sitting on top of the RAM haha. Works fine though, the only issue I could see is if the clips don't attach properly with you having to have that fan sitting up so high. I'd echo the other responses in this thread and either use a 120mm fan on the front instead (the Noctua clips are a 120mm fan spacing) or move the front fan to the left so that it is set up in a pull rather than push config. Depending on your mobo that still could cause clearance issues, but it's worth a try.
 
So, I'm building a new PC and I didn't want to deal with water cooling, so I wound up getting a Noctua NH-D15 air cooler because it was said to be one of the best. Supposedly these 125W CPUs run hot enough that my old standby, the Hyper 212 EVO, wouldn't be sufficient to cool it.

I haven't gotten the RAM yet, but I realized after ordering my fan and my RAM that I made a big mistake. I didn't realize I needed shorter RAM in order to have a second fan fit on there properly. I wound up with this kit:

https://www.newegg.com/p/0RN-00NP-00037?Description=xlr8 3200mhz 32gb&cm_re=xlr8_3200mhz 32gb-_-0RN-00NP-00037-_-Product

It was a lot less than the pictured price when I purchased it, though. about $156. So I'm wondering what I should do. AFAIK, I have basically three options:

1. Use the CPU cooler with the second fan fitted on improperly, poking up above the heatsink.

2. Return this RAM unopened, and get Vengeance LPX memory or something. I hope I don't need to go for VLP memory, because that would be hard to find at good speeds and capacities.

3. Remove the heatspreader from the RAM and hope it works fine without it. Would this remove enough excess height to make the second fan fit properly?

I have no idea what the best course of action is at this point.

There's absolutely no problem with two fans with one offset. I ran my NH-D15 for years like that with tall heatspreader RAM. Absolutely zero problems and it doesn't affect the cooling performance. If you notice the fins on the heatsink, they're designed to have fans mounted like that, unlike heatsinks that have fixed holes in the stack, etc...
 
Ran a Nh-D15s on a 3900x with one fan in silent mode for years. The D15 is such an excellent cooler.
 
If option 1 doesn't work out, try #4 remove the front fan and replace it with a 120mm A12x25. (or other 120mm fan of your choice.) You'll get nearly all the benefits without the clearance hassle.
I am doing this as well. Just ordered the black chromax 120mm fan from Amazon earlier today. Any idea if I should set the speed to 800rpm to match the 140mm fan?
 
Well, it turned out that it sits a little on top of the RAM, but not by a whole lot. It seems to cool adequately. The RAM clearance turned out not to be the main problem I had. The bigger problem turned out to be that the side panel won't go back on with the fan installed, even in a single fan configuration or with no fans installed at all. It would have fit inside my old case that looks like it's the same size, this one is literally just one inch too narrow. This case is 7.5" deep, my old case was 8.5" deep, and that difference is enough that I can't close this one with the Noctua installed.

The side panel was just a slab of acrylic anyway, not a proper metal enclosure. So, since I was determined to use this fan and not settle for something that would fit in the case properly after all the trouble I went to installing it, I was just going to give up and leave the side panel off... but what my Mom wound up doing was using velcro and a sheet of cloth to keep dust out of the system:

IMG_20210525_050158.jpg


So basically, the cloth is held on by velcro at all four corners of the case, and the fan bulging out slightly makes sure the cloth can't touch the metal part of the heatsink anyway. I was worried it might burn if the CPU hit 95C or something, but I've had it running at fairly hot temperatures already and so far the cloth isn't appearing to trap much heat... I'm getting similar temperatures with the side off as I am with the cloth. So it looks really strange, like it's "breathing" with the cloth moving as air moves past it, but it appears to work and not cause any real issues so far. It looks sorta like a makeshift ship's sail at times.
 
Hey at least you have great air flow now with the cloth =D. My old Phantek Evolve case had airflow issue. I had to leave the side panel off to get adequate airflow.
 
Well, it turned out that it sits a little on top of the RAM, but not by a whole lot. It seems to cool adequately. The RAM clearance turned out not to be the main problem I had. The bigger problem turned out to be that the side panel won't go back on with the fan installed, even in a single fan configuration or with no fans installed at all. It would have fit inside my old case that looks like it's the same size, this one is literally just one inch too narrow. This case is 7.5" deep, my old case was 8.5" deep, and that difference is enough that I can't close this one with the Noctua installed.

The side panel was just a slab of acrylic anyway, not a proper metal enclosure. So, since I was determined to use this fan and not settle for something that would fit in the case properly after all the trouble I went to installing it, I was just going to give up and leave the side panel off... but what my Mom wound up doing was using velcro and a sheet of cloth to keep dust out of the system:

View attachment 359621

So basically, the cloth is held on by velcro at all four corners of the case, and the fan bulging out slightly makes sure the cloth can't touch the metal part of the heatsink anyway. I was worried it might burn if the CPU hit 95C or something, but I've had it running at fairly hot temperatures already and so far the cloth isn't appearing to trap much heat... I'm getting similar temperatures with the side off as I am with the cloth. So it looks really strange, like it's "breathing" with the cloth moving as air moves past it, but it appears to work and not cause any real issues so far. It looks sorta like a makeshift ship's sail at times.
Diet Dr. Pepper. Solid choice
 
Cases will generally cool your components better with the side panel on, not off.
 
Cases will generally cool your components better with the side panel on, not off.
The only case I've ever owned where that was true was my Antec 902 that I picked up as B-stock for $60 in 2012. All the other cases I've owned had at most three fans and cooled better with the side panel off... then again, that's probably because I'm too cheap to spend $100 on a case. LOL.
 
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