Review on Noctua NH-D15: Premium CPU Cooler with Dual NF-A15 PWM 140mm Fans (Brown) - Unmatched Cooling Performance by Ron Houston

This air cooler outperformed my old Corsair H100i v2 in cooling efficiency , noise, quality and probably overall footprint (no tubes or heatsinks blocking the sides of the case). I get at least 8-10C cooler over water with this thing and it's not even running at full speed. Not to say the water cooler was bad, just weigh your options based on how you set up your case cooling. It's amazing that this thing fits so many different types of sockets. If I decide to switch to AMD I don't have to buy another kit, I just change the brackets. The build quality of the hardware is superb, with none of the parts feeling cheap or inferior. Assembly and installation is easy, although it looks too big to sit on an outlet. Some might be concerned about the CPU/socket load, but I'd say it's on par with the old AIO in that category, the tubes on it are definitely socket loading. If you are not worried about the appearance of your case. then you should seriously buy this thing. If you're concerned about the looks of your case, find the Chromax line of products to complement that gear. and mount it on top of your RAM (vertically as if it were on a cooler above the RAM). If it's still sticking out a few millimeters from the side of your case, it's most likely fine. Even with a slight offset of the secondary fan with the Corsair Vengeance LPX sticks, I still had plenty of room in the Air 540 despite the claimed ground clearance being 170mm. Both 140mm fans are almost fully adjustable, moving up and down on wire clips, using the cooling fins as attachment points. 140mm fans have 120mm mounts, probably for compatibility reasons to install a 120mm fan as an option for those with higher RAM. .It also comes with thermal paste, at least mine was at the time of purchase. Keywords to help you find an install: - Gigabyte GA-Z170X - Gaming 7 - Corsair Air 540 - Corsair Vengeance LPX * Updated overview for clarity and improved ownership