Noctua Announces New PWM Fans

[btarunr]

Enlarging its portfolio of premium quality quiet fans, Noctua today announced PWM versions of its renowned NF-P12, NF-B9 and NF-R8 fans. Having received more than hundred awards and recommendations from the international press, the classic NF-P12, NF-B9 and NF-R8 fans helped to found Noctua's reputation as a top-tier manufacturer of premium grade quiet cooling components. The new PWM versions build on the proven designs and feature Noctua's novel NE-FD1 IC for fully automatic control and ultra-low power consumption.

"Our customers have been asking us for PWM versions of our fans for a long time, but the available PWM fan driver ICs simply weren't up to our quality standards", explains Mag. Roland Mossig, Noctua CEO. "With our NE-FD1, we've now got our custom-designed IC that allows us to build PWM fans that consume less power and remain quieter at low speeds."



Most conventional PWM fan driver ICs put out square signals that cause sudden torque impulses. These impulses can cause minute deformations of the entire fan structure which lead to audible "clicking" noises that are especially noticeable with many common PWM fans running at slower speeds. Adopting Noctua's Smooth Commutation Drive (SCD) technology, the custom designed NE-FD1 PWM IC slows down the slew rate of the output signal in order to give a smoother, less sudden torque impulse. This way, PWM switching noises can be effectively suppressed and the fan runs even quieter, especially at low speeds.

Noctua's NE-FD1 IC was not only fine-tuned for superior quietness, it has also been carefully optimised to allow for ultra-low power consumption. As a result, the new PWM models consume 25-40% less power than their non-PWM counterparts.

All models come with Low-Noise Adaptors, 30cm cable extensions and 4-pin y-cables that allow to connect a second PWM fan to the same fan header for automatic control. Equipped with Noctua's signature SSO bearing and topped off with a 6 years manufacturer's warranty, the NF-P12 PWM, NF-B9 PWM and NF-R8 PWM are a proven premium choice for the highest demands.

Price and Availability
The new PWM models are available immediately at a recommended retail price of EUR 19.90 / USD 24.90 (NF-P12 PWM), EUR 17.90 / USD 21.90 (NF-B9 PWM) and EUR 14.90 / USD 18.90 (NF-R8 PWM).

For more information, visit the product pages of NF-P12 PWM, NF-B9 PWM, and NF-R8 PWM. To learn more about Noctua NE-FD1 PWM IC, visit this page.

[scooper22]

hm, wouldn't it be enough to have a small capacitor smoothen out the impulses? could be done as a connector cable to attach between fan and pwm-controller

[gumpty]

Cue the 'Why don't they have a different colour scheme?' comments.

Go.

[Completely Bonkers]

Originally Posted by scooper22

hm, wouldn't it be enough to have a small capacitor smoothen out the impulses? could be done as a connector cable to attach between fan and pwm-controller

Yes, but they just saved the cost of the second component, material and build cost. While the cost of the component is small, the mounting and soldering of the capacitor might significantly increase the build time and labour costs. "just one minute" adds up if you produce a million a year... a million minutes requires more people, or a bigger factory.

HOWEVER this "innovation" just got them free advertising/marketing worth millions! And the fancy graph is illustrativ. A real graph might show that, yes indeed, the just built a capacitor INTO the chip. LOL

[RejZoR]

Originally Posted by gumpty

Cue the 'Why don't they have a different colour scheme?' comments.

Go.

But its so damn ugly...

[radrok]

I've always liked Noctua fans they are silent and efficient... I'll not comment on the color scheme because it would be the 314159265 comment about it.
I like the best the one that is a 140mm but has 120mm holes to mount as one of I think it is the NFP14 FLX

[Chaitanya]

Noctua delivers yet another good fan but looks are still ugly.

[borden5]

that are some hella expensive fans

[chodaboy19]

I have the NF-S12B FLX and the older NF-S12(800rpm) and various Gentle Typhoons 11,12,13,14,15. I think that the Gentle Typhoons have a much nicer sound signature. The Noctuas generate an annoying pitch when spinning above 800rpm. I think for the price the Gentle Typhoons are a better product, except they lack PWM function Noctua is touting now.

[theeldest]

Damn. I just got my noctua's too...

[kid41212003]

Originally Posted by RejZoR

But its so damn ugly...

It's unique and look tasty imo.

[catnipkiller]

"when shit hits the fan" its a Noctua

[hhumas]

no led .. and looking ugly like a bread

[de.das.dude]

noctua = too expensive and still too ugly.

[mik]

We can get regular 3-pin fans and control their speed through Motherboard's on-board fan controller or a dedicated fan controller, both methods do real-time voltage adjustments (speaking from Asus mobo experience with Ai Tweaker> Fan Expert software). Or would it be better to get PWM fans and actually get more reliable varied fan speed since PWM fan actually have a rated variable fan speed?
I'm all for quiet computing, but I don't see this new noctua pwm fan to be a viable option, I mean, how would the typical pc user take advantage of its pwm chip?

Edit: Ah, I just looked over the instruction manual from Noctua's site, they direct users to connect to any 4-pin pwm fan header (likely cpu_fan) or a 3-pin (runs at full speed unless motherboard has fan control support)... thus answered my own question. I guess it is up to the end user to decide for himself on the worth of this Noctua tech.

[Poisonsnak]

Originally Posted by chodaboy19

I have the NF-S12B FLX and the older NF-S12(800rpm) and various Gentle Typhoons 11,12,13,14,15. I think that the Gentle Typhoons have a much nicer sound signature. The Noctuas generate an annoying pitch when spinning above 800rpm. I think for the price the Gentle Typhoons are a better product, except they lack PWM function Noctua is touting now.

Appreciate the tip, I always bought the S-Flex (SFF21E mostly) and since they were discontinued I was looking at Noctua but I'll give the Gentle Typhoon a look.

[Steven B]

those square signals are typical PWM signals, lol

but yea maybe if i built a build in the desert.

[Sapientwolf]

Originally Posted by scooper22

hm, wouldn't it be enough to have a small capacitor smoothen out the impulses? could be done as a connector cable to attach between fan and pwm-controller

Actually no, that wouldn't work, you would need a very large capacitor because the fan is pulling a substantial amount of current and would quickly drain any charge on the capacitor. You would have to buffer the current.

[Freedom4556]

Originally Posted by radrok

I'll not comment on the color scheme because it would be the 314159265 comment about it.

I think that counts as commenting about the color scheme, lol. I personally don't see what the deal with that is, unless you have windows, in which case wouldn't you want LED fans? Maybe I'm just not seeing the point of windows.

[makwy2]

I LOVE it. Noctua makes the BEST fans. Seriously, those fans are crazy, hope the next gen is just as great and twice as quiet

[Fx]

Originally Posted by Freedom4556

I think that counts as commenting about the color scheme, lol. I personally don't see what the deal with that is, unless you have windows, in which case wouldn't you want LED fans? Maybe I'm just not seeing the point of windows.

I dont see the point either. it sucks that I already bought all new FLX fans because now I want these

[p3ngwin1]

Originally Posted by radrok

I've always liked Noctua fans they are silent and efficient... I'll not comment on the color scheme because it would be the 314159265 comment about it.
I like the best the one that is a 140mm but has 120mm holes to mount as one of I think it is the NFP14 FLX

you broke Pi