Noctua today introduced its new NH-L12Sx77 low-profile CPU cooler for compact, powerful yet quiet Small Form Factor systems. The NH-L12Sx77 is a slightly taller variant of the award-winning NH-L12S, offering improved cooling performance as well as enhanced motherboard and RAM compatibility. "Our NH-L12S is a popular choice for compact builds in cases like the Fractal Design Terra or Louqe RAW S1, but due to its height of only 70 mm, RAM compatibility and clearance for tall motherboard components are limited. At the same time, many of these cases offer a bit of extra space", explains Roland Mossig (Noctua CEO). "This is where the new NH-L12Sx77 steps in: It makes use of that extra space in order to provide enhanced compatibility and even better cooling performance, which comes in handy when building powerful gaming or productivity setups."

With 6 instead of 4 heatpipes, the NH-L12Sx77 offers significantly more headroom for higher heat-loads compared to the original NH-L12S. As such, it is ideal for getting the most out of today's high-end CPUs in compact cases where their aggressive turboboost modes are especially challenging to handle. The NH-L12Sx77 not only improves performance but also motherboard and RAM compatibility versus the original NH-L12S: Due to the x77 version's taller construction, clearance for RAM modules as well as motherboard heatsinks and shrouds could be increased significantly, which makes the cooler an easy fit in most configurations.

Noctua today expanded its chromax.black line with an all-black version of the award-winning low-height 120 mm CPU cooler NH-D12L: Staying true to the successful formula of the original model, the new chromax.black version with its black fans and black coated heatsink combines the same signature quiet cooling performance with a sleek stealth look.

"The NH-D12L has become a popular choice for compact, high performance builds in cases like the Lian Li O11 Dynamic or the DAN C4-SFX ", says Roland Mossig (Noctua CEO). "With the new chromax.black version, we're now giving customers the option to leverage the NH-D12L's renowned quiet cooling performance in all-black systems."

Sycom's "Silent Master" range of GeForce RTX 40-series graphics cards has welcomed two new GPU options: RTX 4070 Ti SUPER and RTX 4070 SUPER. As evidenced in accompanying product shots, the Japanese manufacturer has partnered with Noctua—the latter's flagship NF-A12x25 120 mm PWM fan is utilized within Sycom's custom air-cooled solution. According to a press release, the original fan cover design "was created by Nagao Seisakusho/Nagao Industry."

Silent Master graphics cards are not factory overclocked—Sycom prefers to concentrate on quiet operation rather than heavily ramped up performance. A good chunk of their product pages are dedicated to audio recordings of hushed operation. They claim noise levels of 31.4 dB when idle, and 42.1 dB (max) for their GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER 16 GB model. The GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER 12 GB posted 31.4dB when idle and 37.9dB at full whack. Silent Master graphics cards are only available within "BTO option" systems—Sycom specializes in pre-built PC systems, with plenty of Noctua parts housed within.

ASUS today announced the GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER Noctua OC Edition graphics card, designed for gamers and creators who seek cutting-edge performance that operates at whisper-quiet noise levels. Building on the class-leading design of the ASUS GeForce RTX 3070, RTX 3080, and RTX 4080 Noctua Edition variants, this premium graphics card achieves near-silent operation thanks to the Noctua fans, an ASUS custom-built vapor chamber and a massive heatsink.

The ASUS GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER Noctua Edition incorporates a pair of Noctua's state-of-the-art NF‑A12x25 fans to move air over an extra-large heatsink. These fans were developed in a partnership between the ASUS thermal R&D team and engineers at Noctua. The design involved tuning the fin density and heat pipe arrangement of the heatsink, optimizing each for the airflow characteristics of the NF-A12x25 fans. To prioritize low noise levels, a smooth acoustic signature and high cooling performance while making room for the pair of 120 mm fans, ASUS expanded the card's total volume to occupy 4.3 slots of space. The card also comes with a Dual BIOS switch, with Quiet mode enabled by default to minimize acoustics right out of the box.

Mr Matt Lee (a filmmaker and YouTuber) enjoys the powerful yet quiet performance of ASUS and Noctua collaborative graphics cards, but (like many enthusiasts) is not fully appreciative of the latter's default choice of oddball brown and beige color schemes. A weekend social media post highlighted an alternative reality with a slickly produced mockup and an accompanying message: "What if ASUS x Noctua made a 𝗖𝗵𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗮𝘅 GPU? 👀 Here's something I've been working on to give you an idea of how it could look! Two Chromax NF-A12x25 fans with matching mono accents… it's certainly a vibe 🖤 Would you have this in your rig?" Mister Lee made sure to tag the ASUS UK office and Noctua accounts—we are fairly certain that both manufacturers have received plenty of feedback over the years since beginning their custom design partnership a few years ago. The latest collaborative fruit of their combined labors is the GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER 16 GB Noctua OC Edition, so the brown tradition looks to continue in 2024.

ASUS has quietly updated its product web presences with another Noctua collaboration OC Edition graphics card—the heavily customized GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER 16 GB GDDR6X model looks very familiar (in shades of brown); we suspect that the existing cooling solution, shroud and backplate designs have been transplanted from the existing RTX 4080 (non-SUPER) Noctua OC model. W1zzard was impressed by the 2022 version's affixing of twin Noctua NF-A12x25 fans, although a number of factors caused the ultra premium air-cooled ASUS card to miss out on an Editor's Choice award—mainly the $1650 launch price—perhaps deserving of an updated/retrospective "But Expensive" badge of honor.

VideoCardz believes that the SUPER iteration could launch with $200 subtracted (at a minimum) from the non-SUPER's original MSRP—the ASUS listing, naturally, does not provide any details regarding recommended retail pricing or a release date. It seems that reviewers have not received SUPER 16 GB Noctua OC Edition samples this month, so we suspect that the chunky brown Ada Lovelace monster will reach retail at some point later on in the first quarter of 2024.

ASUS today announced the ProArt LC 420, the first all-in-one (AIO) cooler in the ProArt line. Expertly integrating premium tech into an elegantly understated design, the ProArt LC 420 is made for creators who seek high performance, low noise and chic style. It's powered by a performant three-phase motor pump and Noctua IndustrialPPC fans, and an illuminated meter on the pump cover provides live system stats in the signature minimalist ProArt manner for real-time information at a glance. With subtle and graceful aesthetics that add a touch of refinement to your setup, the ProArt LC 420 is cool, quiet and classy - the perfect trifecta for any and all content creators.

Premium performance
As one of the few 420 mm AIO coolers on the market, the ProArt LC 420 can deliver some of the most powerful cooling available. And with its three renowned Noctua NF-A14 industrial PPC-2000 PWM 140 mm radiator fans, airflow can be delivered quietly. The synergy of high performance and low noise extends to many other elements of the ProArt LC 420. A premium three-phase motor pump ensures a smooth and steady transfer of heat to the radiator, while being acoustically tuned to blend into the background. And the radiator itself is thicker than usual, creating extra coolant storage so that the fans and motor do not have to work as hard.

Noctua today presented the long-awaited 24 V version of its award-winning NF-A4x10 40 mm fan. Bringing the NF-A4x10's renowned quiet cooling performance to the 24 V space, the fan is ideal for 24 V-based 3D printers as well as various other 24 V applications. Supporting speed control via PWM and topped off with the included OmniJoin adaptor set, NA-AC9 adaptor cable for popular 3D printers (e.g. Creality Ender 3 & CR-10, Anycubic Mega), Low-Noise Adaptor and 6-year manufacturer's warranty, the NF-A4x10 24 V PWM is a premium choice through and through.

"With the NA-VC1 voltage converter that we've released this June, we now have an elegant and flexible solution for running any of our 12 V fans in 24 V environments", says Roland Mossig (Noctua CEO). "However, we see so much demand for 24 V-based 40 mm fans both from the 3D printing community and industry clients that we also want to offer our popular NF-A4x10 in a native 24 V version."

Noctua today introduced its new NM-M1 enthusiast-grade multi-socket mounting kits. Available for Noctua coolers with 83 and 78 mm mounting pitch, the NM-M1-MP83 and NM-M1-MP78 represent an ideal upgrade for users who want to migrate their Noctua CPU coolers to the new, Torx based SecuFirm2+ standard or to the latest sockets that their cooler did not yet support at the time of purchase. On AMD AM5, the offset mounting option can significantly improve performance with typical reductions in CPU temperatures of 1-3°C.

"The mounting system might seem like a sideshow when looking at a CPU cooler as a whole, yet in fact, it's one of the key factors not only for the customer's overall user experience but also for product safety and performance - poor contact pressure or contact quality can easily ruin your results even if the heatsink as such is working great", explains Roland Mossig (Noctua CEO). "At Noctua, we have always taken pride in refining our mounting systems unremittingly, and the NM-M1 kits are a testament to this strive: integrating the latest SecuFirm2+ standard as well as our offset mounting option for improved performance on AMD AM5, they keep raising the bar."

MAINGEAR, the leader in premium-quality, high-performance, custom PCs, today announced the launch of its latest lineup of Pro Series Workstation PCs, meticulously engineered and configurable with the industry's most powerful components, to cater to the diverse needs of professionals across multiple industries.

Ideal for game developers, photo editors, graphics designers, videographers, 3D rendering artists, music producers, CAD engineers, data scientists, and AI/Machine Learning developers, the MAINGEAR ProWS Series introduces a range of desktop workstations crafted to crush the most intensive tasks, elevate productivity and streamline workflow.

Noctua today expanded its chromax.black line with all-black versions of the award-winning NH-D9L and NH-L9x65 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. "Many users who build Small Form Factor systems value build-aesthetics just as much as performance and quietness of operation", says Roland Mossig (Noctua CEO). "Our NH-D9L and NH-L9x65 are highly popular among Small Form Factor builders, so we're excited to introduce them in all-black chromax versions!"

The new NH-D9L chromax.black and NH-L9x65 chromax.black are identical to the award-winning regular models except for the colour: Featuring black coated heatsinks, black fans with black anti-vibration-pads, black fan clips and black mounting parts, they are literally black from head to toe. Thanks to thoroughgoing optimisations of the coating material and process, the chromax.black models provide the same, renowned quiet cooling performance as their regular, non-coated counterparts.

Azza has introduced its new Cube 240 and Cube 360 liquid AIO coolers, compatible with Intel's upcoming LGA1851 socket for Arrow Lake processors. The new LGA1851 socket offers more contact pins than the previous LGA1700 socket, but it maintains the same dimensions and mounting spacing, allowing many existing coolers to remain compatibility. As we see with the latest Reddit post of the Azza Cube 360 installation manual, the LGA1851 socket will retain cooler compatibility with the current LGA1700 socket. For users planning to upgrade to the upcoming Arrow Lake platform, the cooler installation will be the least of their worries if their mounting brackets are compatible.

However, one notable change with LGA1851 is the higher maximum dynamic pressure, signifying increased mounting pressure from CPU coolers. But that only sometimes leads to new mounting mechanisms for coolers. In addition to Azza, Noctua's coolers, like NH-U12, have also confirmed signs of Arrow Lake support, as you can see here.

Noctua today announced its new NH-U14S TR5-SP6 and NH-D9 TR5-SP6 4U CPU coolers for AMD's TR5 (sTR5/sTRX5/sWRX9) and SP6 sockets for the just-released 7000 series Threadripper HEDT (High-End Desktop) and Threadripper PRO workstation processors as well as 8004 series EPYC server CPUs. While the 14 cm NH-U14S TR5-SP6 provides maximum cooling performance at minimum noise levels, the 9 cm NH-D9 TR5-SP6 4U combines excellent efficiency with a compact size for full 4U compatibility. In addition to the two cooler models, Noctua also introduced the new NM-TR5-SP6 mounting kit that allows upgrading existing TR4-SP3, DX-4677, DX-4189 and DX-3647 line coolers to support the new TR5/SP6 sockets of TRX50 and WRX90 motherboards.

"The amount of computing performance that AMD's new TRX50 and WRX90 platforms with their Zen 4 based Threadripper and Threadripper Pro processors provide is downright stunning", says Roland Mossig (Noctua CEO). "At heatloads of 350 W and more, you'll certainly want a premium grade cooling solution to go with them though. This is where our new TR5-SP6 models step in!"

The latest retail batch of Noctua's NH-U12A single-tower CPU coolers has been photographed sporting updated packaging and containing a new set of mounting brackets. Japan's Akiba PC Watch reported on new stock of Noctua's popular (and well reviewed) NH-U12A cooler sitting on shelves at Tsukumo Computer's flagship store in Akihabara, Tokyo. Their article pinpointed Socket LGA-1851 compatibility listed on the revised retail box, and documented within new installation instruction steps. They noted that: "according to the manual, the mounting bar and spacer for fixing the CPU cooler are shared with the existing LGA-1700 (kit)."

Noctua has not updated its NH-U12A product page or compatibility centre pages with these revisions, but Tom's Hardware did pick up on the NH-D15's overhauled entry: "now listed as having SecuFirm2 mounts compatible with Intel LGA-1851." The Austrian computer hardware manufacturer seems to pride itself on its preparedness well in advance of a forthcoming new CPU range—Akiba PC Watch cheekily observed: "it is currently unknown when CPUs and motherboards compatible with LGA-1851 will be released." Intel's 15th Gen Arrow Lake S is presumably the main candidate lined up to adopt LGA-1851—technical specifications were uncovered back in June time.

Noctua today introduced its new NM-DD1 direct die kit. Developed in cooperation with professional overclocker and direct die cooling expert Roman "der8auer" Hartung, the NM-DD1 is a mounting spacer kit that makes it possible to use a wide range of Noctua CPU coolers on delidded AMD AM5 processors. Removing the processor's integrated heat spreader (delidding) and putting the heatsink directly onto the dies allows for much more efficient thermal transfer and can thereby lower CPU temperatures significantly, with typical gains in the range of 10-15°C.

"Delidding and direct die cooling will void your CPU's warranty and bear a certain risk of damaging it, so this certainly isn't for everyone," explains Roland Mossig (Noctua CEO). "However, the performance gains to be had are simply spectacular, typically ranging from 10 to 15°C but in some cases, we've even seen improvements of almost 20°C in combination with our offset mounting bars, so we're confident that this is an attractive option for enthusiast users. Thanks to Roman for teaming up with us in order to enable customers to implement this exciting tuning measure with our CPU coolers!"

Noctua today presented its long-awaited NA-VC1 24 V DC to 12 V DC step-down voltage converter that allows running standard 12 V fans in 24 V environments such as 3D printers or industrial and automotive applications. With a maximum operating temperature of up to 60°C, integrated protection against short-circuits, reverse polarity, overcurrent and overheating, the NA-VC1 is as bulletproof as a voltage converter can be. At the same time, its neat, ultra-compact and lightweight design makes it easy to integrate into virtually any environment.

"Customers have been using our 12 V fans in 24 V environments such as 3D printers for a long time, but often had to resort to cheap, poor quality step-down converters in order to do so", explains Roland Mossig (Noctua CEO). "As these cheap converters can pose a serious safety hazard, we have created our NA-VC1: A compact, safe and dependable solution for running 12 V fans in 24 V environments."

Noctua is preparing a major design update for its NF-A series fans. The company is preparing its next-generation fans with the new Sterrox liquid-crystal polymer material. LCP provides superior structural stability for the blades at high RPM, allowing them to maintain their correct profile, and maximizing their airflow and noise characteristics; in comparison to impellers made from conventional thermoplastics such as LDPE, PBT, PVC, ABS, etc. LCPs also feature very high strength-to-weight ratio, which is what makes another popular kind of LCP, Kevlar, the material of choice for anti-ballistic armors.

For case fans, the impeller has such structural strength to hold its shape, that Noctua has reduced clearance between the impeller and the bore of the frame to under 1 mm, which helps guide all of the fan's airflow axially. Other design innovations to the impeller include channels that accelerate airflow toward the edges of the fan blades, and a stepped inlet structure toward the impeller hub that creates a pressure-differential, and guides the air better toward the impeller blades. The fan hub is metal reinforced, and the motor uses an SSO2 fan bearing. The frame of the fan, has integrated anti-vibration pads. Noctua plans to launch the next-gen 140 mm A-series case fan in Q1-2024.

Here are some of the first pictures of Noctua's next-generation NH-D15 CPU cooler. One of the pioneers of this design, the D-15 in its 2024-bound avatar comes with a complete design overhaul, including its two large fin-stacks, that are designed not to impede components around the CPU socket, such as elaborate VRM and SSD heatsinks, rear I/O shrouds, and of course memory. The fin-stacks are denser, with a reduced gap between fins of 1.6 mm (compared to 1.9 mm of the original NH-D15), which translates to 20% more surface area for heat dissipation.

The surface for contact remains nickel-plated copper, but Noctua is using eight 6 mm-thick heatpipes, compared to six on the previous generation. The heatpipes make contact with practically the entire base plate, so this cooler should be suitable for even chiplet-based processors. Ventilation is care of two included "next-gen" 140 mm fans that offer superior performance and noise characteristics compared to anything in Noctua's lineup right now. The cooler uses Noctua's SecuFirm 2+ retention module using spring-loaded screws to mitigate excessive mounting pressure that can bend motherboard PCB. Noctua will include a tube of the company's latest NT-H2 thermal paste (9 W/mK), and NA-TPG1 thermal paste spill guard. The company plans to launch this cooler some time in Q2-2024.

Noctua today presented its new NA-FH1 fan hub. The NA-FH1 is a high-quality, smartly-protected 8 channel PWM fan hub that allows up to eight PWM fans to be run and controlled simultaneously via a single PWM motherboard fan header or stand-alone controllers such as the optional NA-FC1. Supporting both 12 V and 5 V fans with 4-pin PWM and 3-pin connectors, the NA-FH1 is highly flexible and suitable both for PC environments and other 12 V- or 5 V-based applications.

"While there is no shortage of fan hubs on the market, we found most of them lacking both from a functional and from a safety perspective," explains Roland Mossig (Noctua CEO). "PWM control and RPM readout can be unreliable, and most units lack overcurrent or short-circuit protection, which can be dangerous when powering through S-ATA. This is where the NA-FH1 steps in: a safe, dependable quality device for powering and controlling up to eight fans!"

Noctua has, as of this month, refreshed its product roadmap for the rest of 2023, and even provides a couple of scant details about far-off hardware scheduled for launch in early 2024 and beyond. The Austrian computer cooling hardware specialist is probably updating their release forecast in preparation for Computex 2023 - set to start at the end of the month - where brand new goodies could be debuted to industry-types and public attendees.

Noctua's 8-way fan hub seems to be delayed - the previous version of the roadmap had it down for a Q1 2023 launch, but the update now indicates a second quarter window. A bunch of next-gen AMD Threadripper coolers are marked down for an estimated third-quarter release, and Noctua has a slim 60 mm fan
as well as a 24 V 40 mm fan lined up for the final quarter. All-black versions of existing NH-D12L, NH-D9L and NH-L9x65 CPU coolers are due by the end of this year - a number of coolers are already available in the company's "chromax.black" finish - for those who do not enjoy the signature beige and brown aesthetic. A single next-generation 140 mm fan is teased for a Q1 2024 launch, with a chromax.black version coming later in the year. Finally, a re-designed NH-D15 CPU cooler gets a loose 2024 window.

Noctua has showcased its NH-U14S DX-4677 air cooler in action, cooling down Intel's 56-core Xeon W9-3495X at full load and drawing 700 W of power. While all-in-one (AiO) liquid coolers are popular these days, Noctua aim to show that air coolers are more than capable on handling even the most high-end CPUs, even at continuous load and without throttling.

While the video does not show the full details of the CPU settings, it is still an impressive feat, especially considering the high power draw, which suggest that the CPU was pushed way beyond its default settings for demonstration. The setup includes the aforementioned Intel's 56-core Xeon W9-3495X CPU, running on ASUS Pro WS W790E-SAGE SE motherboard with SK Hynix DDR5 EC8 RDIMM, and powered by Seasonic's PX-1600 PSU.

The new NH-U14S DX-4677, NH-U12S DX-4677, NH-U9 DX-4677 and NH-D9 DX-4677 4U are dedicated, customised solutions for Intel's professional LGA4677 platform (Sapphire Rapids), which makes them an ideal fit for both 4th generation Xeon Scalable CPUs (Platinum, Gold, Silver or Bronze) and W-3400 or W-2400 series Xeon processors for workstations such as the w9-3495X, w7-3465X or w7-2495X. Whereas the large 14 cm NH-U14S DX-4677 and 12 cm NH-U12S DX-4677 are an excellent choice for tower-style cases and thus lend themselves to use in high-performance quiet workstations, the smaller NH-D9 DX-4677 4U and NH-U9 DX-4677 fit 4U cases, which makes them perfect for more compact workstations as well as 4U class rack-mount servers that need to run as quietly as possible.

While the NH-U9's direction of airflow is perpendicular to the long axis of the LGA4677 socket, the NH-D9's direction of airflow is parallel to the long axis of the LGA4677 socket. Depending on the orientation of the socket(s) on the motherboard, choosing either the NH-U9 or de NH-D9 enables system builders to align the airflow of the cooler(s) with the exhaust fans of the chassis and thereby ensure optimal system performance. Thanks to their compact footprint, both models are ideal for building dual socket setups with motherboards where larger coolers may interfere with each other.

Noctua today introduced its new NA-FG1 series of fan grills for 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 92, 120, 140 and 200 mm fans. Available in sets of 2 (Sx2) or 5 (Sx5) including screws and a tool-free mounting system that can help to reduce turbulence and thereby improve both airflow performance and noise levels, Noctua's NA-FG1 are premium grade fan grills for the highest demands in acoustic optimisation and ease of installation.

"Fan grills may seem like a trivial accessory, but many available solutions can seriously hamper your fans' acoustics and performance, so we decided to offer our own selection of grills", explains Roland Mossig (Noctua CEO). "Our NA-FG1 use a proven, highly efficient design and top it off with a convenient tool-free mounting system that introduces an extra offset and can thereby help to improve both airflow and noise levels."

Noctua today presented the latest addition to its successful NH-L9 series of low-profile CPU coolers: At a height of only 37 mm, the new NH-L9a-AM5 and NH-L9a-AM5 chromax.black are an excellent choice for quiet, ultra-compact HTPCs or Small Form Factor (SFF) systems using AMD's latest, AM5-based Ryzen processors.

"AMD's just-released 65 W Ryzen CPUs are ideal for building small yet highly powerful systems, and our new NH-L9a-AM5 is the perfect cooler to match", explains Roland Mossig (CEO). "It can easily cool the new 7900, 7700 and 7600 at ultra-quiet fan speeds and offers plenty of headroom if customers want to push them beyond 65 W - we've actually been running up to 130 W on the Ryzen 7950X and 7900X!" Since the original NH-L9a coolers for AM3 and AM4 have received more than 100 awards and recommendations from international hardware websites and magazines, the new AM5 revision builds on the same proven heatsink design to provide excellent low-profile cooling performance for AMD's latest Ryzen processors.

ASUS showed us its GeForce RTX 4080 Noctua Edition graphics card that it formally announced yesterday. To call this card thick would be an understatement, as it's possibly the first graphics card that is 5 slots thick! The card easily overshoots what constitutes 4 slots, and is technically 4.2 to 4.3 slots; but then expansion slot counts are whole numbers rounded to the next digit despite what marketing says.

This card combines an ASUS ROG Strix RTX 4080 PCB with an air-based cooling solution designed by Noctua. The cooler has two large aluminium fin-stacks that have been skewered by eight 6 mm-thick nickel-plated copper heatpipes, and ventilated by a pair of Noctua's top-of-the-line NF-A12x25 120 mm fans that feature fluid-dynamic bearings. The fan-tuning for this card is a Noctua-ASUS collaboration, and promises to make this the quietest air-cooled RTX 4080 you can buy.