Wednesday, May 17th 2017

Noctua Introduces New A-series Fans and Accessories

Noctua today expanded its award-winning A-series of premium-quality quiet cooling fans with new 200mm, 120mm and 40mm models. Thanks to the series' signature features such as Flow Acceleration Channels and AAO (Advanced Acoustic Optimisation) frames, the new NF-A20, NF-A12x15 and NF-A4x20 provide outstanding performance and superb quietness of operation. All models come with Noctua's trusted SSO2 bearings and a full 6-year manufacturer's warranty. In addition to the new fans, Noctua introduced the new NA-FC1 fan controller, NA-SAV3 and NA-SAV4 anti-vibration mounts and NA-SAC5 S-ATA power adaptor cable.

"Customers have been asking us for 20cm and slim 12cm fans for years, but meeting the quality standard users have come to expect from Noctua fans in these form factors has proven very challenging, so it took us quite some time to make sure that these fans live up to our name", explains Roland Mossig (Noctua CEO). "The NF-A4x20 has been conceived following requests by our industrial clients who are looking for a 40mm fan that provides superior performance in pressure-demanding applications as compared to the existing NF-A4x10."
With the 20cm NF-A20, Noctua's biggest fan yet, the key challenge was that the mass of the impeller is about four times greater than that of 12 or 14cm fans and thus creates a significantly higher load on the bearing. In the end, the difficulties were overcome by increasing the diameter of the axis and the bearing from 3mm to 4mm in order to distribute the load over a larger bearing surface, as well as by using a new fibreglass reinforced polypropylene (PP) material, which reduces the mass of the impeller by 26% as compared to Noctua's standard fibreglass reinforced PBT material.

For the 12cm NF-A12x15, a steel-reinforced motor hub and brass axle mount are being used in order to assure the required stability despite the fan's 15mm thin profile. Both the NF-A20 and the NF-A12x15 will come in 4-pin PWM versions for automatic speed control and 3-pin FLX versions that include Low-Noise and Ultra-Low-Noise adaptors, which give full flexibility in configuring the fan for maximum cooling capacity or near-silent acoustics.

The NF-A4x20 complements Noctua's popular NF-A4x10 models: With 20 rather than 10mm thickness, the NF-A4x20 is better suited for applications that require higher pressure performance such as in servers or tightly packed enclosures. The NF-A4x20 will come in 12V 4-pin PWM and 12V 3-pin FLX versions for PC use and other 12V applications as well as in dedicated 5V and 5V PWM versions, which are ideal replacement fans for 5V-based switches, routers, DVRs or other devices.

All of the new fans share the A-series' renowned quiet cooling performance as well as signature features such as Flow Acceleration Channels, Advanced Acoustic Optimisation (AAO) frames or SSO2 bearings. Like all A-series fans, the new NF-A20, NF-A12x15 and NF-A4x20 have an MTTF rating of more than 150,000 hours and come with a full 6-year manufacturer's warranty.

In addition to the new quiet cooling fans, Noctua expanded its range of fan accessories: The new NA-FC1 is a compact, highly flexible controller for 4-pin PWM fans that can both work on its own for manual speed reduction and also work in tandem with the automatic motherboard fan control. By adjusting the NA-FC1's speed control dial, users can either manually set a PWM duty cycle from 0 to 100% or reduce the PWM duty cycle supplied by PC motherboards in order to have the fans running slower than the automatic motherboard fan control would allow. Thanks to the supplied 3-way split cable and power supply adaptor, up to 3 fans can be controlled simultaneously.

The new NA-SAV3 and NA-SAV4 silicone anti-vibration mounts have five defined, numbered pawls that allow them to work perfectly with both standard open corner fans and 10, 14, 15, 20 or 25mm thick fans with closed corners. This makes the new mounts ideal for slim fans such as the new NF-A12x15 where other anti-vibration mounts may not fit properly. While the NA-SAV feature a double-side design that makes them much easier to work with in space-restricted environments or placements where the fan's mounting holes are difficult to reach, the NA-AV4 have a flat case-side end that is flush with the case panel and thus provides for a clean exterior look.

The new NA-SAC5 is a fully sleeved S-ATA to 4-pin power adaptor cable. It is compatible with both 3-pin and 4-pin fans and allows them to be powered directly from the power supply's S-ATA connectors. Combined with the existing NA-SYC1 y-cables, the NA-SAC5 is ideal for powering multiple high-wattage fans without risking damage to the motherboard fan header.

Prices and availability
All of the new products are currently shipping and will be available shortly. The suggested retail prices are as follows:
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32 Comments on Noctua Introduces New A-series Fans and Accessories

#26
RejZoR
mcraygsxI suppose NOCTUA still think there is market for it maybe in Europe or Asia. But for me it is too redundant since I can choose to plug my fans into Carbide 600C or hydro 110i or just plain motherboard fan controller. I have two fans running in my system and dislike the noise, I am thinking about moving back to passive cooled Noctua D14.
Nah, no need for passive. Just use really low RPM fans. Any air you move becomes so much more efficient even if barely. If air has to move around, things really heat up fast and stay scorching hot. I've had E5200 running at 3.7 GHz using passive Akasa Evo Blue cooler (removed fan and shroud). It kinda worked, but it was always scorching hot. Making fan on it spin at stupid slow speed made a massive difference while being as silent as passive.
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#27
WaroDaBeast
RejZoRAs you can read above for the 40x40, it was a really bad experience. And few years ago, I built a system for a friend, he bought a Noctua tower cooler which had the big 120mm fan. And when it was running, regardless of speed, it made this clicking noise which just ran at faster pace when using higher RPM. And I also remember motor made a lot of buzzing noise.
I really don't know what people see in Noctua. Because I certainly don't have good experience with them. Or I was just so god damn unlucky, but I highly doubt it.
Are you saying you didn't RMA the fan? I've had many Noctua fans over the years, and one started making a rattling noise. Noctua sent me another one for free, since the failure occured within the 6 year warranty period.
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#28
RejZoR
It's not a broken fan, it's just a fan that's like that. I've had tons of fans and none just happened to go bad or be bad. They are either that way or they aren't. Had like 15x Noiseblockers. All of them perfect, ranging from their very basic models BlackSilentFan up to their back then top of the line BlackSilentPro and Multiframe. I even still have some generic 80mm fans that are like 15 years old. They still run incredibly quiet. And they are freaking generic fans with sleeve bearing that I just re-lubed several times so far in their life time. Reasons why I don't RMA stuff like this is because postal expenses would be like half the price of this damn thing. It's literally cheaper to just toss it in my box of many things for computers and forget about it. Maybe I'll dig it out one day when I'll need raw airflow in small format regardless of noise and I'll use it. But I'll probably just buy that thick 40mm Noiseblocker instead...
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#29
Blueberries
Looking at the specs this is actually pretty exciting. Logically, a large intake fan is ideal; a greater surface area spreads the air throughout the chassis and provides greater airflow with each rotation. That being said, there hasn't been a decent 20cm fan worth purchasing until now.

This actually makes me want to go back and review cases I've passed on before because of they were designed around a 20cm intake!
Posted on Reply
#30
PowerPC
OctopussWho gives a f*** about fan colour? Seriously. What kind of argument is this? Even if your case has one of those translucent side panel, a normal person is, most probably, looking at like, you know, the screen?
You probably never had a Noctua fan. I used to be like you and think that, but seeing that fan in my case every time I look inside just gave me a cringe. It's not like I constantly looked at it, but even a short glance was enough to say never again for me.
Posted on Reply
#31
Octopuss
PowerPCYou probably never had a Noctua fan. I used to be like you and think that, but seeing that fan in my case every time I look inside just gave me a cringe. It's not like I constantly looked at it, but even a short glance was enough to say never again for me.
I've actually been using Noctua fans almost exclusively for the past 10 years or so.
I don't mind the colour at all. I actually kind of like it. Surely beats those bright purple/orange/whatever horrible colours people put into their PCs thinking how 1337 they are.
I also don't look inside my case, because why would I? I open it maybe once a month to briefly clean the fans with a vacuum cleaner (our flat is very dusty).
Posted on Reply
#32
WaroDaBeast
RejZoRIt's not a broken fan, it's just a fan that's like that. I've had tons of fans and none just happened to go bad or be bad. They are either that way or they aren't. Had like 15x Noiseblockers. All of them perfect, ranging from their very basic models BlackSilentFan up to their back then top of the line BlackSilentPro and Multiframe. I even still have some generic 80mm fans that are like 15 years old. They still run incredibly quiet. And they are freaking generic fans with sleeve bearing that I just re-lubed several times so far in their life time. Reasons why I don't RMA stuff like this is because postal expenses would be like half the price of this damn thing. It's literally cheaper to just toss it in my box of many things for computers and forget about it. Maybe I'll dig it out one day when I'll need raw airflow in small format regardless of noise and I'll use it. But I'll probably just buy that thick 40mm Noiseblocker instead...
If postage is half the price, then hell no, it's not worth contacting the manufacturer. As I've said in my previous comment though, Noctua will happily replace your fan for free, provided that you give them a proof of purchase and that, upon delivery, you send them a photo of the old one, that you'll have broken.

Anyhow, that's been my experience with them.
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