Noctua knocking off Gentle Typhoons?

[terroralpha]

well, this is pretty sad. i was watching videos from computex and was looking forward to something new from Noctua. and what I saw blew me away. the impeller is almost an exact replica down to straight through shaft design. there is literally nothing more left to copy. EK managed to design their own impeller while integrating Nidec's idea of using a larger motor hub which helps reduce motor noise and increase durability, which is fine. but Noctua copying the ENTIRE design deserves a law suit. how did anyone at Noctua think this was OK?

this is the type of stuff i'd expect from Thermalfake

they are going to claim that they implemented their super fancy SSO2 bearing and that it's better. i own noctua P and F series fans and gentle typhoons. and the noctua SSO2 bearing isn't that great. it starts to whine when to reduce the voltage to under 9V.

 

[R-T-B]

Noctua's not stupid. They probably licensed the tech, which is legal, if a bit unoriginal.

 

[terroralpha]

i thought about that, but the product page makes no mention of any licensing or gives any credit to Nidec. http://noctua.at/en/noctua-at-computex-2016
usually when one brand licenses something from another they mention it. like when corsair licensed the modular PSU design from Ultra.

 

[R-T-B]

i thought about that, but the product page makes no mention of any licensing or gives any credit to Nidec. http://noctua.at/en/noctua-at-computex-2016
usually when one brand licenses something from another they mention it. like when corsair licensed the modular PSU design from Ultra.

They don't necessarily have to. It's all about the specifics of the agreement.

 

[RCoon]

EK have been doing it for some time now.

https://www.ekwb.com/shop/ek-vardar-f3-120-1850rpm

I'm all for it considering gentle typhoons are nearly impossible to come by in the UK these days.

 

[tabascosauz]

As mentioned, Noctua most likely has an agreement. Since when is it an industry standard to give credit where it's due, even in the presence of such a licensing agreement? You know full well that companies don't do that. Doesn't mean that they're pulling a Thermaltake.

EK's Vardars look like a carbon copy of the GTs, and it's widely believed that they just picked up where the former left off, yet you won't find any mention of Nidec on any of their marketing material. That doesn't mean they didn't strike a deal. That doesn't mean that it's illegal.

You just sound irrationally salty that companies who are not Nidec are now able to manufacture GT-inspired fans. I don't see why SSO2 is far-fetched for this fan; the flow acceleration shit or whatever on the edges of the blades have already been incorporated so I don't see why Noctua couldn't have done a few more of their tweaks to the bearing. This just gives us another choice in fans to look at, regardless of whether you think it's worth the money or not.

Also, if you knew Noctua you would have known that their Computex offerings can take a while to actually surface in the market. The fan doesn't even have a damn name yet, and even the Noctua products that are named take months to years to actually start selling. At this point, it's nothing more than a proof of concept that might not even become a thing in the end.

No one "deserves" a lawsuit. Business is business and law is law. And here it looks merely like another case of day-to-day business and perfectly legal ventures (though it remains to be seen whether that is true).

 

[R-T-B]

A fun note on bearings:

All "true" FDB fans must pay royalties to Matsushita (Panasonic) for the "herringbone" shaped groves, which are a patent they possess. This is the most effective bearing design but no one likes it due to the fact they have to pay royalties on every one produced.

When you hear fancy names like "SSO2" it almost guarantees they are using some clever (but often less than ideal) workaround to get around this patent.

Read more if you desire:

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/the-truth-about-fluid-dynamic-bearing-fdb-fans/

 

[qubit]

No, it's not a knockoff. There will be licensing agreements between the two and for all we know it's actually Noctua's design that is being used by EK.

 

[Caring1]

The only similarity I see is the fact both are fans of the same size.
Hubs, blades, pitch all change and vary between manufacturers, some look the same as others, it doesn't make them a copy.
If you cant see the obvious differences, you have eyesight issues.