Noctua today presented two updates to its range of quiet low-profile CPU coolers. Successors to the award-winning NH-L9a and NH-L12, the new NH-L9a-AM4 and NH-L12S models now support the AM4 socket of AMD's Ryzen processors. Whereas the NH-L9a-AM4 stands a mere 37mm tall, which makes it ideal for use in compact HTPCs or Small Form Factor cases that offer minimum clearance for CPU coolers, the slightly bigger NH-L12S comes equipped with the new NF-A12x15 PWM fan and combines excellent compatibility, surprising efficiency and remarkable flexibility.

"AMD has made a big impact on the market with its Ryzen architecture and the platform will become even more interesting for compact HTPC builds when the first Ryzen-based APUs are introduced next year," says Roland Mossig (Noctua CEO). "We're thus updating two of our award-winning low-profile models to support Ryzen's AM4 socket."

Noctua today updated its range of ruggedised 24V industrialPPC fans. Using the novel NE-FD4 motor driver IC that complies with the Automotive Electronics Council's highly rigorous AEC-Q100 failure-mechanism-based stress test qualification, the new Q100 revision NF-F12 (120mm) and NF-A14 (140mm) models complement the industrialPPC line's signature rigidity and IP67 ingress protection with extreme electrical robustness and sophisticated inrush current suppression. This makes them ideal not only for automotive applications but also for use in hostile or sensitive electronic environments.

"With its highly rigid polyamide construction and IP67-class water and dust protection, the industrialPPC line has opened up a wealth of new industrial markets for us since its introduction in 2014," explains Roland Mossig (Noctua CEO). "True to the industrialPPC's tagline of 'Protected Performance Cooling', we have now also toughened up these fans from an electronics point of view so that they are equally well protected against environmental and electrical hazards."

Noctua is stocking up inventories of its AMD Ryzen Threadripper-compatible NH-U14S-TR4-SP3 tower-type CPU cooler. A variant of the NH-U14S (pictured below), the cooler will be available from 12th August in the United States, through Noctua's eBay store. Other retailers will have stocks by the end of August. Noctua believes the NH-U14S features sufficient muscle to cope with the 180W TDP Threadripper processors, some of the lower variants come with 140W TDP. The TR4-SP3 variant comes with a slightly enlarged base, for better coverage of the large integrated heatspreaders of the Threadripper chips. The other Threadripper-compatible coolers in Noctua's lineup are the NH-U12S-TR4-SP3, and NH-U9-TR4-SP3.

A recent maelstrom has hit Noctua in social forums due to a then unverified, reported issue with manufacturing differences between fans of the company that have been built on Taiwan or China factories. The issue, first brought about by Reddit user Kendalf, left open some questions on cooling and noise deltas between Taiwan and China-made Noctua fans, while admitting that the issue could be with a particular batch/testing conditions/other unidentified variables. But the Internet is fantastic, and what was posted as a legitimate question was quickly turned into a pitchfork-handling mob crying "Noctua never again" and "Down to Noctua" (which really are one of the most innovative companies in the cooling space...)

Noctua today presented three high-end heatsinks for the TR4 and SP3 sockets of AMD's latest Ryzen Threadripper (X399) and Epyc platforms. The new TR4-SP3 versions of the award-winning NH-U14S, NH-U12S and NH-U9 coolers are tailored custom models that feature a larger contact surface as well as a SecuFirm2 mounting system for TR4/SP3. Supplied with Noctua's renowned NF-A15, NF-F12 and NF-A9 premium fans, the new coolers combine outstanding cooling performance with exceptional quietness of operation.

"A high-end platform usually calls for high-end cooling solutions and that's precisely the case with AMD's new Epyc and upcoming Ryzen Threadripper ecosystems", explains Roland Mossig (Noctua CEO). "We have therefore customized our award-winning NH-U14S, NH-U12S and NH-U9 coolers so that users can enjoy the performance and quietness of these proven premium heatsinks on the new AMD platforms."

Noctua, a company well-known for the performance and acoustic characteristics of their fans (and especially for their love-it-or-hate-it brown and tan fan color scheme) has showcased their next-generation A-series fans, which took the company more than four years and 200 test designs to achieve. This is surely a case of discovering how to not make a product in 200 different ways. Noctua only had to get it right once; and it would seem they did.

Noctua are promising unparalleled performance at the A-Series noise levels. The reasons for this are varied, but one of them - perhaps the most important - comes from the fact that Noctua has ditched PBT - the plastic most commonly used in this kind of products - for a completely new compound, which the company calls Sterrox. Sterrox is a liquid crystal polymer of the same family as Kevlar. This means it has an ordered molecular structure (whereas PBT manifests a chaotic one), which means Sterrox is a much more rigid compound. This helps the fans keep their shape after spinning for long periods of time - something which happens with PBT-made fans. The chaotic structure and lower rigidity means the material deforms due to the centrifugal forces, effectively elongating the fan blades (an effect dubbed impeller creep), which means usual fan designs have to take this into account, usually by increasing the gap between the frame and the fan blades. Noctua aimed for a 0.5 mm tip clearance (much lower than the usual 1.5 or 2 mm), which results in much better air and noise performance. A narrower gap means that less air leaks through it back to the front of the fan, which allows more air to be pushed through heatsinks and radiators. And the fact that the fan blades are more rigid means they don't suffer microscopic wobbles and vibrations on the surface when spinning - hence, quieter. But how good are these new fans, really?

Noctua showed off protoypes of variants of its various high-end CPU coolers, which come with support for Intel's Core X family socket LGA2066 processors. While LGA2066 has a higher pin-count, it has the same exact CPU cooler mount-hole spacing as LGA2011(v3), and as such, any LGA2011-compatible cooler should run on LGA2066. All Core i7 LGA2011(v3) chips are either 140W or below. Noctua on its part, is confident that that all its LGA2011(v3)-compatible coolers run on LGA2066 by default, and is willing to giveaway LGA2066-supporting SecuFirm 2 retention modules for free, for users of older Noctua heatsinks which can handle such high thermal loads.

In addition to its socket TR3/SP3 Threadripper-ready CPU cooler prototypes, Noctua showed off this prototype of a super compact socket AM4 CPU cooler, the NH-L9. Ideal for SFF builds, the cooler sits just 37 mm tall, and features a dense aluminium fin-stack which propagates along the plane of the motherboard, to which heat drawn from the base is fed by nickel-plated copper heat pipes. The heatsink is ventilated by an included NF-A9x14 PWM 92 mm fan.

Noctua at its Computex 2017 booth, showed off its very first socket TR4/SP3 (AMD Ryzen Threadripper) ready CPU cooler prototypes. These coolers are variants of Noctua's existing platforms - NH-U14S, NH-U12S, and NHU9, but come factory-fitted with socket TR4/SP3 retention modules, and large bases. The coolers also include new-generation PWM-ready variants of the NF-F12, NF-A15, and NF-A9 fans. All three are tower-type heatsinks, designed for clearance around the large CPU socket, and the practically non-existent gap between the socket and the memory slots, at least on motherboards we've seen so far.

Noctua is renowned for its conservative and restrained styling, with a focus instead on effective cooling performance and low-noise. Wading through a swamp of psychedelic RGB multi-color LED-lit fans, cases, coolers, and pretty much everything else; we found Noctua taking a careful step towards "colors," without all the light and sound.

The Chromax Edition variants of its popular fans NF-A15, NF-A14, NF-F12, and NF-S12A come with colorful, user-replaceable accessories for the fan-frame and cables, which let you add just a bit of color, without lighting it up. These are high-quality user-swappable anti-vibration pads for the frame mount-holes (which are typically brown). Chromax Edition Noctua fans include four sets of anti-vibration pads - red, blue, green, and yellow; while the frame itself is kept black to stay neutral to the color. Optionally, you can also purchase color-matching sleeved fan cables.

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."

Noctua today announced that it will continue its tradition of supplying customers with its premium-class SecuFirm2 mounting kits for novel platforms free of charge. While most current Noctua heatsinks support the new LGA2066 socket of Intel's 'Basin Falls' X299 platform for 'Skylake-X' and 'Kaby Lake-X' CPUs out of the box, older models can be upgraded with the NM-I2011 or NM-i20xx kits at no additional cost.

"We're determined to provide the best possible support to our customers and, over the years, we've sent many thousands of mounting kits free of charge to users who wanted to upgrade to new platforms", says Roland Mossig (Noctua CEO). "With Skylake-X just around the corner, we're pleased to announce that we'll extend this offer for LGA2066. Owners of older Noctua retail heatsinks that don't support LGA2011/LGA2066 out of the box will be able to upgrade to the new socket free of charge!"

Noctua today presented three special-edition models of its award-winning quiet CPU coolers. The new SE-AM4 versions of the NH-D15, NH-U12S and NH-L9x65 are dedicated premium-quality solutions for the new AM4 socket of AMD's upcoming Ryzen architecture. Whereas the NH-L9x65 SE-AM4 is tailored for compact systems and the NH-U12S SE-AM4 offers an excellent balance of performance and compatibility, the NH-D15 SE-AM4 provides maximum cooling performance for overclockers and silent enthusiasts.

"AMD's Ryzen architecture promises exciting possibilities for various applications and the NH-D15, NH-U12S and NH-L9x65 are some of our most popular models, so it was a natural choice to create dedicated special editions for the new platform," says Roland Mossig (Noctua CEO). "Each of these coolers has received more than 100 awards and recommendations from international websites and magazines, so we're confident that the SE-AM4 special editions will be a great choice for anything from compact ITX builds to overclocked gaming rigs."

Noctua unveiled a prototype fin-stack heatsink for very large CPU socket types, such as Intel Socket P (LGA3647) and AMD SP3, powering chips such as Intel Xeon Phi "Knights Landing," and upcoming AMD Opteron SP3 32-core SoCs. There will be 3U and 4U versions of this heatsink, supporting NF-A9 (92 mm) and NF-F12 (120 mm) fans. The heatsink is just a very large aluminium fin-stack, to which heat drawn from the base is fed by seven 8 mm thick nickel-plated copper heat pipes.

Noctua is among the first CPU cooler manufacturers to develop a retention kit for the upcoming AMD socket AM4. There are three versions of this, compatible with all existing Noctua coolers, except D0 series and NH-L9i series. This means that even 10-year old heatsinks from Noctua should be able to cool next-gen AMD chips. Noctua will be giving these away for free to all existing customers (proof of purchase required).

Noctua is adding a splash of color with the unveiling of Project Chromax, a company initiative to develop products with color elements. The first of its kind is a line were colorful rubber spacers or their fans and now has been expanded to include heatsink covers. These devices strap onto your heatsink fin-stacks, and give the coolers your choice of three colors: red, yellow or white. Initially, Noctua will launch heatsink covers for the NH-D15S and the NH-U12S coolers.

Noctua's fabled 200 mm A-series fan is closer to market availability, with the company greatly refining its design. In its latest prototype, the fan features a new fiberglass impeller. Fiberglass is chosen over ABS plastic as it is 26% lighter. A 200 mm ABS plastic impeller would need greater torque on the motor to get going at acceptable speeds. The motor features a larger 4 mm-dia chrome-steel axis (33% more bearing surface), and SSO2 ball bearing. Other features common along Noctua fan prototypes, such as acoustic optimization along the frame, a stepped inlet design, and vibration dampening pads are carried over.

Noctua is extending the A-series 15 mm thick form-factor to several other sizes, including the popular 80 mm, 70 mm, 60 mm, and 50 mm. All four come with 20 mm thick frame adapter, should you run into trouble installing them. Much like the slim A-series 120 mm fan, these fans feature acoustic-optimized frames, double ball-bearing motors, 5V and 12V inputs (including PWM controls), and frosted translucent frames and impellers.

Noctua unveiled a prototype slim 120 mm fan. The fan is just 15 mm thick (25 mm is the most common thickness for 120 mm fans). The fan features a metal reinforced hub, to make sure the hub and its four support structures don't disfigure over time. The motor features double ball bearing. The frame features a design that minimizes noise from the whiplash of the impeller. The frame further features rubber padding along the mount holes, to dampen vibration. Noctua did not put out fan-speed and air-flow numbers for this fan.

After introducing its first 5V 40mm fan 18 months ago, Noctua today presented 5V versions of its award-winning quiet NF-A6x25 60mm model. While the new NF-A6x25 5V runs at a fixed speed of 3000rpm, the NF-A6x25 5V PWM also supports PWM for precise, convenient speed control. Both models feature Noctua's proprietary AAO (Advanced Acoustic Optimisation) frames as well as sophisticated aerodynamic design measures such as Flow Acceleration Channels and come with a 6-year manufacturer's warranty. At the same time, Noctua announced that it will further expand its 5V line-up in the near future in order to meet the growing demand from industrial partners and DIY customers.

"5V applications are becoming more and more common in various fields, so it's no wonder we're seeing a growing demand for 5V fans," says Roland Mossig (Noctua CEO). "For example, our NF-A4x10 5V is now being used in different home automation devices as well as network and storage solutions. What's more, it has become very popular among DIY users who run it on single-board computers such as the Raspberry PI or replace noisy fans in various devices such as NAS units, switches and DVRs. We've had lots of requests from all of these areas, so we are now starting to expand our 5V range with the new NF-A6x25 5V and 5V PWM."

PC Thermal solutions expert CRYORIG is releasing the second Origami based compatibility checker. Following the industry acclaimed CRYORIG Origami Tester that was initially released in 2014 for testing mainboard and component compatibility with CRYORIG products, CRYORIG has pushed the limits of paper folding innovation again with the CRYORIG Origami Case Depth Checker.

The CRYORIG Origami Case Depth Checker is a simple to build tool to help PC builders measure their case's CPU Cooler Tolerance Height, as there are still many case manufacturers who for some reason choose to omit this in their product page. Without this critical information, PC builders are left in the dark regarding wither or not a certain cooler will fit their case or not.

Noctua today officially introduced its chromax line of anti-vibration parts that give users the option of colour-customising their fans to match individual build colour schemes.
Available in red, blue, green, yellow, black and white, the chromax versions of NA-SAV2 anti-vibration mounts and NA-SAVP1 anti-vibration pads are ideal for colour-coordinating Noctua's black industrialPPC fans with other components and popular build themes such as all black, black & white, black & red or black & blue.

"The introduction of our redux and industrialPPC product lines marked a first step towards offering fans that fit in well with the typical colour schemes favoured by today's overclockers and enthusiasts", says Roland Mossig (Noctua CEO). "With the new chromax line, we're taking another step by allowing users to colour-customise their fans with red, blue, green, yellow, black or white anti-vibration parts."

Noctua today presented 24V variants of its renowned industrialPPC fans. Conceived for industrial heavy-duty applications that require enhanced cooling performance and advanced ingress protection, Noctua's industrialPPC (Protected Performance Cooling) line comprises ruggedised high-speed versions of the company's award-winning retail fans. The new 24V models use a dedicated wide input range version of Noctua's NE-FD2 three-phase motor driver IC in order to support 24V-based industrial applications and to provide moderate speeds and lower noise levels in standard 12V PC environments.

"The launch of our industrialPPC line has allowed us to expand our base of industrial clients as we're now able to provide solutions for highly challenging environments and to meet much higher demands as far as airflow and pressure performance are concerned", says Roland Mossig (Noctua CEO). "Since many of our industrial clients work with 24V, we're now offering extra versions for 24V applications."

Noctua today celebrated its 10-year anniversary. Since the introduction of the first generation NH-U12 heatsink in October 2005, Noctua's products have received more than 6000 awards and recommendations from leading international hardware websites and magazines, making them a default choice for quiet cooling enthusiasts all over the world. "Our products have come a long way since we launched our first cooler in 2005 and our first fan in 2006," says Roland Mossig (Noctua CEO), "but we're still driven by the same passion to create the best quiet cooling solutions money can buy."

Noctua's first-generation NH-U12 and NH-U9 tower coolers were launched in October 2005 and took the international quiet cooling market by storm. Today, ten years and four generations of NH-U coolers later, the current NH-U12S, NH-U9S and NH-U14S are built to the same strict quality standards and, like their predecessors, are widely recognized to be among the best quiet single-tower coolers on the market. At the same time, Noctua's dual-tower coolers (following the legendary NH-D14), as well various other models such as the popular L-type low-profile coolers, have established themselves as leaders in other market segments. Over the years, the initial two-cooler line-up has grown into a family of 17 models that range from the tiny NH-L9i to the huge NH-D15 flagship and to the DX and DO lines of server and workstation coolers.

Noctua today announced that it will continue its tradition of supplying customers with its premium-class SecuFirm2 mounting kits for novel platforms free of charge. While most Noctua heatsinks support Skylake's LGA1151 socket out of the box, older models can be upgraded with the NM-i115x kit at no additional cost.

"We're determined to provide the best possible support to our customers and over the years, we've sent many thousands of mounting kits free of charge to users who wanted to upgrade to new platforms", says Mag. Roland Mossig (Noctua CEO). "With Skylake just around the corner, we're pleased to announce that we'll extend this offer for LGA1151. Owners of older Noctua retail heatsinks that don't support LGA1151 out of the box will be able to upgrade to the new socket free of charge!"

Due to the spacing of the mounting holes being identical on LGA1150, LGA1151, LGA1155 and LGA1156, Noctua's previous SecuFirm2 mounting systems for LGA115x also support Intel's upcoming 'Skylake' platform. All current Noctua coolers already include SecuFirm2 mounting systems for LGA115x and can thus be used on LGA1150 mainboards without any upgrades or modifications.