Tuesday, October 12th 2021
Noctua Presents Chromax Line NF-A12x25 Fan, NH-U12A Cooler and Heatsink Covers
Noctua today presented the much anticipated black versions of its award-winning NF-A12x25 120 mm fan and NH-U12A CPU cooler as well as the matching NA-HC7 and NA-HC8 heatsink covers. Staying true to the successful formula of the original models, the new NF-A12x25 PWM chromax.black.swap and NH-U12A chromax.black combine the same signature quiet cooling performance with a sleek stealth look. The black NH-U12A already supports Intel's upcoming LGA1700 platform.
"We are aware of how eagerly our customers have been waiting for these products and we would have loved to get them out earlier, but first we had to spend some extra time in order to make sure that we can exactly match the performance of the brown fans, and then things were further delayed by various supply chain issues due to the global pandemic", explains Roland Mossig (Noctua CEO). "With products that have been fine-tuned to the most minute details, seemingly simple things like creating a different colour version can end being surprisingly tricky, but now with all of that out of the way, we're excited to finally be able to offer these long-awaited products to our customers."
Having received more than 100 awards and recommendations from international hardware websites and magazines, Noctua's flagship model NF-A12x25 has established itself as a true deluxe choice when it comes to premium-quality quiet 120 mm fans. The new chromax.black.swap edition combines the NF-A12x25's signature quiet cooling performance with an attractive black design and a bundle of swappable red, white, blue, green, grey, yellow and black anti-vibration pads that allow for the fan to be colour-customised to match individual build colour schemes. For further customisation, a wide range of accessories such as coloured cables and anti-vibration mounts are available separately.
The NH-U12A has proven in countless tests that it can match or even outperform many 140 mm sized coolers while offering 120 mm class case, RAM and PCIe compatibility. Thanks to the same proven asymmetrical single-tower heatsink design and state-of-the-art NF-A12x25 PWM fans, the new chromax.black variant stays true to the NH-U12A's successful formula of fusing best-in-class cooling performance with superb quietness of operation and outstanding compatibility. The NH-U12A chromax.black includes the latest SecuFirm2 multi-socket mounting system that not only supports AMD AM4 and Intel LGA1200, but also Intel's upcoming 12th generation Core CPUs (code name Alder Lake-S, socket LGA1700).
In addition to the new fan and heatsink, Noctua also launched the new NA-HC7 and NA-HC8 heatsink covers for the NH-U12A and NH-U12A chromax.black. While the chromax.black and chromax.white variants of the NA-HC8 are ideal for all-black or black-and-white builds, the NA-HC7 chromax.black.swap with its swappable colour inlays in black, blue, green, red, yellow and white allows the cooler to be colour-coordinated with various build colour schemes.
Suggested retail prices
The manufacturer's suggested retail prices are as follows:
All the new products are available as of today via Noctua's official Amazon stores.
"We are aware of how eagerly our customers have been waiting for these products and we would have loved to get them out earlier, but first we had to spend some extra time in order to make sure that we can exactly match the performance of the brown fans, and then things were further delayed by various supply chain issues due to the global pandemic", explains Roland Mossig (Noctua CEO). "With products that have been fine-tuned to the most minute details, seemingly simple things like creating a different colour version can end being surprisingly tricky, but now with all of that out of the way, we're excited to finally be able to offer these long-awaited products to our customers."
The NH-U12A has proven in countless tests that it can match or even outperform many 140 mm sized coolers while offering 120 mm class case, RAM and PCIe compatibility. Thanks to the same proven asymmetrical single-tower heatsink design and state-of-the-art NF-A12x25 PWM fans, the new chromax.black variant stays true to the NH-U12A's successful formula of fusing best-in-class cooling performance with superb quietness of operation and outstanding compatibility. The NH-U12A chromax.black includes the latest SecuFirm2 multi-socket mounting system that not only supports AMD AM4 and Intel LGA1200, but also Intel's upcoming 12th generation Core CPUs (code name Alder Lake-S, socket LGA1700).
In addition to the new fan and heatsink, Noctua also launched the new NA-HC7 and NA-HC8 heatsink covers for the NH-U12A and NH-U12A chromax.black. While the chromax.black and chromax.white variants of the NA-HC8 are ideal for all-black or black-and-white builds, the NA-HC7 chromax.black.swap with its swappable colour inlays in black, blue, green, red, yellow and white allows the cooler to be colour-coordinated with various build colour schemes.
Suggested retail prices
The manufacturer's suggested retail prices are as follows:
- NH-U12A chromax.black: EUR/USD 119.90
- NF-A12x25 PWM chromax.black.swap: EUR/USD 32.90
- NA-HC7 chromax.black.swap: EUR/USD 19.90
- NA-HC8 chromax.black: EUR/USD 19.90
- NA-HC8 chromax.white: EUR/USD 19.90
All the new products are available as of today via Noctua's official Amazon stores.
44 Comments on Noctua Presents Chromax Line NF-A12x25 Fan, NH-U12A Cooler and Heatsink Covers
First release a good cooler that looks ugly for the first year's, then when sales goes flat, rekindle the hype with a more expensive Chromax versions that everyone wanted from the start.
I plastered all my builds with beige/brown A12x25 fans. And I know I don't really need to replace them with these black ones... and yet... But... the T30.
This is how conspiracy theories are born, Noctua!
To the naysayers who will undoubtedly, and aggressively attack this idea, NO, this doesn't go against Noctua's "ethos", there's nothing wrong with more options, and we've heard all the reasons why you hate RGB before, from its lack of necessity to accusations of it being effeminate to the "I only care about performance" flag planting, we get it, so there's no need to go over it again.
- The Phanteks T30 is better and slightly cheaper, with the caveat being that you need extra space for the 30mm depth.
- The Nidec/Scythe/Darkside) Gentle Typhoon has always been a very strong contender for half the cost of the A12x25, and they're all black.
- The Arctic P12 is a ridiculously good fan for $10 that is also all black. It's compared by multiple reviews in noise-normalised and rpm-normalised testing to be an equal to the A12x25 in all but PWM motor noise at very low speeds - speeds I would consider to be below the average noise floor in a typical domestic environment anyway.
The only fan you shouldn't consider as an alternative to the A12x25 Chromax is the Thermaltake Toughfan T12 which is a good fan, priced and performs almost identically to the A12x25 because it's a complete rip-off and IP theft; In an interview with Niels Broekhuijsen of THG, Noctua said that they could litigate but it would be pointless because IP infringement lawsuits against Chinese companies are just a waste of funding and Noctua would rather spend that on R&D. Yet another reason to boycott Thermaltake, those thieving scumbags!If we try to look at the data as @VSG measured them, and not fuck up the analysis of said measurements, it is clear that the T30 is better only at high noise levels.
as for comparative performance, apples to apples, exact build to exact build, the T30s provide about 2C better cooling for Xeons at same RPM range. I'm probably one of the few folks that that can do a direct comparison on a dense build.
Noctua prior build picture included