Noctua Was the Only Hardware Company at Computex Totally Ignoring RGB

Megalith

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Practically every hardware company flaunted peripherals with RGB lighting at Computex, but not Noctua, which evidently “doesn't give a single damn about colorful lights.” PC Gamer met up with one of their representatives, who advised they had no plans to go RGB. “Time spent adding RGBs to fans is engineering time that could be spent making those fans perform better, instead.”

All Noctua really cares about is cooling, which has paid off with its latest fan design, the NF-A12. I wrote about it at Computex last year, and even though Noctua had spent more than four years iterating on the fan's new 120mm design and the new polymer used in its blades, it took another year (until just this past month) for the fan to finally see release.
 
I have a lot of respect for them doing it. It is only a matter of time before they do tho. They refused to release and there colors then the shit stain for th longest time but now you can get black fans.
 
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Good for Noctua. Their beige and brown color scheme is nothing to be proud of, but resisting the RGB madness is great.


The RGB monitors in particular make me want to throw something at MY screen. They strap on enough LEDs to make monitors look like Megatron (which is worse since it's a prominently displayed component), yet they all use a plain, cheap white LED backlight. The LEDs aren't even used for an Phillips Ambilight-like system.


Good on them. Noctua is the epitome of function over form, long may it continue.

Eh, their stuff is more pricey and flashy that industrial fans (Delta, Nidec, San Ace and so on), which is what I would call the epitome of function over form. Not that's it's bad, by any means.
 
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I'm genuinely confused, why would anybody spend $100 on a giant air cooler instead of an AIO water cooling setup?

Reliability, noise levels etc etc.

An air cooler will not leak, no pump to go out etc. and many of the normal AIOs are actually louder than the nicer air coolers, and setup right, many at lower loads can be run almost totally passive. AIO's are not for everyone.
 
I'm genuinely confused, why would anybody spend $100 on a giant air cooler instead of an AIO water cooling setup?

Reliability. An air cooler won't break down, or leak all over your motherboard.

Fin denisty is generally lower too, so you can get away with big, slow fans on non-HEDT CPUs.

I wouldn't pay $100 for one though. You really start to see diminishing returns past $40 or $50 air coolers.

EDIT: :ninja:
 
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Word on the street is that they will be blacking out their popular coolers (from unpainted, brown, beige to all black).

The sellouts!
 
It's a process. When you get into this hobby, you want a showcase piece. The glass/clear side showing off water cooling and rgb everything. After a while though, you just want it to emit zero light with minimal / zero sound and have a small footprint. Preferably in a corner or closet somewhere.
 
Word on the street is that they will be blacking out their popular coolers (from unpainted, brown, beige to all black).

The sellouts!
Hell yes, that would be amazing any rumors they're doing that for the fans too?
 
I would have liked to have the option to buy black Noctua fans before I spent $175 on Corsair fans a few months ago.
 
I knew there was a reason i loved this company so much.
My feelings on RGB.
puking_rainbows_gravity_falls_looped.gif
 
Everyone knows that if you attach/embedded enough LED lights into a fan then the "cool" factor goes way, way up. So much so that it will perform 150% better than every other fan on the market. But that's only if your case has a window.... right?

Gotta love a company that sticks to engineering form/function and doesn't fall for the worthless glitz.
 
Everyone knows that if you attach/embedded enough LED lights into a fan then the "cool" factor goes way, way up. So much so that it will perform 150% better than every other fan on the market. But that's only if your case has a window.... right?

Gotta love a company that sticks to engineering form/function and doesn't fall for the worthless glitz.
I disconnected the monitor and just stare intently at the RGB twinklies. It's the only sane thing to do.
 
It's a process. When you get into this hobby, you want a showcase piece. The glass/clear side showing off water cooling and rgb everything. After a while though, you just want it to emit zero light with minimal / zero sound and have a small footprint. Preferably in a corner or closet somewhere.

I remember when we all first started cutting holes in the sides of our cases to stick more and larger fans in them. Started with a single exhaust fan of 80mm, then it was a front intake + rear exhaust @ 80mm, then we cut a hole in the side and added another 80mm, then we moved up to 90mm, 120mm, 140mm, 200mm, Deltas moving 120cfm, etc.

Now I just want it to shut up and not let me know it's running at all. Same with RGB. Eventually the folk clamoring for it and blinging their stuff out with it will tire of the light show when they're trying to get work done and it'll all dry up.
 
I bought into LEDs 4-5 years ago in a previous major upgrade, but finally got fed up with the little ticks and rattles, and overall noise trade-off.

I went full Noctua last year, with a hybrid kit w/ noctua fan on my graphics card.

Will never go back.

Most LED fans just weren't in the same class as Noctua.
 
Eh, their stuff is more pricey and flashy that industrial fans (Delta, Nidec, San Ace and so on), which is what I would call the epitome of function over form. Not that's it's bad, by any means.
Industrial fans doesn't give a damn about noise or efficiency. And their lifespan is questionable as well. They might be functional for about 12 months then the bearing dies. Industrial fans are manufactured with quantity in mind, not quality. I used to buy industrial fans for cooling my pc, they were all rubbish. And not even cheap in small quantities.
 
Industrial fans doesn't give a damn about noise or efficiency. And their lifespan is questionable as well. They might be functional for about 12 months then the bearing dies. Industrial fans are manufactured with quantity in mind, not quality. I used to buy industrial fans for cooling my pc, they were all rubbish. And not even cheap in small quantities.

You obviously have poor taste in industrial fans. My Nidec Servo Gentle Typhoon's are going on 8 years now... not a single failure and I am running 14 of them in a push/pull config. All I do is clean the blades every couple of years. They are just as quiet/powerful as the day I installed them.
 
You obviously have poor taste in industrial fans. My Nidec Servo Gentle Typhoon's are going on 8 years now... not a single failure and I am running 14 of them in a push/pull config. All I do is clean the blades every couple of years. They are just as quiet/powerful as the day I installed them.
There are exceptions to every rule. I've been dealing with a lot of dead fans, and the usual suspects are always delta, sunon, pabst. I think the NAS I just recently had to replace the fan in was nidec as well.
 
There are exceptions to every rule. I've been dealing with a lot of dead fans, and the usual suspects are always delta, sunon, pabst. I think the NAS I just recently had to replace the fan in was nidec as well.

Oh, I don't doubt there are some crappy models of Nidec fans out there as well... Pretty much every big player also sells crap products in bulk, but saying that industrial fans are crap as to noise/efficiency simply because they are of industrial origin simply isn't true. There are models/brands of industrial fans that are really very, very good. Hell, even today, I'd still go with GT1850's as they are built like tanks, very quiet and perform fantastic, especially on a rad. But they also aren't cheap and run about the same price as a Noctua's.
 
Word on the street is that they will be blacking out their popular coolers (from unpainted, brown, beige to all black).

The sellouts!

That's unfortunate. I actually liked their brown color scheme...

And yeah screw RGB.

Oh, I don't doubt there are some crappy models of Nidec fans out there as well... Pretty much every big player also sells crap products in bulk, but saying that industrial fans are crap as to noise/efficiency simply because they are of industrial origin simply isn't true. There are models/brands of industrial fans that are really very, very good. Hell, even today, I'd still go with GT1850's as they are built like tanks, very quiet and perform fantastic, especially on a rad. But they also aren't cheap and run about the same price as a Noctua's.

If they're the same price, then what's the point? Do they run any quieter? Do they run better? Is there any data to suggest an advantage over a Noctua? Your original post said that these were the epitome of function over form, so what function do they perform better?
 
I did the jet engine case back in the day with Deltas, 80/92mm fans and stuff. Never again.

Since I bought Noctua fans in 2006, I've only used their stuff. My newest rig actually has 3 fans from that box.

You really start to see diminishing returns past $40 or $50 air coolers.

And then you have people saying CM 212 Evo, for $20 is all the cooling you need. /sarcasm

Realistically you'll be dropping about $50 on a 6-heatpipe cooler, so if you like Noctua fans then the cost of a Noctua set is actually not that out of line.
 
... If they're the same price, then what's the point? Do they run any quieter? Do they run better? Is there any data to suggest an advantage over a Noctua? Your original post said that these were the epitome of function over form, so what function do they perform better?

My original post in this thread was referring to Noctua as a company, not Nidec. And it was Bawjaws that said they were the epitome of function over form, not I. Reading comprehension -1. If you need a point, then it's just that I've had great results with the GT 1850's and would go with them again. For rad fans, they are hard to beat. A bit dated from Martin's liquid labs, but still a pretty good comparison:

round10fantestresults.png


Here's another more recent review: http://www.overclockers.com/pwm-fan-roundup-twenty-four-120-mm-case-fans-tested/

I really respect Noctua though for sticking to designing great fans that focus on form/function rather than how many LEDs can be crammed into them.
 
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Good for Noctua. Their beige and brown color scheme is nothing to be proud of,

The reason why the choose that color scheme is for marketing. So you can tell from across a room that that's a Noctua fan. It seems to be working for as much as people talk poorly of it. :)

Anyway, Can't wait to replace my NHD15 with a black one!

tenor.gif
 
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Noctua are best fans I have ever used. Quiet and mightily efficient.
They can be fag flag colours for all I care.
They actually look great in designated brown and white through a tinted inwin904 but even better in grey.
 
Whether you agree with it or not it's nice to see a company saying this is our vision and sticking to it and not caving to pressure.
 
Reliability, noise levels etc etc.

An air cooler will not leak, no pump to go out etc. and many of the normal AIOs are actually louder than the nicer air coolers, and setup right, many at lower loads can be run almost totally passive. AIO's are not for everyone.
I've heard this over and over, and yes, it's only 3 anecdotal data points, but my 2x Antec Kuhler 920 and 1x Kuhler 620 have been running pretty much 24/7/365 for the past few years without issues.
 
It’s tough to beat noctua across the board, they serve such a big market that it’s hard to compare them to competitors.

I will say they aren’t the best and are a bit pricey just to get “rubber” feet on them lol. I keep buying them because they get bundled with everything I need like wire conversions and spare fittings/screws. Their performance is still excellent even if it’s not the best.
 
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What ever happened to solid state fans? They use no moving parts to move air. Saw a thing on it here years ago
 
What ever happened to solid state fans? They use no moving parts to move air. Saw a thing on it here years ago
I'd like to see that. Hell, we don't even see peltier being mentioned this time.
 
I did the jet engine case back in the day with Deltas, 80/92mm fans and stuff. Never again.

Since I bought Noctua fans in 2006, I've only used their stuff. My newest rig actually has 3 fans from that box.



And then you have people saying CM 212 Evo, for $20 is all the cooling you need. /sarcasm

Realistically you'll be dropping about $50 on a 6-heatpipe cooler, so if you like Noctua fans then the cost of a Noctua set is actually not that out of line.

Ideally manufacturers would sell bare heatsinks and let you pick your fan, but most don't.

That's why I really like Thermalright's lineup. Their stuff is cheap, but their 140mm fans are among the best in the market, so you don't need to invest in another fan anyway.



And yeah, that's the thing with industrial fans, their intended speed/airflow target is much higher than most consumer fans. So of course a Delta screamer is going to wear out faster and buzz when spun down, but it'll perform a heck of a lot better than an Ultra Kaze or even a Noctua iPPC at high RPMs.

The Gentle Typhoon is one of the few exceptions to that rule. It was a server fan designed for lower speeds, hence the consumer fan market is just now catching up to them.
 
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