I’m a big fan of Noctua, I love the uncompromising way they do things, but at the same time, it does seem like they’re their own worst enemy. The Noctua D15S, the U12, the A25 fans, and countless other products have been the market leader for air cooling performance for the better part of a decade. However, I think it’s fair to say, their dominance in the cooling market has slipped. Many rivals like Montech, Cooler Master, Corsair, DeepCool and a few others all have coolers that can compete or even beat Noctua in terms of acoustics, cooling and even cost these days. Even their fans have slipped from being the best, albeit only just with the likes of the Thermaltake Toughfan hitting the market.
However, Noctua does things very differently to everyone, and over time, I suspect Noctua products will retain their performance in a way their rivals simply will not. They won’t release a product that won’t retain its quality and performance over years of usage. After nearly nine years in development, their next generation of fans is what is set to put Noctua back on top, but it’s just not quite there yet, even if we did see them at Computex 2023.
The issues come from material deformation after years of usage. The new 140mm fans use a Sterrox LCP material that was meant to fix the problem, but after their truly uncompromising validation process, the minimal clearances still aren’t quite right. They want to ensure the fan blade clearance is just 0.7mm from the frame, barely enough room to slip through a piece of paper, and while some deviation over time is acceptable, we’re talking a few tenths of a millimetre, that’s all there is. When the fans spin fast for a long period, that material can stretch, and that’s what they’re trying to get perfect.
In an interview with PCGamer, PR, Developer and all round Noctua good-guy Jaboc said that they’ve made some modifications, but the testing will now push the fans back from Q1 until at least Q2, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t hit the market until sometime after Computex 2024 at the end of May start of June.
Of course, once it’s released, it’s set to be the best fan for airflow, pressure and usage in cases, on coolers, radiators and more. Will it be worth the wait? I sure hope so.
