Noctua is undoubtedly one of the most respected brands in the world when it comes to CPU cooler designs. There is, after all, more than a good reason why many of us here at eTeknix use their products in our own personal systems. For around 18-months, however, it has been well known that Noctua has been planning something rather unusual. – Namely, a cooler design that will not include a fan. In other words, a fully ‘passive’ design.
Well, following a report via TechPowerUp, an image of this cooler has now leaked online and, while it doesn’t reveal much, it does at least rubber stamp that this is definitely on the way and possibly in the very near future!
Noctua Passive CPU Cooler
Known to have already been in-house tested with an Intel i9-9900K processor, this isn’t just a concept design for entry to mid-tier processors. It seems that Noctua has genuinely found a way to get a good cooling performance out of a design that doesn’t require a fan. And more so, one that is capable of working with even high-end CPUs.
Now, of course, we would still presume that an overall ‘good’ airflow through a chassis would be necessary for this to work correctly. Given that I personally place a huge value on low-noise output PC performance, however, if this is capable of keeping my relatively humble Ryzen 2600X happy, I daresay that I and many others will be eying this up with more than a little curiosity!
When Will We Know More?
As part of Noctua’s roadmap, it is said that this passive CPU cooler (yet unnamed) will be launched in Q1 2021. So, in other words, we may literally be just a few weeks away from this not only being revealed, but also potentially available to purchase.
Will it be any good though? – Well, rest assured that when it is formally announced, we’ll be ready to check it out and put it through its paces! – Put simply though, Noctua doesn’t release anything mediocre. So we expect big things from this!
What do you think? – Let us know in the comments!
