Noctua teases NF-A12x25 fan - almost 4 years development
You guys know it, for Noctua, cooling isn't an just an art, is a science. Over the years I have spoken many times with the company, and the level of detail and research they put in their cooling solutions is incredible. For years now we've talked about a new fan series, and after 4 years, they now are teasing it, ready to be released.
The guys behind Noctua are always modest, never aggressive with marketing, never did a viral. So if Noctua teases something this way, we take it seriously as we just know it'll be good. Initially, we've spoken and mentioned this series at our Computex coverage. The fan series in question is the NF-A12x25, slim and silent. From the looks of things, it will offer incredible silent cooling performance. The will be a fan series ideal for CPU coolers and radiators requiring high static pressure. To achieve a higher static pressure, Noctua went totally innovative in the design. For example, the distance between the frame and the fan blades is a staggering 0.5 millimeter, this normally is 1.5 and sometimes even up to 3 millimeter.
Check out how close that blade is to the housing frame!
Smaller tolerances need a rigid frame or else the fan blades could hit the outer frame. For this, a special material is used. I remember that when it was a prototype, they mentioned they wanted to use a liquid crystal polymer based fan, a raw material that is used in Kevlar, that would be Sterrox LCP. They have had these in development for a long time already.
Basically, it will stiffen the fan blades so that they can achieve smaller tolerances in the fan housing. This helps in airflow but also noise levels. At the time of writing is not yet known when the fans are actually available, but Noctua indicates within a few weeks, we're excited to find out.
Chuck Norris
Posts: 2537
Joined: 2012-02-06
Makes you wonder how much can you do to a fan. I mean its a freaking fan, do you expect to reinvent the wheel? I bet theres alternatives just has good. Why so much time to develop a fan? Will it make me dinner? Im not saying they´re not good, they might just be excellent, but i think companies sometimes just overhype things to no extent. Its a fan!
Senior Member
Posts: 1450
Joined: 2015-06-02
Did they also tested these fans in different temperature environments, like when its getting hotter or colder because 0.5mm can touch the outer plastic itself when the fan it self will go bigger duo to lifespan and temperature difference.
Senior Member
Posts: 8185
Joined: 2010-11-16
I value low-noise just as much as performance. And when you start going down the minimum-noise road, every Watt and every dB saved matters. Because you get more headroom for high-performance regimes.
Here's a technical description of these new a12x25. There are many isses that had to be solved, like impeller creep:
https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:NR9F-J-Nb-IJ:https://noctua.at/en/nf-a12x25-technical-backgrounds+&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=hr
Senior Member
Posts: 13716
Joined: 2004-05-16
Makes you wonder how much can you do to a fan. I mean its a freaking fan, do you expect to reinvent the wheel? I bet theres alternatives just has good. Why so much time to develop a fan? Will it make me dinner? Im not saying they´re not good, they might just be excellent, but i think companies sometimes just overhype things to no extent. Its a fan!
I value low-noise just as much as performance. And when you start going down the minimum-noise road, every Watt and every dB saved matters. Because you get more headroom for high-performance regimes.
Here's a technical description of these new a12x25. There are many isses that had to be solved, like impeller creep:
https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:NR9F-J-Nb-IJ:https://noctua.at/en/nf-a12x25-technical-backgrounds+&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=hr
Maybe i'm a nerd but reading about how much thought/tech they had to come up with to make a fan like 2% better just makes me want to buy it more. Thanks for posting this.
Senior Member
Posts: 8185
Joined: 2010-11-16
What's with 120mm in Fractal case? I assume we are not talking mini-itx case. Why not use 140mm fans?
Noctua A14 fans are perhaps not top dogs, but they are not that bad. And they are certainly much better than Fractal's stock 140mm, perf/db wise. (which themselves are not terrible if you keep them at minimum speed)
I switched to PH-F140TS/MP fans with rotation reducers, and they completely own Fractal stock fans.
Could be that you guys are doing something wrong if you need 1000 RPM for case fans