While AMD’s reveal of its 32 core Threadripper 2 was quite surprising, Noctua may have had the most shocking news at this year’s Computex with the announcement of all black air coolers and fans for the consumer market Yes, you read that correctly; Noctua will be expanding its Chromax lineup to include alternative versions of its traditionally brown and beige air coolers clad almost completely in black with everything except the part of the block that contacts the processor IHS covered in a powder coat-esque finish (as noted by OC3D TV ).
OC3D got hands on with the new coolers.
Apparently, the blacked out versions of Noctua coolers have the caveat of a slight performance hit versus the normal SKUs (likely due to the coating on the fins), but in exchange they will more easily blend in with the rest of your build. Noctua had all black versions of its NH-D15, NG-U12S, and the extremely low profile NHL9i cooler on display at its Computex booth.
As part of the Chromax series, the new coolers can be customized with bits of color accents by switching out pieces if you want as well including cables, rubber fan mounts, and fan shrouds in black, white, blue, green, yellow, and red colors.
PC Gamer (Maximum PC) also has some photos of the new coolers if you are curious.
The sleek new coolers which notably also lack any RGB LEDs will reportedly be available late this year or early next year with additional alternative black versions of other coolers to follow though these models will trail the release of the traditional Noctua style SKUs – which is to say that the newest coolers and fans will be available in brown and beige first. That’s okay though because I think the new black coolers are something that enthusiasts will be willing to wait for.
What are your thoughts on the new blacked out Chromax designs?
So Noctua is finally giving
So Noctua is finally giving in with the whole brown color scheme. I guess it’s a good thing for them, and for potential customers, the ones who avoided Noctua for that reason. But the brown fans made it a choice for high performance, not looks – just like the lack of LEDs. But it feels like the end of an era, because now style is everything and substance/performance is secondary, in most products. At least Noctua is still the only one without RGB, and I hope they always avoid the rainbow light show and continue to concentrate on performance.
‘Giving in’, ‘the end of an
‘Giving in’, ‘the end of an era’, people are so dramatic about non-dramatic things. They’re just offering a different option for people who would rather have black. No big deal.