Noctua's April 2024 roadmap
Noctua’s long-awaited next-gen fans in the 140mm format have experienced a setback in their planned release, but they also haven’t. They have indeed been delayed from the second to third quarter of 2024 in terms of standalone availability, but they should be out soon together with the cooler that replaces the NH-D15 at the top of the lineup. In addition, it’s also been somewhat declassified which of the “older” projects is nearing completion.
Noctua’s April roadmap is rather remarkable. Compared to the previous and relatively recent roadmap (from March this year), virtually all of the upcoming stuff has some new information added to it.
If we take it in turn, one at a time, we can start with the already released NH-L12Sx77 top-flow cooler suitable for SFF systems and narrower or shorter cases. This cooler has been available for about a week now, but it’s worth a reminder. Especially since we haven’t written a separate report on it.
Next in line is an “Undisclosed project”. In this case, it is possible that this will be the desk fan that Noctua presented back in 2018, which has not yet been released. That this could be the case is supported by the recently released Noctua trailer (on the social network X) for one of its upcoming products, the details of which quite clearly refer to design details corresponding to a desk fan.
As was the case in the previous roadmap, the successor to the NH-D15, which Noctua initially referred to as the NH-D15 v2, remains in the second quarter. With this cooler, that’s the end of it as far as Noctua’s planned products in the period until June 30th are concerned. This means that the new fans that the NH-D15 v2 cooler will use will be released separately at a later date as well. Unless we are mistaken, this is something that has not yet been done in any plans. I mean, of course, even if the cooler and fans were planned in the same quarter, it could have meant an earlier release of the cooler (for example, a month or two), but it’s now unambiguous. For answers as to why this is the case, we reached out to Noctua reps, and there are basically two reasons for this.
So first of all, it really is true that Noctua’s current plans see the release of the cooler before the standalone fans. This is partly related to the recent technical issues around the frame, where under certain circumstances when mounting on radiators, there were possible difficulties due to the deformation of the frame and the eventual collision of the blades with the tunnel. As far as this is concerned, it depends on a number of factors and it is the torque of the screw combined with the compressive load, which is also dependent on the specific type of thread. However, these complications only apply to the A14 fan models.
However, the models with a circular frame, which will be part of the upcoming dual-tower cooler, do not expect to be mounted on radiators. Although these are still 140 mm “sterrox” fans, they have a smaller mounting hole spacing (corresponding to 120 mm models) and mounting on radiators is not considered, so there is no risk of unwanted deformation under any circumstances that may occur in practice. Here Noctua has everything under control and there is nothing in principle preventing the early release of these fans.
Fans primarily intended for cooler heatsinks are mounted on them using clips or self-tapping screws, or anti-vibration spikes. The last one is for use in cases, for which these fans can also be suitable. In cases where the case in question does not have mounting holes for a 140 mm fan (but only 120 mm) and at the same time there is no excessive blockage of the larger impeller within the clearance of the bracket in the case. Based on this, it would seem that Noctua might release this type of A14 fan sooner than the square frame models, but this is not the case. This is because what also comes into play is the need to be able to satisfy the demand for fans that will arise with the CPU cooler, production-wise.
If both the coolers and the fans come out at the same time, the result could probably be weaker availability of one or the other product, which Noctua naturally wants to avoid and focus on selling fans separately at a later date.
The fans are planned for the third quarter and we can be more precise here. It is unlikely that their release will happen before September. And of course, this is again just a preliminary estimate and although we believe that the calendar won’t be rewritten this time, we can’t rule out the possibility that the release of the fans will be delayed again. The same goes for the top of the line dual-tower CPU cooler. In the chromax.black variant, the new generation of 140 mm fans should be released in about half a year’s time.
Of the smaller projects, small, 60mm fans with a 15mm profile are likely to come out at the end of the year. Prototypes of these may also appear at the upcoming Computex. After it’s over, there should be room for a detailed analysis of the technical features that have both troubled and excited things lately about the 140-millimeter fans, which will hopefully hit the shelves at least in some form (on a cooler).
English translation and edit by Jozef Dudáš
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- Noctua's April 2024 roadmap
Based on certification sites, the round variant of the Gen 2 A14 will be called A14x25r this time, similar to the naming scheme of A12x25r. That also means the dimensions are indeed 140×140 instead of 150×140 like the A15.
Thanks for the heads up, we have removed the A15 designation of the fan variant with the circular frame from the text, as it will probably be different versions of the A14.