Sterrox 140 mm Noctua fans in three months?
The title couldn’t fit a “despite complications with the frame”. Even though Noctua figured out that the fan blades could collide under adverse circumstances due to deformation of the frame in a more advanced stage of prototyping, it seems that the fix for this inconvenience didn’t take too long. We’re again at the point where it looks like Noctua’s 140mm LCP fans are right outside the doors of the retail market.
In Noctua’s latest roadmap (March 2024), their „sterrox“ fans in the 140 mm format (i.e. the new generation of Noctua 140mm fans and successors to the Noctua NF-A14) still stand in the second quarter of 2024. That is, as it was in the December 2023 roadmap.
In the meantime, Noctua has reported that it has run into situations where these fans may not always work correctly. Namely, in certain situations on radiators where the mounting system can cause too much pressure and thus deformation of the frame. Then the frame, or the inner wall of its tunnel, eventually gets into a collision due to the too small (0.7 mm) gap between the blade tips and the frame. In other words, the blades may brush against the frame, which is of course undesirable. If the frame deforms significantly, there is also the risk of a collision in which the impeller could be completely prevented from moving (the force of the frame acting on the blades would be greater than the power of the motor).
We haven’t released details on this, but I have quite a bit of information from Noctua. Maybe too much, and we agreed in the end that Noctua will answer very specific questions only during Computex 2024. That would also roughly correspond to the release of these fans themselves. Illusions that the second quarter of 2024 also refers to a possible release in early April are pointless. That almost certainly won’t happen, and Noctua’s current efforts are pointing towards the end of June. Of course, even that may not be definitive, and it can’t be ruled out that there will be another delay as the end of the second quarter approaches. But for now, this is how Noctua sees it (towards the end of June), and you’ll probably find out if everything will come together during Computex.
Also, nothing should change for the successor to the NH-D15 CPU cooler.It could theoretically come out alongside (or just after) the new 140mm fans, to which it is tied (because it uses them). Meaning, again, at the end of June.
It looks like some sort of a surprise is coming as well, as an “undisclosed project” has been added to the Q2/2024 window since Noctua’s earlier roadmap. Among other things, Noctua is also working on new 60mm fans with a 15mm profile. These have been moved (from Q1/2024) to Q3/2024. Only the black variant of the NH-D12L is due out this quarter, by the end of March.
White fans were also missing in the previous roadmap, but then with a slightly different justification. It’s now similar, that Noctua is prioritizing key projects (such as the 140mm LCP fans and a new high-end dual-tower CPU cooler) and is unable to estimate when the white fans might be realistic. For that reason, it doesn’t even put them on the roadmap.
But recently, Noctua’s interpretation changed from the last one, and according to this post on X, it officially admits to the possibility that the white fans might never be finalized and reach the market..
But perhaps this statement is just a result of the excessive stress and time pressure Noctua is probably experiencing, especially with the finalization of the new generation of 140mm fans. These are also important for the Austrian company in the context of being able to keep up with the competition, or to surpass it again. That’s something the NF-A14 fans no longer manage to do after all these years, when it comes to comparisons with, for example, the Thermaltake 14 Pro and many other fans with more modern impeller geometry.
I hope they will be as good as the Nf-a12x25.
Cant wait to grab those and fit them in my North XL.
Is there something specific you don’t like about the Aspect 14 PWM fans in North XL, or do you just want more efficient system cooling with greater airflow at lower noise? 🙂
The default fans make some high pitch noise due to the wood and filter if you run them fast.
Now of course no one will run them at 1800 rpm and those turbulences might be present with the new noctua as well but I’m willing to try if I can squeeze some more air. The hardware canucks review of the North Xl shown that issue.
For the moment I tried with some Nf-a12x25 which I have put where the radiator should be (so not directly right after the filter) but there where some noises due to the mounting frame for the fans.
If the annoying sound is only present when the fans are mounted to the case, spacers would solve the issue if you have the clearance. This video shows a similar situation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKs7_1gK4Zo. It’s a case design problem which switching fans is unlikely to completely solve.
It’s really annoying to me how poor the fan mounting hardware are on most cases. The mounts should only cover the corners of the fans and nothing more, and yet case designers prioritize cost of production (even on “high end” cases!) and flexibility of fan size and mounting position over optimizing for acoustics and airflow. I really like the mounting system of Streacom DA2/DA6 and DeepCool CH780 for this reason, though it still requires a bridge between the fan and the rail for it to be optimal.
The front mount of the Meshlicious/Meshroom S is already well designed (https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0504/5652/7032/files/Meshroom_S_V2_Basic_User_Guide.pdf). It supports only 140 mm fans by default (which allow for minimal obstruction to the fans’ active area), and achieve flexibility in fan size by using extra pieces of rails designed specifically for 120 mm fans.
I hope HWcooling’s updated case review methodology will shed more light on this problem.
In case of the north the issue is present with the wood if you stick the fans right behind the filters or with the mounting.
Spacers could be a solution unfortunately it’s not possible for my case (pun not intended).
I have a 360mm AIO so I cannot add a spacer for that one else it wouldn’t fit. And for the one of the bottom I have the HDD cage so cannot use it there either.
But I agree that case designers often do not think about such things. Now I’ve seen some recent design like the Antec C8 where they provide three different spacers depending of the fan size you are wishing to use. That seems like a smart solution. Cost effective solutions would be a giant hole and different bars for different size that you could mount where you want.
And so for my North XL now I’ve set my fans at 1000 rpm and I only hear wind noise so it should be ok; just have to check the temperatures to be certain that it’s ok.
But it would be great indeed for HWCooling to add a new test such as noise when corners are obstructed.
Ok, just saw your Meshlicious and indeed that’s the smart method to do it. I saw in HWcooling test of Deepcool CH760 that they are doing that as well. I hope that it will be more frequent as it’s really the best way to maximize airflow and minimize turbulences; unfortunately for me I just got my North XL so I guess that i’ll have to find another solution (which is why I pray for the NF-A14x25 to be decent :p
Part of the new methodology for case tests will of course be the analysis of psychoacoustic optimizations. And with precise localization of weak spots. You can rely on that. 🙂
Would psychoacoustic optimizations include using different fans in the same case to spread around the frequency response generated by the fan noise?
The combination of different fans to break up the tonal peaks is definitely an attractive topic, but I can’t imagine well enough how we could elegantly incorporate these experiments into a standard case test methodology. Rather, I see this as a very good tip for a thematic analysis that will deal with this very issue. One-off, but in the framework of detailed, exhaustive tests with a large sample of model situations.
— „I hope HWcooling’s updated case review methodology will shed more light on this problem.“
It will. In fact, these things around acoustics are one of the main motivations for my return to case tests after all these years. I thought that would never happen again. Cases are somehow more work (if only with handling, as they are the biggest component :)) than other things. But well, man plans and reality laughs. 🙂
Clearly, if the factory fans/Aspect 14 PWM are creating tonal peaks when interacting with the front panel, then of course it is advisable to replace them. And most importantly, then, trust that the result with Noctua’s 140mm LCP fans will be significantly better. Theoretically, it doesn’t have to be, as M noted, and even with them a spacer will be needed to achieve optimum acoustic performance. The spacer, by the way, will also suppress tonal peaks even with current Fractal Design fans.
To be honest I didn’t even try the Aspect directly, I had my NF-A12X25 from previous build and I thought they looked nice in the North (might be the only case where the brown ones look nice :D) so I replaced them directly. Might have been an error.
I think that I made a lot of little mistakes in my choices but I really wanted the North because of its look obviously. I picked an Arctic Liquid III 360 which is thick, that’s the reason why I cant use spacer for the top fan (and cannot use the side fan mounting, I contacted Fractal to see if they plan to release a 3D printable version for 15mm fan which would allo its usage with large graphic cards as well). For the bottom fan I think that i will move the HDD a little bit to the right (didn’t think about this before now) and therefore for the middle and bottom fan I think that I can use some spacer.
Now to know what would be the best, fans directly behind the filter without spacer like they are now or leaving a gap between the fans and the filter with the extra spacer. That will be a surprise 😀