NH-D15 G2 cooler, next-gen A12 fans, ...
At Computex 2024, Noctua “unofficially” announced that a new elite dual-tower CPU cooler (the NH-D15 G2) will hit the shelves this month, with the news being that it will have different bases with an eye towards making the best possible contact across platforms (AMD and Intel). In addition, Noctua showed the second generation of the 120mm A12 fan. A PSU with a Noctua fan? Also a reality, created in collaboration with Seasonic.
It seems that the successor to the Noctua NH-D15 “G1” (NH-D15 G2) is indeed around the corner, and this time its release won’t be rescheduled in the roadmap anymore. A Noctua representative confirmed this at the ongoing Computex (24) in response to journalists’ questions.
There is one more important thing about the NH-D15 G2 cooler that has not been publicly known until now. Specifically, that it will exist with different variants of the base, or rather different degrees of its convexity. This is to ensure that regardless of the processor used, the best possible contact is achieved and thus the highest possible cooling efficiency. The hotspots of the current processors are in different places, not only in the chiplet-based Ryzens, but also in Intel processors.
The big.LITTLE processors have the densest heat flux at a different location than older LGA 1200 processors. This has always been the case to some extent, but special attention is only now being paid to this aspect as the magnitude of this “problem” increases. Noctua addresses the increasingly distant hotspots within the NH-D15 G2 cooler with three base variants, each of which is bulged slightly differently. A different shape means optimal downforce on AMD AM5 (with CPU cores on the south side of the PCB) and another on Intel LGA 1700 (or Intel LGA 1851), and it’s not just about the specific platform, but also how many active cores the CPU has. Testing and evaluating coolers takes on a new dimension that will have to be grappled with. Anyway, it is of course good news that such tweaking takes place leading to the most efficient result.
Noctua’s booth also featured the next-generation A12 fan, which is set to take the previous results of the NF-A12x25 a step further. This fan shares key innovations from the 140mm models (for those, the September release is still valid), mainly in terms of the bent blades (to increase efficiency near the impeller hub), the finish of the hub itself (Centrifugal Turbulator) or the winglets on the tips of the blades. We have already written in more detail about the technical aspects and benefits of these features in the context of 140mm fans. Like those, it has nine blades and is scheduled for release in the first quarter of 2025.
And imagine that Noctua has also decided to focus on AIO cooler, about which we are already preparing a separate article.
Also attracting attention at Computex 24 was the Seasonic PSU (Prime TX-1600) for which Noctua focused on the cooling design. It’s fitted with a NF-A12x25 fan, which has an “aerodynamic” grille in front of it that shouldn’t significantly restrict airflow or, hopefully, increase noise. The release of this PSU is tentatively scheduled for the end of this year (Q4/2024). The distribution of the PSU will then be handled by Seasonic, it’s a similar case to the graphics cards Asus NE, where Noctua only participates in the development of the product, but the sales are handled by another company (Asus).
We are preparing interview questions on the technical details of the new generation of 140mm LCP fans that Noctua has been working on over the past year. If there’s anything specific you’d like to know that you haven’t already learned from other sources, let us know, we’ll try to include it.
English translation and edit by Jozef Dudáš
So, is there anything unclear about Noctua’s new products that you’d like to know the answer to? We’ll ask… 🙂
Quite a lot off my head:
1. How is the 50 RPM offset between the two fans in the D15 G2 / dual pack fans achieved? Different fan SKUs, resistors, or something else?
2. By how much does the centrifugal turbulator hub help? Why wasn’t it something seen before?
3. Details on the etaPERF motor and SupraTorque. Does it mean it better maintains RPM against resistance?
4. Can the gasket still seal well with the stress relief protrusion?
5. On airflow pattern: with the progressive-bend and centrifugal turbulator, there seem to be a focus on directing air to the outer regions. Is the airflow even more focused on the outer regions, compared to say the A12x25? Would the more uneven airflow pattern negatively affect cooling performance?
6. What’s the development timeline of next gen A12? When has its development started?
7. Plans for other products utilizing the new fans? For example next gen D12L, U14S, C14S, new desk fans.
Well, I forgot one…
8. How does the PSU fan grill compare to wire grills with round struts?
🙂
We had one discussion on a similar topic on the Slovak version here,
https://www.hwcooling.net/aerodynamicka-mriezka-gigabyte-inovuje-zdroje-atx-3-x/
so you can read it, if you want (with the help of AI translation).
Ľubo also put a reaction from Seasonic there…
Yup, I’ve read that, which is what inspired the question, haha. What a coincidence that they showed a PSU with a much more aerodynamic fan grill soon after the discussion.
Yes…though, it must have been designed/produced much earlier than our discussion. 🙂
So we already know, we have the answers from Noctua, but please take into account that this is not the exact wording or an official statement:
1. Different programming of the PWM IC of the fan controller. This one is new – NF-FD6.
2. That’s hard to express numerically. Because it depends on the aerodynamics of the surrounding environment. It is not a key element that would significantly increase the airflow. The Centrifugal Turbulator is for fine tuning. And the reason why
it didn’t appear earlier is that there was never (with Noctua fans) such a big emphasis on tuning the blades in the part close to the impeller hub.
3. Yes, it’s as you write. Sufficient torque is used to maintain a stable speed even with high resistance.
4. Yes, the relief ring compresses under pressure.
5. Yes, the air is pushed outwards, because this allows more air to be pushed even with higher resistance. And this improves the cooling performance
6. 2020
7. This cannot be said yet, it has to go step by step.
8. There is no data on this yet. It was not measured because there was no physical space to place a regular wire grille.
All satisfying answers, thank you.
So I guess they decided to “port” the new design elements from the A14 G2 to the 12 cm format soon after finalizing the design of the former, but kept it tight under wraps for a surprise. Hopefully we’ll see more fans in their lineup being updated; improvements to A9x14 and A12x15 will greatly improve their low profile cooler line up.
For the PSU fan grill, not having enough space is an answer I was not expecting (especially after that Seasonic statement), but also makes perfect sense.
Improvements of A9 (both thickness) would be desirable. I’m not the only one who would like them on gpu.
About the grille on the Prime NE: Its development is done by Noctua (similar to the coolers on Asus graphics cards) and they are tested in a different way than Seasonic does. In this case, Seasonic recognized Noctua as the authority with more experience and left everything in their hands. Noctua has certainly tested the grille thoroughly, they just don’t have a direct comparison to a wire grille. However, even if the grille on the PSU has a minimal/negligible impact on airflow and noise, I personally don’t even consider such a comparison (with a wire grille) to be too important. Sure, I’d be interested too, but more for “scientific” than practical reasons. 🙂
I would like to ask..
1. How much has the noise profile of NF-A14X25 G2 changed from the old NF-A14?
2. It seems that NF-A14X25 G2’s Stepped Inlet design is slightly narrower than that of NF-A12X25. Was the geometric detail (i.e. height and width of each step) of Stepped Inlet frame design optimized again for NF-A14X25 G2?
3. Is there any plan to rework other fan products (such as NF-A9, NF-P14, NF-P12, etc.), which have quite outdated design, based on the same engineering approach of NF-A14X25 G2?
4. Are there the quantified goals (such as +x% noise-normalized airflow rate improvement under the application condition) to enhance NF-A12X25 by applying the NF-A14X25 G2 style impeller?
5. Will customers be able to read the informal article about NF-A14X25 G2 like “NF-A12x25: Technical backgrounds and manufacturing challenges” in the future? If so, it will be very interesting.
Thanks for the questions. The answers are below, but again – please don’t take them as Noctua’s official statement (although yes, we have all the information from their representative), but approach them quite informally:
„1. The NF-A14x25 G2 uses a completely different aerodynamic design with different blade count, shape and profile, so the acoustic signature is quite different to the original NF-A14 G2. A lot of work has gone into tuning on-application acoustics, so I’m confident you will be pleased with how the fan sounds, especially on heatsinks and radiators.
2. Yes, this is correct, it was tuned to work best with the new progressively bent blade design with winglets and within the available space.
3. We may indeed use a similar design approach for future fans given the excellent results we have seen with the NF-A14x25 G2 as well as the upcoming next-gen 120mm model. I’m unable to provide further details at this stage though.
4. Yes, we have already unveiled our upcoming next-gen 120mm model that utilises a similar design approach as the NF-A14x25 G2 at Computex last week. We have also disclosed some performance data: Normalised at 25dB(A) on application noise levels, the next-generation model provided around 10% more airflow through an NH-U12A heatsink and around 12% more airflow through a 49mm thick water cooling radiator.
5. Yes, definitely, we will present technical background information on our website when we launch the fan to the market at the end of the month.“
Thank you. 🙂 Now just waiting for its release is left.
I didn’t know that they showed the performance comparison of NF-A12X25 and its G2. The airflow rate enhancement at 25dB(A) between them is quite large than my expectation.
About the availability of Seasonic Prime Noctua Edition PSUs: It won’t hurt to feature one of the reader inquiries we received via email publicly as well.
The distribution of PSUs is not supposed to be only Seasinoc’s responsibility, but for some part of the world Noctua will be handling it as well (the same way they do for CPU coolers, fans and all their products). Availability is supposed to be worldwide and hopefully in better numbers than it is for graphics cards (Asus Noctua Edition). Well, we’ll see…