Noctua's massive 1.5Kg fanless cooler goes into mass production

keyser · 4 Jan 2021 at 21:05

https://www.techspot.com/news/88062-noctua-massive-33-pound-fanless-cooler-goes-mass.html

Hmmm tempting

complete overkill for my 3600 maybe.. I did previously use the Nofan CR-95C in my i5 build, this thing is next level. Fun reviews incoming soon hopefully.

Mr Evil · 4 Jan 2021 at 21:56

I'm interested in seeing how well this performs when cooled by a nearby case fan. I currently have a Thermalright Le Grand Macho configured like that, and it works quite well, but the case fan needs to spin over 1000rpm to keep a 5950X cool at full load, which is plainly audible. If this one can do better than that, it might be worth changing, despite the less manly name.

One thing I'm not sure about from the photo is if it will be possible to rotate it 90° for front-to-back airflow, or if they've optimized it purely for natural convection bottom-to-top.

keyser · 4 Jan 2021 at 22:15

Mr Evil said:
I'm interested in seeing how well this performs when cooled by a nearby case fan. I currently have a Thermalright Le Grand Macho configured like that, and it works quite well, but the case fan needs to spin over 1000rpm to keep a 5950X cool at full load, which is plainly audible. If this one can do better than that, it might be worth changing, despite the less manly name.

One thing I'm not sure about from the photo is if it will be possible to rotate it 90° for front-to-back airflow, or if they've optimized it purely for natural convection bottom-to-top.

I wish to subscribe to your newsletter heh

I have the same cooler, photo link in my sig, the Le Grand Macho is flush touching against the back of my case. I can't remember what temp mine maxes out at but mine has a fan, it only ramps up when the GPU goes over 60C, like all the other fans in my case, just to help airflow when gaming.

Good question about 90° rotation, you would want that if you just had case fan airflow. I don't think there is enough room in my current case for that.

Video when it was still at prototype stage 18 months ago.

pc-guy · 5 Jan 2021 at 01:02

Interesting product. Would definitely want it if it performs. 180w tdp is plenty for me.

although really need to see it in operation in a matx case with ambient temp around 35c. Cos that’s how hot my office/box room was this past summer.

Rroff · 5 Jan 2021 at 01:26

Despite being 80W passive and IIRC 130 watt with a fan rated I ran my 4820K @ 4.6GHz on a Zalman FX70 with just case fans (900RPM Be Quiet! Silent Wings 3) and temperatures were well in control - albeit that was in the Air 540 case. Didn't work so well when I changed to a 1650 V2 and 3070FE though LOL - had to add in a couple of high speed fans to get temperatures back to where they were with the 4820K and GTX1070.

4820K has 130 watt TDP and IIRC was drawing around 140-150 watt power at the socket overclocked under load.

Ree · 5 Jan 2021 at 06:56

lol at first comment on the article

Laptop version?

keyser · 5 Jan 2021 at 10:44

Actually after testing again I think I'm in the market for a new cooler because my Thermalright Le Grand Macho isn't seating properly on my 3600, its ok for normal use tbh but when stress testing without AVX/2 it gets to 87C and with AVX it's 95C/throttling which isn't right for this cooler. Google shows many others having the same issue with AM4 socket on this cooler. @Mr Evil you may be having the same thing.

If this thing does fit my build I may get this, change PSU to the front, intake fans at the bottom, venting out the top, GPU cooling would be better too, I have seen a couple of photos of this so it can be done.

Scougar · 5 Jan 2021 at 15:00

My first obvious question is.... Can you put fans on it? (Seriously).

Meddling-Monk · 5 Jan 2021 at 15:29

Not sure you can add fans to it; there's no obvious mounting dents in the fins for Noctuas usual fan clips, and there's no mounting holes on the side either for designs like that from Arctic. So I just hope that case fan airflow is enough to cool it for more than the 120W (up to 180W with a fan apparently, but it wasn't said how said fan/fan setup should be; how close it should be, etc).

Not after a new cooler at this time, but this might have interested me since I've already got a fanless PSU and looking to obtain that Palit Kalmx 1650 (also fanless) (Overclockers, why aren't you stocking any of the cool stuff lately?), so with this, it'll essentially make the sytem a largely fanless (fully silent) system. It's just a shame my current main rig however is a 4930k, which is 130w TDP, so above the full passive cooling this offers. Although I suppose I could change the secondary system to a fully Fanless Rig by moving stuff over to that and grabbing a fanless PSU for it; since the PSU in that one is faily old too (although not used much). And this cooler is compatible with it (115x) Hmmm... Tempting...

Ross Thomson · 5 Jan 2021 at 16:06

Scougar said:
My first obvious question is.... Can you put fans on it? (Seriously).

hardly any fins so putting a fan on it probably wouldn't do much

Mr Evil · 5 Jan 2021 at 17:27

keyser said:
...when stress testing without AVX/2 it gets to 87C and with AVX it's 95C/throttling which isn't right for this cooler. Google shows many others having the same issue with AM4 socket on this cooler. @Mr Evil you may be having the same thing...

I just did some quick testing using Prime95, since that allows AVX/AVX2 to be switched on/off. The absolute worst case was with 1 thread and AVX2, which initially peaked at 87°C, and made the fan ramp up to 1800rpm while drawing 105W AC. That wasn't reproducible though - subsequent runs with 1 thread only reached a peak of 79°C. I think the first run was hotter because starting from a low temperature made the fan take longer to ramp up. I'm content with that, especially since nothing I actually use the CPU for gets it that hot.

I have the curve optimizer set to -15 all cores, which helps it stay cooler.

With 32 threads to fully load the CPU, it only reaches 68°C, and draws 190W AC. AVX makes no difference, presumably because the CPU is limited to 140W regardless. Turning on PBO would no doubt allow it to boil itself here.

p.s. That's a nice keyboard you have.

keyser · 5 Jan 2021 at 23:27

Mr Evil said:
I just did some quick testing using Prime95, since that allows AVX/AVX2 to be switched on/off. The absolute worst case was with 1 thread and AVX2, which initially peaked at 87°C, and made the fan ramp up to 1800rpm while drawing 105W AC. That wasn't reproducible though - subsequent runs with 1 thread only reached a peak of 79°C. I think the first run was hotter because starting from a low temperature made the fan take longer to ramp up. I'm content with that, especially since nothing I actually use the CPU for gets it that hot.

I have the curve optimizer set to -15 all cores, which helps it stay cooler.

With 32 threads to fully load the CPU, it only reaches 68°C, and draws 190W AC. AVX makes no difference, presumably because the CPU is limited to 140W regardless. Turning on PBO would no doubt allow it to boil itself here.

Yeah fair enough. I'll check my settings. That's it really, stress testing is not real world, so I think I decided to stop worrying about it a year ago when the system was new. I should just to that again

Originally I was going to wait for the Noctua fanless cooler before buying my next PC, but in the end I couldn't wait and since it took 18 months to come out I think that was a good decision. I shall probably be tempted when the reviews are out though

or I should hold out until AMDs next big thing/AM5 socket upgrade.

Mr Evil said:
p.s. That's a nice keyboard you have.

Thanks, it was one of the rabbit holes I went down while I was furloughed lol.

keyser · 5 Jan 2021 at 23:30

Scougar said:
My first obvious question is.... Can you put fans on it? (Seriously).

You could put fans on it somehow. Zip ties The Verge style if nothing else!

Grim5 · 8 Jan 2021 at 10:22

This is such a bad idea

Tetras · 9 Jan 2021 at 00:15

Grim5 said:
This is such a bad idea

Noctua presents the,.. motherboard breaker!

Until you move house with your PC, then it's the Geforce breaker!

keyser · 9 Jan 2021 at 22:10

I think (one of) the heaviest coolers is/was the TRUE Copper at 1.9Kgs.. before fan

http://thermalright.com/product/true-copper/

But yeah, remove large heatsinks before moving house!

This Noctua Fanless cooler has been pushed back to Q2.

I don't think official specs have been released so people are only quoting from prototype specs, so we won't know for sure until it arrives.

keyser · 8 Jun 2021 at 21:34

https://www.fanlesstech.com/2021/06/noctuas-fanless-cpu-cooler-is-here.html

It's landing! Reviews days away hopefully.

chroniclard · 8 Jun 2021 at 21:39

Am unsure of the point, unless for super sensitive hearing I guess?

keyser · 8 Jun 2021 at 21:42

chroniclard said:
Am unsure of the point, unless for super sensitive hearing I guess?

Yeah some people are sensitive to noise. The world of silent computing is growing I think. Maybe its ok for some noise while gaming but when you aren't, there could be total silence etc. (from the computer anyway

)

chroniclard · 8 Jun 2021 at 21:47

keyser said:
Yeah some people are sensitive to noise. The world of silent computing is growing I think. Maybe its ok for some noise while gaming but when you aren't, there could be total silence etc. (from the computer anyway )

Yeah but a d15 is well quiet anyway. Though I admit my hearing isn't great anymore and I don't care about a bit of fan noise.

Interested in reviews anyway.