Computex 2014 Noctua Visit

While there has been a distinct lack of “new” stuff showing at Computex we can always count on Noctua pushing the limits on silent cooling.  One of the most impressive coolers on display was a new offset tower design that takes the popular NH-U14S and shifts the tower so it will clear video cards using the topmost slot. 

Normally motherboard makers put the first 16x PCI Express slot in the #2 position but Mini-ITX and Micro-ATX motherboards do not follow the same conventions and can create issues with large coolers. 

One of the challenges when designing a heatsink is deciding how many heatpipes you need to include and where to place them so they operate efficiently.  As we have mentioned in our heatsink reviews the location of the heatpipes can also impact performance with pipes on the outside never carrrying any load while the ones in the middle do all the work.

Noctua has been experimenting with putting vertical heatpipes directly over the processor.  By doing this you can get direct heat access to the radiator and provide more coverage over the CPU.  Of course that dumps all the heat into the center of the radiator so it will be interesting to see how efficient it will be.

Noctua was also showing a new pair of 92mm tower coolers designed for small form factor machines and a new 200mm case fan using the same technology found in the 120mm and 140mm versions.  The new fans should be available later this year and will come in sizes 200mm, 92mm and 80mm.