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Why does it take so long to release black fan versions?

noctua.at

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Re: Why does it take so long to release black fan versions?

#181

Post by Levitating »

layer8 wrote: post #159
breakingcups wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, if it can still be repaired but the producer doesn't want to bother and just sends a new fan, that's fine. That doesn't mean a repairable product should be destroyed and sent to a landfill just because it makes Noctua's logistics easier.

The point is, if the owner thinks it can be repaired, they shouldn’t call for a replacement in the first place. And indeed they wouldn’t get one, because they wouldn’t break the blade. So it’s completely under control of the owner.

Sure but the owner could've technically been left with a spare part in this case

Though it's not that likely that users will try to replace the blades on a fan.

Re: Why does it take so long to release black fan versions?

#182

Post by zyx321 »

ufocia wrote: post #169
vladvasiliu wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My understanding is that the precision is supposed to help with noise. Less turbulence, etc. FWIW, in my setup (10th gen i5, RTX 5070 Ti in an old Define R3 case), the 12 cm Noctua G2 fans run quieter and have a much less obnoxious noise than the old P/F series, which wipe the floor with the Arctic fan I bought for a computer that lives in the basement and sounds like it's about to take off.

You lead me to believe that they are targeting a niche "audiophile" market and probably not a commercial market. The concern in the commercial market would be energy savings vs. capital expenditure. Some commercial spaces actually introduce white noise into spaces to increase occupant density.

Audiophile products are a known scam.

This is an enthusiast product, as evidenced by the premise that you care about color-coordinating the inside of your computer.

Re: Why does it take so long to release black fan versions?

#183

Post by Levitating »

nottorp wrote: post #163

Don't Noctua fans generally go in builds made by people who like silence? In which case they'd have silent cases with no glass panes, because those are thinner and a possible source of vibration. They may even glue (opaque) sound absorbing material to the inside of their cases. In which case, who cares what colour the fans are?

I use Noctua for the silence but I also literally don't have any of the panels attached to my case. The main panel doesn't even fit because the DH-15[1] would stick out.

My DH-15 isn't particularly silent because the fans are silent but it's so effecient that the fans barely need to spin.

[1]: https://www.noctua.at/en/products/nh-d15

Re: Why does it take so long to release black fan versions?

#184

Post by theandrewbailey »

ssl-3 wrote: post #56
RachelF wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, everything being black on modern motherboards might look cool with RGB lighting, but makes it harder to work on. I like the older green PCBs with white PCI slots. I also lament the demise of color coded connectors at the back. I knew to plug my speakers into the green 3.5mm jack. Now everything is black, so I need to look at the manual again to see which of the 5 connectors is the right one.

I remember being a kid when standardized port colors came 'round (what was that, part of the AC'97 spec or something?). I thought that was dumb: I knew that the speakers plugged into the third hole from the top, and that was good enough for me. ;) Back then: I would have loved black-on-black, labelled-in-black, with black cables and and black highlights on a black background. The accessories would be black, too: Blac…

Agreed. My computing philosophy: If you aren't looking at the display, you're computing wrong.

I have a black case (some 10+ year old Fractal Design model) and an all black keyboard with no labels. Back in the pandemic, I was fortunate enough to score a videocard that happens to be light up RGB unicorn poop. I hate that part about it, so that helps remind me to keep the side panel of the case on. (I could, but I'd rather not disassemble it to unplug the LEDs.)

Re: Why does it take so long to release black fan versions?

#187

Post by GuB-42 »

malfist wrote: post #156
maxerickson wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems a little revealing that they tout the clearance and not the difference in efficiency.

Does it? Not everything is a sign of deception. Even if it is the case, and not simple an omission to focus the narrative, does it matter? Case fans pull what 4 watts? 5 watts? Who cares if it pulls 200 milliwatts more than a competitor when it's cooling a GPU and CPU that consume more than a hundred times what it can consume

The question is not about saving milliwatts-hours on your electricity bill, it is about where these milliwatts are going.

One is heat, heat is not great, it puts more stress on components, mechanical and electrical, reducing longevity.

Another, maybe more important is noise. The power that goes into making noise is power that is wasted, noise is inefficiency, and reducing noise is an efficiency problem.

Re: Why does it take so long to release black fan versions?

#188

Post by cbondurant »

ninjagoo wrote: post #129

> we have implemented a tip clearance of only 0.5mm (120mm models) or 0.7mm (140mm models) in order to minimise leak flows through the gap between impeller and frame. > Achieving such small tip clearances is essentially at the absolute limit of what injection moulding can consistently reproduce For folks thinking about Lego tolerances [1] that are an order of magnitude tighter at 10 microns or 0.01 mm, it turns out t…

So if I've got the right idea, the clearances harder to achieve for a fan vs a lego piece because you're not just concerned with the static tolerances of the shape of the fan, but also the dynamic forces that will make the blades flex and bend under load.

Clearance in this case is how far away the blades have to be at rest, such that the dynamic forces the blades experience under load won't flex them outwards to the point they scrape against the enclosure. Which I'd assume has far more to do with material properties than it does the raw geometry of the blade.

Now I wish I had a high-speed camera to be able to inspect the dynamic deformation of a noctua fan. I'm curious about how rigidly they behave under load.

Re: Why does it take so long to release black fan versions?

#189

Post by Scene_Cast2 »

vladvasiliu wrote: post #165
Zak wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I imagine a white PC fan would look terrible if not cleaned daily or used in a room with very filtered air.

Well, I have a bunch of lower-end black fans, some of them quite old, from before transparent cases were a thing. They're actually pretty much gray if I don't wipe them off. Noctua's signature... brown-orange? Whatever that color is, it has the same issue. The blades are basically gray if I don't wipe them. Haven't seen anybody start a gray craze, though. Though I have a grayish motorbike that also shows dust and dir…

I found that having a positive pressure setup with an intake filter practically eliminated the dust buildup on my fans.

Re: Why does it take so long to release black fan versions?

#190

Post by monster_truck »

randerson wrote: post #125

I love Noctua, and just wish they'd branch out from PCs and build more types of fans. Our lives are filled with so much irritating noise from noisy fans. Air conditioners, kitchen extractors, hair dryers, box fans, air purifiers, vacuum cleaners, leaf blowers, car climate control & radiator fans, just to name a few. I'd happily pay a premium for quieter things.

I'm not sure what you're expecting but it simply isn't possible to move the volumes of air those things utilize without making noise.

I would suggest taking that money and buying larger speakers

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