Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

noctua.at

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

201–210 of 311 posts

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

#201

Post by [deleted] »

RachelF wrote: post #28
SwellJoe wrote: post #3

I like the brown ones. Everything is black, it's dumb, and I'm happy to have any contrast.

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.

[deleted]

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

#202

Post by alfanick »

cr125rider wrote: post #193

Isn’t the Lego Group incredible at this? Their parts are tiny, all different colors, and their tolerances are incredible.

Lego is quite impressive, but most of their parts are static and not moving at 500-2000rpm, so they're optimizing for a different problem.

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

#203

Post by kllrnohj »

cr125rider wrote: post #193

Isn’t the Lego Group incredible at this? Their parts are tiny, all different colors, and their tolerances are incredible.

We don't know what Noctua's tolerance is. The clearance in this case has to account for the flexing that will inevitably happen as the fan spins around in an environment than can easily see 50C temperatures. ABS (what Lego uses) begins softening at around 40C, which will increase how much it's deforming at 1500-2500 RPM.

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

#204

Post by thfuran »

bpye wrote: post #86
VorpalWay wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just make a brown case (maybe with some walnut accents?) and the brown Noctua fans will be a perfect fit.

Alternative - return to tradition with beige - https://www.silverstonetek.com/en/product/info/computer-chas...

Nice, turbo button and all.

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

#205

Post by Arch-TK »

cbondurant wrote: post #188
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…

The plastic will also shrink and grow depending on its temperature (yes this will have a significant impact over the normal temperature range of the inside of a computer).

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

#206

Post by Havoc »

prism56 wrote: post #35
Havoc wrote: post #29

I sometimes wonder whether they have an culture that overengineers tbh. The thoroughness & mindset is certainly appreciated, but you can also overdo it - engineer it beyond what the consumers use case requires.

Where do you draw the line though? They have an amazing reputation for quality fan products, they clearly feel it needs a new injection mould which aren't cheap investments. I've got a Noctua NHD14 in my current build that I bought in 2011 and it performs perfectly still (including 2 free socket upgrades from Noctua).

> Where do you draw the line though?

When the additional engineering adds no extra end user value. e.g. You need the blades to be strong enough to not shatter or flex, but beyond some level of strength it adds no additional utility

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

#207

Post by SloopJon »

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 built a PC this year in a Meshroom S V2[1]. The NF-A14x25 G2 fans I used for the AIO didn't seem so expensive when I was spending $600 on RAM, and I was happy that they were available in black.

Not every quiet PC is built in a dense box. Good airflow with big, slow fans is working for me to cool a 9800X3D and a 5070 Ti quietly under load.

[1]: https://ssupd.co/products/cases-meshroom-s-v2

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

#208

Post by cluckindan »

devilbunny wrote: post #177
vladvasiliu wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Silver is the ideal color for hiding dirt. I had a silver car once. Unless you drove it down a dirt road during a rainstorm, you basically never had to wash it.

They never did catch you riding dirty.

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

#209

Post by SauntSolaire »

creesch wrote: post #102
Simran-B wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wondering if it's just the marketing that Noctua did, and the actual mold and process engineering left to some fab in China?

With Noctua I highly doubt that is the case given their track record for quality overall and all other information available around their design and engineering process. As far as I know based on all the information I have seen all the design and engineering is done in Austria. They also have a track record of only releasing things once they are satisfied something performs within their standards. Something that woul…

Yep, if you're a big enough source of income for the factory you can basically do whatever you want, up to and including stationing your employees in their factory year round.

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

#210

Post by lightedman »

kllrnohj wrote: post #198
malfist wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 specific fan in question has a rated max power draw of 1.8 W. In actual deployments it's going to be a lot less since ~nobody is running a noctua fan at 100% speed unconditionally

"In actual deployments it's going to be a lot less since ~nobody is running a noctua fan at 100% speed unconditionally"

I run dual 36w Delta fans at 100% in my computer case. I use the outflow as positive pressure forced exhaust for my enclosed CO2 laser, which itself has an ultra-weak venting fan.

It isn't that loud. A simple no box does the trick.

Post reply on HN