Chromax black versions of popular Noctua fans, CPU coolers and accessories always seem to be warmly welcomed by PC enthusiasts, so much so one wonders why they don't now come as a standard launch option for all its products. Pondering aside, Noctua today announced the highly anticipated Chromax Black NH-U12A CPU cooler (LGA1700 ready), and Chromax Black NF-A12x25 120mm fans, as well as the matching NA-HC7 and NA-HC8 heatsink covers are now official. We knew these products were on the way thanks to Noctua's product launch transparency – it publishes and updates a product launch roadmap.
HEXUS reviewed the classic brown and cream toned Noctua NH-U12A (current retail GBP£89.99) back in May 2019, and this premium twin-fan tower air CPU cooler comes equipped with Noctua's flagship NF-A12x25 PWM 120mm fans in push-pull config. So, if you want to know more about these components you can look back at Parm's in-depth review, and check through the tests which include CPU temperature under load and system noise comparisons for a wide range of CPU air and AiO coolers available.
Noctua assures would-be purchasers of the new Chromax Black versions of these products that they offer the "same signature quiet cooling performance," but with a sleek and stealthy look. It wasn't as simple as swapping the inks on the production line, it seems, Noctua's CEO, Roland Mossig, says that part of the reason that these new Chromax Black products are delayed is that "we had to spend some extra time in order to make sure that we can exactly match the performance of the brown fans". Additionally, there are a few pandemic related supply chain issues causing backlogs.
Naturally, the new version of the NH-U12A comes with the latest SecuFirm2 multi-socket mounting system, supporting available modern AMD and Intel systems, as well as future ones like Alder Lake-S, with socket LGA1700.
If you want to buy some of the new Chromax Black NF-A12x25 fans, again, you can be assured by Noctua of consistent quality. In the box you will get a bundle of swappable red, white, blue, green, grey, yellow and black anti-vibration pads too - see the pack image below.
In addition to the new CPU cooler and fans, Noctua launched the new NA-HC7, and NA-HC8 heatsink covers for the NH-U12A and NH-U12A Chromax Black models. The NA-HC7 chromax.black.swap is particularly flexible for build colour schemes as it has swappable colour inlays in black, blue, green, red, yellow and white (see image below).
- NH-U12A chromax.black: EUR/USD 119.90
- NF-A12x25 PWM chromax.black.swap: EUR/USD 32.90
- NA-HC7 chromax.black.swap: EUR/USD 19.90
- NA-HC8 chromax.black: EUR/USD 19.90
- NA-HC8 chromax.white: EUR/USD 19.90
All the above are said to be available today via Noctua's official regional Amazon stores.
The next goodies on the Noctua product release roadmap, for Q1 2022, include a crop of white fans, as well as a 'next-generation' 140mm fan.
