Highly regarded CPU coolers and fans maker Noctua has updated its roadmap, including delays to highly anticipated products. The company has pushed back its white Chromax fans and a next-gen NH-D15 CPU cooler until the first quarter of 2023. Noctua first teased an update to the 2014 vintage NH-D15 at Computex 2019, so it has been a long time coming.
We reported on the last update to the Noctua roadmap in January, and fans of the brand were quite excited about the white fans and the NH-D15 upgrade, so I imagine there will be a number of disappointed PC builders.
Noctua hasn't commented on the specific changes in the new roadmap. In some small print above the new roadmap it indicates that it is just a reflection of current plans and that these goals, and specifically the timing of product releases, might change as the months march on.
Reasons for the delays include "further research and development, fine-tuning, manufacturing capacities or coordination with other projects." Noctua adds, with some pride, that its products are so well refined they "often require extra time to perfect."
Above you can see the roadmap as it was in January, with the April 2022 update underneath. You'll see that Q2 2022, the current quarter, is missing the 24V to 12V converter and 8-way fan hub that were expected. Instead we are going to get a previously unannounced release of Noctua-branded fan grills.
Noctua's next-gen 140mm fans and 24V 40 mm fans have been bumped by a quarter and the current best estimate for them to be released is Q4 2022. The next-gen Xeon CPU coolers still appear to be on track for Q3 2022 though. A new entry appears in Q4 2022 and that is for slim 60 mm fans.
Last but probably most significantly for our readers the whole of the previously Q4 2022 product launch lineup has been shifted to Q1 2023. This includes the highly anticipated white fans, Noctua's next generation NH-D15 cooler, and what is expected to be a fun desktop fan for erm… fans of Noctua.
One thing we can be sure of, when the next NH-D15 does arrive, it will support both Intel 12th Gen Core processors in LGA1700 sockets and AMD AM5 processors in LGA 1718 sockets.