Editor's Note: While Computex took place last week and all of the news announcements are behind us, we're still sorting through hundreds of in-person meetings and demonstrations, picking out just a few more of the most interesting items we saw up close.
Beyond the new fans and fan concepts that Noctua showcased at Computex 2014, the company also revealed a number of new heatsinks and heatsink protoypes.
First, the company showed off asymmetrical designs based on the NH-D15 and the NH-U15S. The original coolers were perfectly symmetrical, which caused problems with access to the first PCI-Express expansion slot on some systems. The new asymmetrical prototypes would not have this problem, although they would extend a bit higher above the CPU socket, which might cause a problem with certain VRM heatsinks. These heatsinks are not meant to replace the original models, but rather to appear as alternatives so that buyers can pick whichever heatsink fits their needs best.
Noctua also put effort into the low-profile coolers for those of us with very limited space in our systems. In response to the limited performance of the NH-L9i, Noctua showed off an additional model with a taller design for improved performance. The height of the unit is 65 mm. The company also presented a 65 mm tall CPU cooler with an airflow path parallel to the motherboard; it uses two 60 mm fans to push air through the fin stack. This kind of design is particularly useful if the system has very limited space, and there is a closed panel directly above the CPU cooler.
Also on display were new heatsinks for use with 92 mm fans. These are updates to the current product stack and are 3U compliant, meaning that they will fit in 3U server racks if required. Noctua presented a U-type and a D-type heatsink.
Noctua also had a cooler for users of the AM1 platform. The cooler found on the AM1 platform is considered by many enthusiasts to be subpar, so this is a welcome addition to the lineup. The only confusing part is that the AM1 platform is a budget-oriented platform, while Noctua products certainly aren't for the budget-minded.
Availability for the asymmetrical heatsinks is set for Q2 2015, the new D-type and U-type tower coolers should hit shelves around Q4 2014, while the AM1 cooler is expected to debut by the end of the year, or early 2015. No ETA was given for the new 65 mm tall low-profile coolers.
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