Noctua Launches Its First Fanless Cooler: The NH-P1

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A passive cooler from an active company.

Noctua
(Image credit: Noctua)

Noctua makes coolers that are primarily known for their quiet fans and efficient design. But no matter how quiet your fans are, they're still not absolutely silent. To be absolutely silent, you need to go fanless, and that's exactly what Noctua has done with its NH-P1 cooler.

The Noctua NH-P1 doesn't have a fan yet claims compatibility with all modern AMD and Intel CPUs, including AMD's AM4 as well as Intel's LGA1200, LGA115x CPUs. While the NH-P1 is designed primarily for chips featuring moderate power consumption, it can also be equipped with a 120-mm fan (the manufacturer recommends its NF-A12x25 LS-PWM) for advanced processors that run hotter.

Noctua

(Image credit: Noctua)

The NH-P1 cooler features a mostly aluminum construction with 13 thick fins to dissipate thermal energy fast. To absorb heat rapidly, the unit has a copper base and six copper heat pipes.  

Noctua's NH-P1 cooler measures 158×154×152 mm and weighs 1180 grams, large enough that it won't fit into a small PC case. It should be capable enough for cooling mainstream CPUs rated for 65W TDP (there is an official list of compatible CPUs). Keep in mind that Intel's 65W CPUs can consume and dissipate much more than 65W in burst mode, so passive coolers must be used with BIOS tweaking. 

Noctua

(Image credit: Noctua)

Noctua did not disclose its recommended price for the NH-P1 cooler, but it's reasonable to expect it to cost in the $100/€100 ballpark given the specifications and capabilities. Amazon lists the cooler for $110 in the US, with Prime shipping. Availability elsewhere may be limited.

Anton Shilov
Anton Shilov
Contributing Writer

Anton Shilov is a contributing writer at Tom’s Hardware. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends.

5 Comments Comment from the forums
  • PapaCrazy
    With a loss of sustained boost clocks, this is not the silent workstation cooler I had been hoping for. Oh well, should be nice for silent multimedia systems with some short-duration gaming loads.
    Reply
  • salgado18
    From the compatibility list, Ryzen 5800X entry, fanless:

    CPU might fall slightly below base-clock under continuous full load.

    I call that an absolute win. This is not meant for rendering, for example, but for bursts of use. If it can handle it that well, this cooler is great.
    Reply
  • littlechipsbigchips
    They need to add Vapor chamber to this cooler ... Vapor chamber + heatpipes proved to be the best. I am still waiting for Noctua to try it
    Reply
  • lvt
    The passive cooler just absorbs the heat from the CPU without a fan thanks to its monstrous size, but you still need case fans to remove the heat from the cooler's fins.
    Reply
  • CerianK
    littlechipsbigchips said:
    They need to add Vapor chamber to this cooler ... Vapor chamber + heatpipes proved to be the best. I am still waiting for Noctua to try it
    lvt said:
    The passive cooler just absorbs the heat from the CPU without a fan thanks to its monstrous size, but you still need case fans to remove the heat from the cooler's fins.
    Taken together a vapor chamber might work, otherwise the small temperature differential would likely be insufficient for a vapor chamber to function properly.
    Reply