Noctua's White Fans Disappear From Roadmap

Noctua white fans at Computex 2019
(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

Update 5/10/23 - Noctua contacted us with the following statement: We're currently focusing all our energy on getting key products like the next-gen 140 mm fans and the next-gen NH-D15 ready. This means that we are devoting less resources to comparably low priority projects like the white fans. This doesn't mean that they have been scrapped entirely, and we'd say there's still a chance that we may have them before 2025, but we're currently not pushing hard on this and therefore don't feel confident giving an ETA.

Cooling specialist Noctua has updated its roadmap with an edition marked 'Version 5/2023'. The previous update was back in January, and we note there have some interesting changes, both additions and subtractions, from the list. Our headlining observation is that the highly anticipated white fans from Noctua have been completely removed from the roadmap. They were previously penciled in for 2024.

Other changes of concern are Noctua notifying us of delays with respect to a host of other products. Looking at the positives, we observe that the next-gen Threadripper coolers are due in Q3, and a trio of existing desktop CPU coolers are getting the chromax.black treatment scheduled for Q4 this year.

PC builders like to have options, and Noctua's products are no stranger to our list of the best CPU coolers. Those that are repelled by the signature Noctua colors of coffee and cream will often favor neutral shades like black or white. The bad news is it looks like modders and DIYers waiting for white Noctua fans have entered a new indeterminable period of want. We have dropped a line to Noctua in the hope that the omission of white fans on the latest roadmap is an oversight, rather than a product planning decision. While we wait, we must assume the following: in its official roadmap small print Noctua says that anything not on the roadmap "will usually take at least another year to be released."

(Image credit: Noctua)

In our handy  Jan / May roadmap comparison, above, you can also see that the following products have slipped by (another) quarter, or more: 8-way fan hub, slim 60mm fans, 24V 40mm fans, next-gen 140mm fans, and the next-gen NH-D15 CPU cooler. The latter product might be delayed by more than a quarter as the final column of the roadmap simply reads "2024," with no mention of any quarter.

Noctua's next-gen NH-D15 has been the most problematic when ti comes to schedule slippage. This is far from the first time it has been pushed back, as it was originally expected to debut in 2021. In our Noctua roadmap update story from last October we noted that the NH-D15 was "on schedule for launch in Q1 2023," and now it is listed as being ready sometime in 2024. The original NH-D15, an update to the legendary NH-D14, was released a decade ago, but buyers of new retail units get SecuFirm2 mounts for the latest AMD and Intel desktop CPUs. What will change in the next-gen version remains to be seen.

New on the Noctua roadmap in its May 2023 edition are the next-gen AMD Threadripper coolers, which are scheduled for the next quarter (Q3 2023). These look timed to coincide with the launch of the new (TR7 platform) AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7000 chips, coming to HEDT and workstation platforms.

Noctua chromax

(Image credit: Noctua)

Lastly, those thinking about building an air-cooled PC system where the Noctua NH-D12L, NH-D9L, or NH-L9x65 are on the short list might be interested to know chromax.black versions of those should become available in Q4 this year.

Mark Tyson
News Editor

Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom's Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason.

  • pointa2b
    I'm looking forward to their next gen 140mm fans along with the release of Half Life 3.
    Reply
  • JarredWaltonGPU
    What I don't get is this: How hard is it to take the existing fan design and change the plastic from brown to white? Shouldn't that be a trivial change? I guess the hard part is determining how many of the new white fans you'll need to meet demand, but even that shouldn't be too bad. Just do a smaller batch, and if they immediately sell out, then you know to make lots more.
    Reply
  • bit_user
    It didn't even occur to me that they would have a published roadmap, but I guess it could give system builders some advanced notice of upcoming parts introductions.

    I'm glad to see this, because I was about to buy a NH-C14S cooler, but slightly wary that they might introduce something better, as it hasn't been updated in a long time. Not seeing new down-draft coolers on their roadmap gives me more confidence to buy it now.
    Reply
  • Giroro
    It's easy to add dye to brown plastic to turn it black. Apparently, it's really hard to remove brown dye from plastic to make it white.

    That, or Noctua is more interested in being a "brand" than making the fans that people want.
    Reply
  • 10tacle
    I have two NH-D series coolers, the NH-D14 for my i5 4690K build originally from 2014, and the NH-D15 (chromax.black) for my most recent 2021 i7 11700K build. From my seat, I don't see where they can make much room for significant improvements to the current NH-D15.

    Over the 14, the 15 has improved fan design as well as heatsink fin improvements which includes more clearance room for memory. Also the mount base is smooth with the 15 whereas the 14 was machined, so different thermal pastes need to be considered for optimum performance. Finally, review sites out there if I remember without looking them up show about a 3C improvement in cooling with the 15. I don't know how they meet and exceed that improvement with a newer version.
    Reply
  • hotaru251
    JarredWaltonGPU said:
    How hard is it to take the existing fan design and change the plastic from brown to white?
    look at the market of "white" stuff in the market for your answer.

    White is vastly different between producers.

    White has ALWAYS been an issue to get right.
    Reply
  • Kamen Rider Blade
    I still want to see a official Noctua DeskTop DeskFan with that Flow Accelerator shroud that they promised so long ago.
    Reply
  • RichardtST
    At this point I think they're that "Apple" of fans. So many other vendors have caught up or passed them in both performance and cost, and yet, the fan club remains... Of course they want to be a "brand" or "status symbol" as this is where the big bucks are. People love to pay extra for status symbols.
    Reply
  • pointa2b
    RichardtST said:
    At this point I think they're that "Apple" of fans. So many other vendors have caught up or passed them in both performance and cost, and yet, the fan club remains... Of course they want to be a "brand" or "status symbol" as this is where the big bucks are. People love to pay extra for status symbols.
    Which brands would you consider on par with them, performance-wise?
    Reply
  • 10tacle
    RichardtST said:
    At this point I think they're that "Apple" of fans. So many other vendors have caught up or passed them in both performance and cost, and yet, the fan club remains... Of course they want to be a "brand" or "status symbol" as this is where the big bucks are. People love to pay extra for status symbols.

    That is of course only your opinion. As posted about earlier, I have two of them, one in an older build, and one in a newer build. I had other options for the 2021 build like the DeepCool AS500 Plus for $80 USD and it actually beats the NH-D15 by 1C. However, I was familiar and happy with my NH-D14 after years of overclocking performance use, and just wanted to trust who I was already familiar with for about $25 more. I didn't want to take new gambles on a $3K plus build experimenting with new and long term unproven hardware around cooling solutions.
    Reply