Noctua Chromax Line Fans

Introduction

If you're a PC builder, modder, or enthusiast, odds are you're familiar with brown fans. Why? Because brown fans have been the trademark of Austrian fan and cooling solution manufacturer Noctua. As an enthusiast, you want the best for your system and you've done your research and have found out that Noctua's products are often at the top of performance charts, the creme de la creme of the cooling world. There was always a problem with Noctua products and color conscious PC builders: brown clashed with mainstream color schemes. Having received more than 100 awards and recommendations from international hardware websites and magazines, the NF-A15, NF-A14, NF-F12 and NF-S12A are among Noctua's most renowned 140mm and 120mm fans. The new chromax.black.swap edition combines their signature quiet cooling performance with an attractive all-black design and a bundle of swappable red, white, blue, green, yellow and black anti-vibration pads that allow the colour-customisation of the fans to match individual build colour schemes.

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NF-A15 HS-PWM chromax black swap.

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NF-A14 PWM chromax black swap.

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NF-F12 PWM chromax black swap.

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NF-S12A PWM chromax black swap.

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Packaging & Contents

The Chromax range comes in a well designed white and brown (of course brown, it's Noctua!) box. The colour of each item is evident in both the logo and the text.

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The back of each box covers the specifications of the fans found inside.

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The box opens like a clam shell.

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Once the box is opened the fans are front and center. On the right section you can see 6 anti-vibration mounts.

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Each fan come with six color 6x8 anti-vibration pads: black, white, yellow, green, red and blue. The scope of delivery also includes 4x fan screws and extension cable.

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A Closer Look

The new Noctua Chromax.Black.Swap fans are all-black versions of their current fan line. No longer do fans need to buy the high-RPM Industrial PPC series just to get a color-neutral fan. It is available in 120mm and 140mm sizes as well with five color corner insort options.

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The next pair of images show the back of the fans. Noctua has not printed some model information on the hub label.

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All the anti-vibration pads are made of a nice, soft silicone material, much like the traditional brown pads included in the standard Noctua fans. Take your pick… Here are 6 different colours!

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Here is what the pads look like when you have them mounted on fans. In all seriousness, the Chromax anti-vibration pads look great on these fans. These colors aren’t designed to stand out on the roof top and scream, “Look at me!” These are subtle, yet great looking additions to help compliment the build they’re in. This is an excellent job from Noctua.

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The black model. This lends a subtle appearance to your system.

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Let us start our closer looks with the Chromax NF-S12A PWM. On the blades you can see the anti-stall knobs. Around the edges are the stepped inlets. On the right portion of the frame, just above midline, you can barely see the inner surface microstructures.

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The outside of the frame is lined with what Noctua calls a Stepped Inlet Design. This design is also identical to the one used on the Noctua Chromax NF-F12 PWM. It adds turbulence to the fan's influx so the fan can suck in more air to improve flow efficiency. It's also designed to reduce tonal intake noises.

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The Noctua Chromax NF-F12 PWM is one of the company’s high performance and high end premium 120mm fans. It’s not the companies fastest since they recently released the industrialPPC fans that come with much higher RPM. The Noctua Chromax NF-F12 comes with seven blade Heptaperf impeller that balances power and silence.

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Unlike other fans, the Noctua Chromax NF-F12 PWM is built to last for many years. It sports a CNC milled bearing shell that is made entirely from brass. This guarantees the highest possible degree of manufacturing precision, minimum tolerance and excellent long-term stability. The Chromax NF-F12 comes with a 150,000 hours of Mean Time Before Failure and the company is giving a full 6-year warranty.

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The Noctua Chromax NF-A15 PWM has all the enhanced features of the Chromax NF-A14's with the following additions. It has a round frame and the width is enlarged to 150mm while still being 140mm in height. It's a little confusing as it's not intended as upgrades to 140mm fans, but instead is intended for upgrades to 120mm fans for use on high-end CPU coolers and case fans. The Noctua Chromax NF-A15 PWM has 120mm mounting holes (105mm spacing). It has a custom designed NE-FD1 PWM IC that is fine-tuned for superior quietness and has been carefully optimized to allow for ultra-low power consumption.

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Included in the Chromax A14 and Chromax A15 fans, but behind the scenes, is the new SSO2 Bearing Technology. Noctua states that, "SSO2 is the further optimized second generation of SSO. Made possible by the use of metal bearing shells and new injection molding techniques, the magnet is now placed closer to the rotor axis and thus exerts higher magnetic force to it. This results in even better stabilization, precision and durability. Comparing the Chromax NF-A15 PWM to the Chromax NF-A14 PWM, we can see that the bladed parts of the fans are the same. The frames are where they differ.

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The Chromax NF-A14 PWM, has a standard 140mm frame. As with the NF-S12A PWM, the stepped inlet and the cushioned corners are evident. The “Flow Acceleration Channel” elements are present on the blades. The seven wide-chord blades suggest that this fan will emphasize static pressure in addition to airflow.

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On the back of the blades there's now these nifty Flow Acceleration Channels that are supposed to alter the flow distribution on the suction side of the blades. This is to speed up the airflow at the crucial outer blade regions leading to significant reduced flow separation, which permits lower vortex noise and higher airflow efficiency.

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The power and the regulation of the fans is done, by a very long, entirely sleeved in black,four pin PWM cable. With this cable length the fans can be a very good choice for CPU cooling or boosting the airflow inside the case.

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Conclusion

COLORS!!! That’s right. NOCTUA is finally giving consumers a broad range of colors to customize their fans beyond brown or beige (I suppose there were those grey colors too). Personally, all it took for me to fall in love with a NOCTUA fan was to see how it performed in person, but I totally understand people who don’t go in on one of them because of the color scheme. Now there are Chromax accessories that allow the user to customize each fan to have a splash of color that matches a build better, while still having the professional look that comes from having a NOCTUA fan over a flashy LED fan. For the modding crowd, I think Chromax is where the bread and butter lies with these recent releases from Noctua. Now, finally, the entire enthusiast PC community can quit griping about Noctuas only coming in brown! You can get the best fans out there in customizable color schemes. The Chromax accessories bring a flash of color to your builds. A-series fans can truly be well-dressed, and spice up your rig. And because they are made of the same soft foam as the brown originals, they do just as well at cutting down vibrations.

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One of my favorite things about Noctua is how quiet its fans are without sacrificing thermal performance. Noctua pushes the boundaries of continually making improvements in all aspects of its products, and the latest from Noctua doesn't disappoint. These fans are truly knock-outs and the Chromax accessories add an awesome level of customization that Noctua fans have always lacked. In times past, there’s always been one major drawback to NOCTUA and that’s price. The Chromax Line Fan incuding accessories are at a great price in my opinion. Chromax for the win!
NF-A15 HS-PWM chromax.black.swap: EUR 26.90/USD 26.90
NF-A14 PWM chromax.black.swap: EUR 24.90/USD 24.90
NF-F12 PWM chromax.black.swap: EUR 22.90/USD 22.90
NF-S12A PWM chromax.black.swap: EUR 22.90/USD 22.90