What you need to know
- In mid-May of 2021, Noctua hinted that its fanless CPU cooler's release date was coming soon.
- Less than a month later, the cooler has been put on sale.
- It costs $109 and is available on Amazon.
Noctua, the master of CPU cooling as well as speedy developments, hinted just a little under a month ago that a release date for its fanless CPU cooler was right around the corner. Fast-forward to now, and not only do we have a release date (today), but also a price tag: $109.
Naturally, this isn't a budget CPU cooler given that's it's doing something different than most others and therefore has a price tag reflective of its experimental nature. Still, $109 isn't exactly bank-breaking madness for those who're keen to pay top-dollar for the latest and greatest in PC gaming hardware.
The sales pitch for Noctua's new NH-P1 cooler is that, without fans, it will run silently, meaning you won't have to hear annoying whirring noises typically associated with coolers. Instead of fans, the NH-P1's metal fins will passively absorb heat.
Noctua recommends the cooler for "CPUs with low to moderate heat dissipation," including Intel's 11600, 10600 processors or AMD Ryzen 5600X, 4750G, 4650G, 3400G processors. And, if you need a little extra cooling power, you can, in fact, equip an actual 120mm fan onto your fanless cooler to do the trick, which is a neat (if antithetical) bonus.
Benefits beyond noise reduction include less dust circulation throughout your rig since there's one less fan pushing air particles around, as well as the fact that the cooler is failproof, according to Noctua. With no moving parts, that's not a far-fetched claim.
