Noctua explains why it is avoiding RGB, screens and white fans
Noctua does not plan to follow several common PC cooling trends. The company says RGB lighting, integrated displays and white versions of its cooling products are unlikely to become part of its lineup, as it prefers to spend engineering resources on thermal performance and noise reduction.
Speaking with Club386, Noctua chief product officer Jakob Dellinger said the company wants to spend as few resources as possible on visual features. This includes displays increasingly found on AIO pump blocks and CPU coolers.
“We want to spend as little in the way of resources as possible on making things look pretty, that’s just not where our focus lies.”
— Jakob Dellinger, Noctua
RGB and screens are unlikely to appear on Noctua products
Dellinger stopped short of completely ruling out RGB products, but said the current situation is “very probably going to stay like that.” Noctua instead wants to focus its engineering work on thermal efficiency, lower noise levels and product quality.
The same approach applies to white products. Noctua demonstrated chromax.white fan prototypes at Computex 2019, but these products were repeatedly delayed before eventually being removed from the company’s roadmap. Dellinger explained that producing another color requires more than simply changing the plastic pigment.
White fans would require separate tooling
According to Noctua, different colors behave differently during manufacturing . High-precision fans therefore require dedicated molds and tooling for each color if the company wants to maintain the same dimensions and performance. White is also more difficult to manufacture without visible imperfections.
Dellinger said he would rather validate tooling for a new fan design than spend those resources on another color. Noctua is therefore expected to continue focusing on its brown/beige and chromax.black products, with no current plans for white models, RGB lighting or integrated screens.
At least one company is breaking from the general trend. RGB lighting and screens have found their way into nearly every PC component, so Noctua appears content to maintain its premium focus on quality and actual engineering improvements rather than adding more visual options to attract customers. Well I still think the company should reconsider its strategy on white fans, though.
Source: Club386
