Even earlier than the primary Pentium period of the early Nineties, PC CPUs have been already highly effective sufficient to require significant and succesful cooling setups to maintain their temperatures in test. Though there have been configurations that would make it by with passive cooling, most PCs have been already counting on energetic cooling options. Not a few years later, energetic cooling not solely turned a de facto requirement, however the excessive thermal masses generated by processors required that heatsinks have highly effective and noisy followers. The pushback from this more and more noisy period of computing, in flip, successfully spurred the trendy marketplace for high-end passive coolers to be used in low-noise (however nonetheless high-performance) PCs.
The historical past of passive coolers for high-performance PCs will not be very wealthy – the physics of heatsinks is a properly understood subject – however, sometimes, we might see some corporations make a valiant effort to supply a passive cooler that might be viable on the open market. There have been even situations the place producers tried to make the whole PC passively cooled, as Zalman’s effort 20 years in the past with the hefty TTN-500AF case. Nonetheless, no answer was long-lived, primarily as a result of the ever-rising energy (and cooling) necessities would rapidly overwhelm the capabilities of the passive coolers of the time.
However now in 2022, maybe the world is prepared for a change? To reply that query, in right this moment’s evaluate we’re taking a look on the NH-P1, a shocking passive CPU cooler launched by one of the respected energetic PC cooler producers, Noctua.
Having already established their title (after which some) with low-noise energetic coolers, Noctua has turned their consideration to the ultimate frontier of low-noise cooling: passive CPU coolers. And to be able to accomplish this, Noctua has constructed a pure heatsink. A really, very massive pure heatsink that is appropriate for CPUs.
All through all of their historical past, Noctua has by no means made a purely passive cooler earlier than, which makes the NH-P1 a outstanding product from the corporate. The corporate has vital expertise with cooling with their conventional actively cooled merchandise, however suffice it to say, shifting a whole lot of warmth with out the assistance of pressured airflow is a a lot greater problem – and one we’re desirous to see an organization like Noctua undertake. So is the NH-P1’s sheer dimension alone able to withstanding the extraordinary thermal a great deal of fashionable processors? Let’s discover out.
| Noctua NH-P1 CPU Cooler Specs | |||
| Top | 158 mm | ||
| Width | 154 mm | ||
| Depth | 152 mm | ||
| Weight | 1180 g | ||
| Supported Sockets | Intel: LGA1700, LGA1200, LGA1156, LGA1155, LGA1151, LGA1150, LGA2066, LGA2011-0 & LGA2011-3 (Sq. ILM)
AMD: AM4, AM2, AM2+, AM3, AM3+, FM1, FM2, FM2+ (backplate required) |
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| Guarantee | 6 Years | ||
| Worth | $110 | ||
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Packaging & Bundle
The NH-P1 comes right into a well-designed cardboard field, following the identical easy art work that Noctua is utilizing for practically all of their merchandise. It’s a chic design, targeted on delivering as a lot info as potential fairly than counting on putting colours to catch the attention. The sheer dimension of the packaging hints that the NH-P1 is nothing alike any air cooler we have now seen earlier than. Contained in the field, we discovered the cooler very properly protected under layers upon layers of thick cardboard packaging. The provided mounting {hardware} and further objects could be present in a smaller, compartmentalized cardboard field.
Except for the standard mounting {hardware} essential to mount the NH-P1 onto a CPU socket, Noctua additionally provides a pleasant screwdriver, a tube of NT-H2 thermal grease, and a metallic case badge. And, whereas maybe sacrilegious for what’s meant to be a totally passive cooler, there are additionally two wire holders for putting in a fan, ought to the consumer ever want to do this.
The Noctua NH-P1 CPU Cooler
A easy glimpse on the Noctua NH-P1 is sufficient for anybody to understand that that is no run-of-the-mill CPU cooler. To start with, the sheer proportions of the NH-P1 are large past comparability. At 15.8cm x 15.4cm x 15.2cm (primarily a 6.5-inch dice), the NH-P1 dwarfs typical tower coolers – that are already fairly massive – taking about 3 times the quantity of a fully-assembled NH-U12S. And its 1.18kg weight makes it heavier than some laptop computer computer systems.
Contemplating each the dimensions and the character of the NH-P1, it’s sure to face compatibility points with each programs and instances, in addition to restricted compatibility with CPUs. To that finish, Noctua gives detailed compatibility tables that embrace each system elements and PC instances, to assist patrons get a greater concept forward of time over the place the plus-sized passive cooler can match.
Case compatibility apart, the NH-P1 helps practically all fashionable CPU sockets, together with Intel’s LGA-11xx/1200 socket and newest LGA-1700 socket, in addition to AMD’s socket AM4. Threadripper is overlooked within the chilly, nevertheless, as it will not be potential for the NH-P1 to deal with the intense thermal necessities such a high-end processor.
Regardless of its large proportions, the NH-P1 sports activities solely 13 fins. The fin spacing is sort of ten instances that of a typical air cooler, and each single fin is perforated with 33 rectangular holes in order to optimize passive airflow. This configuration would make typical cooler fins too skinny and flimsy, so Noctua tremendously elevated the thickness of every fin as properly. Lastly, the fins additionally should not pressed onto the heatpipes however soldered, making certain the long-term mechanical power of the cooler.
Six heatpipes are accountable for transferring the majority of the thermal vitality generated by the CPU onto the fins of the cooler. The heatpipes begin from the bottom of the cooler, positioned precisely in parallel to one another, and prolong to only one aspect of the bottom in the direction of the highest half of the fins in a symmetric fan sample. They’re made out of copper however are absolutely nickel-plated to stop floor corrosion.
The bottom of the NH-P1 is nearly typical for any fashionable heatpipe-based cooler, with the exception that six of the fins prolong and are immediately hooked up to the bottom itself. That is principally to extend the mechanical power of the NH-P1, because the colossal fin array couldn’t be reliably supported by the heatpipes alone. But it might even be enjoying a bit of half within the thermal efficiency of the cooler as properly by permitting a bit of little bit of thermal vitality to switch immediately from the bottom in the direction of the fins.
The underside half of the bottom is made out of nickel-plated copper, maximizing the warmth switch charge from the CPU to the heatpipes. This can be very properly machined, completely flat, and clean. The remainder of the bottom serves solely as a mechanical help and is usually made out of aluminum, except for the mounting bracket that’s nickel-plated metal.
