Noctua NH-P1 Passive CPU Cooler

Cooling Processors quietly

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Abula
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Noctua NH-P1 Passive CPU Cooler

Post by Abula » Tue Jun 15, 2021 11:55 pm

While Noctua has been working on passive coolers for some years now, today was released to the public their new offering,

Official website - Noctua NH-P1 Passive CPU Cooler

Nocutas YouTube video - Introducing the NH-P1 Passive CPU Cooler

It seems already available in mayor retailers like
Amazon - Noctua NH-P1, Passive CPU Cooler - Fanless Heatsink for 100% Silent Cooling $109.90
Newegg - Noctua NH-P1, Passive CPU Cooler - Fanless Heatsink for 100% Silent Cooling $109.90

Noctua has design it to be fully passive or semi passive, with the cooler they also released a low rpm version of the NF-A12x25 PWM, NF-A12x25 LS-PWM. Personally not sure if its worth it, the standard NF-A12x25 PWM can already be dropped below 300rpms, most motherboards can control PWM relatively easy.

WEBSITES REVIEWS

YOUTUBE REVIEWS
Gamers Nexus Noctua NH-P1 Passive CPU Cooler Review: Benchmarks, Schlieren Photography, & Mechanics
Fully Silent PCs Noctua NH-P1 – Can it Handle the Heat?
eTeknix I PASSIVELY Cooled A Ryzen 5900X!
2GuysTek Noctua NH-P1 Review - This Passive CPU Cooler is an Absolute Unit!
Linus Tech Tips The Unconventional PC

Edit: Adding Reviews
Last edited by Abula on Tue Jun 29, 2021 12:20 pm, edited 6 times in total.

CA_Steve
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Re: Noctua NH-P1 Passive CPU Cooler

Post by CA_Steve » Wed Jun 16, 2021 7:01 am

I wonder how well it'd do with your boosty Ryzens :)

Abula
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Re: Noctua NH-P1 Passive CPU Cooler

Post by Abula » Wed Jun 16, 2021 8:27 am

CA_Steve wrote:
Wed Jun 16, 2021 7:01 am
I wonder how well it'd do with your boosty Ryzens :)
The initial comments from GamerNexus, seems they are modding their test methodology to fit this cooler, probably out of not complying or sustaining high core count cpus. My guess, is that it will perform slightly better than the HR22, but not as good as CR-95, im likely to buy one at some point, i still have CR95 and HR22 to test them side by side... but i dont think ill have a use for it, unless alder lake becomes easy to cool, which i doubt.

If it doesnt beat the CR95, i feel the price is a little on high side, the HR22 or Le Grand Macho was $80 with a fan, this is still today the second best fanless cooler (without considering cases like hdplex/steacom), but Thermalright renewing all their line, we don't have yet a sub for the HR22, so who knows if there will be an alternative.

Japanese Capacitor
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Re: Noctua NH-P1 Passive CPU Cooler

Post by Japanese Capacitor » Wed Jun 16, 2021 9:18 am

I only wonder, how small, weak and cheap active cooler will beat it thermally with it's fan running inaudibly.

Abula
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Re: Noctua NH-P1 Passive CPU Cooler

Post by Abula » Tue Jun 29, 2021 12:20 pm

Have added some reviews, mostly video reviews.

thesmileyone
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Re: Noctua NH-P1 Passive CPU Cooler

Post by thesmileyone » Sun Dec 12, 2021 2:51 pm

I don't see the point of this cooler.

Just buy a D15 and run it fanless.

Still running a D14 with no fans, 3600X, no issues, other than trying to get ram into the second slot...

Japanese Capacitor
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Re: Noctua NH-P1 Passive CPU Cooler

Post by Japanese Capacitor » Tue Dec 14, 2021 11:29 am

thesmileyone wrote:
Sun Dec 12, 2021 2:51 pm
Just buy a D15 and run it fanless.
Or just buy D15 and run it below audible speed to achieve even better result.

Passive coolers are for passive people.

thesmileyone
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Re: Noctua NH-P1 Passive CPU Cooler

Post by thesmileyone » Sun Dec 26, 2021 9:49 am

What better result? Is running a fan going to be quieter than no fan?

I tried doing what you suggested a few years ago and I could still hear the fan at 5%.

Japanese Capacitor
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Re: Noctua NH-P1 Passive CPU Cooler

Post by Japanese Capacitor » Sun Dec 26, 2021 1:50 pm

Running the fan will never be quieter than no fan, but the thing is about silence - inaudibility. A lot of the fans (e.g. D15's ones) are able to run with inaudible speeds and then give you better temperature result than no fan. Today a lot of the fans, especially good or low-speed ones start from ~350 rpm, so are just inaudible without sticking your ear to them. The question is, what speed was this 5% of your D14? It's an older cooler which - if I remember well - started with non-PWM fans with quite high for today standards minimum speed of 600-700 rpm, so I would be surprised if it was inaudible then.

zdb
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Re: Noctua NH-P1 Passive CPU Cooler

Post by zdb » Wed May 11, 2022 3:05 am

thesmileyone wrote:
Sun Dec 12, 2021 2:51 pm
I don't see the point of this cooler.

Just buy a D15 and run it fanless.
There has to be a big enough gap between fins for air to freely flow upward due to buoyancy. Too close and the flow of hot air is retarded, trapping heat in the stack for longer and thus decreasing the effectiveness of the cooler.

My (stock) i7-2600K can't be cooled adequately by a fanless NH-D15s with narrowly-spaced fins. It can, however, be cooled adequately by a fanless NH-P1 with widely-spaced fins. Fin spacing matters. My experience suggests the real-world cooling limit for the P1 is north of 95W in a well-ventilated (or open) case. Thus the P1 can adequately cool a significant number of higher-powered CPUs than the D15 can't.

Besides, Noctua wouldn't have bothered spending years of their time and hundreds of thousands (probably millions) of Euros designing and building the P1 if it didn't offer a distinct advantage over a fanless D15.

Japanese Capacitor
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Re: Noctua NH-P1 Passive CPU Cooler

Post by Japanese Capacitor » Sun May 15, 2022 8:04 am

I think that Noctua just wanted to have such thing in their offer and it being the best on that rather forgotten market. All to charge for it Noctua's money. Especially brand of such reputation aims to have the best in category. Looking at their recent moves it looks like they know it will be hard to be the best with more popular types of coolers and they know their current offer in such categories is nothing exceptional (at best among the best and always the most expensive). That's why for last few years they try to hit the market from more niche angles: U12A as powerful relatively compact cooler for builds where D15 and similar bricks don't fit - priced more than D15; P1 for forgotten regular size passive pc market - priced more than D15; D12L which rather dominates <145mm category and is in fact something fresh, worthy of being addition to the industry from a brand like Noctua - surprisingly priced almost like D15. But where's D15's successor? Noctua already knows that it won't make a difference compared to coolers being on the market (and being cheaper) or it will be defeated not long after releasing due to so many brands now being competetive with them. Just being the most premium and trying hard to hit niches - I predict these will be their fate in upcoming years.

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