Friday, May 1st 2026 Noctua Explains Why chromax.black Fan Releases Take So Long by AleksandarK Today, 04:55 Discuss (0 ) Austrian fan maker Noctua has published a technical blog explaining why it sometimes takes a long time for the company to release the dark-edition chromax.black fans after the initial beige and brown design is out. The company compares the level of engineering required for a new color code to painting a Formula 1 car, rather than a simple color change like you would typically do with a wooden fence. Noctua is known for its scientific testing, rigorous performance evaluations, highly detailed lab experiments, and more, which make its fans worthwhile. This has created a massive fan base within the enthusiast community over the years, who now eagerly await each new product release. When it comes to manufacturing, the company applies that same rigor everywhere, and a simple color change is not taken lightly. For example, Noctua produces its fans using injection molding, where plastic is melted and forced into a steel mold. However, when a new pigment is used, the entire calculation can be disrupted. Noctua designs its fans with high precision to maximize airflow performance. This means that blade impellers have a tip clearance before hitting the fan frame of only a few tenths of a millimeter, about 0.5 mm for 120 mm fans and about 0.7 mm for 140 mm fans. Introducing any third-party pigment into this process could disrupt the structure of this fan tip clearance and potentially interfere with Noctua's Sterrox liquid-crystal polymer (LCP) material used in its fans. Specifically, color pigments have particles that directly affect how the injection mold behaves, as they carry their own particle imperfections. This negatively impacts the hundreds of thousands of performance tests that Noctua conducts in the lab and significantly delays the chromax.black product launch. For example, Noctua is now preparing to launch the chromax.black version of its NF-A12x25 G2 fan about 10 months after the initial version. However, readers may recall that it took Noctua three years after the first-generation NF-A12x25 launch, as the company was dealing with the challenges of pandemic-induced material shortages and logistical nightmares. These days, the situation is much better, but the engineering challenges remain. Source: Noctua Related News Tags: 120 mm 140 mm Austria beige black chromax.black NF-A12x25 Noctua polymer Sterrox technical test Feb 7th 2026 Noctua Has Shipped Half a Million CPU Cooler Mounting Upgrade Kits (56) Mar 31st 2026 Noctua and Asetek Announce Flagship AIO Liquid Coolers Complete PVT Phase, Targeted for Q2-2026 Launch (16) Jan 12th 2026 Noctua Delays Pulsar Mouse and Seasonic PSU by Three Months (8) Apr 28th 2026 Noctua Publishes Free 3D Models for Mechanical Engineering and Rendering Projects (9) Sep 4th 2025 Noctua's Roadmap Update Confirms AIO CLC in Q2 2026 (24) Mar 17th 2026 Antec and Noctua Introduce Antec Flux Pro Noctua Edition PC Case (14) Nov 19th 2025 Noctua Presents chromax.black Versions of Its NH-D15 G2 and NF-A14x25 G2 (30) Feb 19th 2026 CORSAIR Introduces Limited-Edition FRAME 4000D Nova and Galaxy Cases with Color-Shift Finishes (7) Feb 26th 2026 Sony Reportedly Ported Gran Turismo to Nintendo Switch 2, but Don't Hold Your Breath (13) Jan 15th 2026 Thermaltake Announces the TS120/TS140 EX RGB PC Cooling Fan (1) Add your own on Noctua Explains Why chromax.black Fan Releases Take So Long There are no yet.
