If you’ve followed the PC hardware enthusiast scene over the last few decades, you’ll have encountered the name Noctua. The legendary maker of fans and CPU coolers has created some of the most coveted PC-cooling parts around, with them famed for their efficiency, quietness, and reliability. However, the company is notoriously meticulous about developing new products, which is in part why it is only now that it has finally chosen to release a range of all-in-one (AIO) liquid CPU coolers, in the shape of the Noctua NL-LC1 range.
The new AIO range will be competing with the likes of Noctua’s own NH-D15 cooler – long the best CPU cooler around – to tempt you into ponying up for one of these pricey but powerful coolers. To that end, the NL-LC1 range includes “best-in-class” fans whose speeds are cleverly offset to reduce noise, plus the pump has a “noise absorber” to further help make this one of the quietest AIO coolers around.
As with essentially all AIO coolers, the new Noctua range is based on Asetek’s patented design, specifically the latest Emma V2 variant. This setup cools your CPU by having a metal waterblock mounted to youu CPU with a coolant pump sat right on top of this. The water/coolant is then pumped to the 240, 360, or 420mm radiator where it’s cooled by the included fans (2 x 120mm, 3 x 120mm or 3 x 180mm, respectively).
Where the Noctua differs from the likes of the NZXT Kraken, Corsair Nautilus, Arctic Liquid Freezer, and more, are in the inclusion of Noctua’s own fans, and those noise-reducing tweaks mentioned above.
The pump, for instance, uses a “noise absorber” consisting of “both acoustic soundproofing and [a] tuned-mass damper effect.” These combine to reduce both airborne noise direct from the pump, and vibrations through the pump that can reverberate out via your PC.
Meanwhile, when it comes to fans – the other main source of noise – Noctua’s NF-A12x25 G2 fans are already among the most efficient and quiet PC fans around, but Noctua has gone a step further than just mounting them direct to the radiator and switching them on. Instead, it has offset the speeds of the fans to stop the whole radiator and fan assembly vibrating at harmonic frequencies. You can read more about this beat frequency phenomenon on Noctua’s website.
Available in stores – such as Amazon – now, the Noctua NL-LC1 starts at $219.90 for the 20mm NL-LC1-24, rising through $249.90 for the 360mm NL-LC1-36 and topping out at $279.90 for the 420mm NL-LC1-42. These prices make these among the most expensive AIO coolers around, but they do come with a six-year warranty.
What’s more, early reviews suggest these coolers really are class-leading, with cooling performance from the 240mm version outclassing most other brands’ 360mm models. Now all we need is a version that isn’t brown and beige.