Noctua Unveils its Flocked Surface Fans - Bring on the Fuzz

[WYP]

Today Noctua show off their latest design innovation in fan design, the Flocked Surface impeller.

Do we need Fuzzy fans? Read below to see why.

imply put, these fan impellers feature fibrous flock layers along the surface, which creates a turbulent boundary layer of air. Similar in function to the dimples on golf balls, the fiber layer increases air-flow and decreased air-flow separation (whiplash) by crerating a turbulent boundary layer of air.

Noctua is flocking its fans in two ways, flocked impeller, and flocked frame interior. Both are shown below.

Initial testing shows that these flocked surface fans show a reducton in fan noise by 2dB, which is a good gain. Whether or not we will eventually see this implemented on future Noctua fans remains to be seen but I can see dust becoming a major issue on the flocked surface, as I imagine they will be difficult to clean.

Please post your thoughts on this new fan concept below. Would you buy a Flocked surface or Fuzzy fan?

Source - Techpowerup

 

[barnsley]

Ugly but effective. Typical Noctua :')

 

[SuB]

what if we flock them both!??! >.<

I remember the sharkoons that actually HAD golf ball divots, they were the amazeballs fans of the time

also 'custom polyamide flock with fibre length tuned for optimal noise reduction at typical reynolds numbers'

I'd put money on it being exactly the same as any other packaging flock stuff lol

 

[ahimoth]

All I'm saying is that I just purchased like 4 NF-F2's and ordered another 8 >.> :| Happy days.

 

[Step83]

I can see the flocking becoming a dust magnet in no time

 

[Wraith]

I already have fuzzy fans :lol: ...... I really should dust more often, but seriously these sound pretty awesome and we all know Noctua know their shizzle when it comes to spinners.

 

[osusoy]

I think Aerocool DS fans made this necessary. i am a die hard Noctua fan P) but Aerocool DSs push more air more quietly at 1000rpm with their golf ball surfaces. for my needs, Noctuas are still more useful as i can ramp up their rpms higher when needed but Noctua had to do something like this to not loose the slow speed fan market. i would also be concerned with dust collection on those surfaces but i'm sure the engineers at Noctua would have found a way to compensate.

 

[MacLeod]

Hmmm, not sure Id think that would work or not. Be interested to see some reviews to see how it does perform. Noctua isnt known for their marketing hype so there's gotta be something to it but it looks a little weird to me.

 

[Dicehunter]

The flocking is going to come off after a few months and clog something up I bet ^_^

 

[SuB]

The flocking is going to come off after a few months and clog something up I bet ^_^

I can't imagine this is something that would do well near any kind of heatsource i.e. connected directly to a heatsink, and I agree it could part ways with the surface.

Also I seem to remember this stuff gives off microfibres like crazy, so your case and stuff may end up getting peppered in that stuff too.

 

[Agost]

Noctua has become my favourite brand in PC industry.

 

[viroth100]

is it wrong that i double checked the date to see if it was a unburied april 1st post?

 

[G-Dubs]

Flocking Hell! Just when I thought Noctua fans couldn't look any worse. I wonder when we'll get the woodchip and blown vinyl versions? On the plus side if anyone has a burning desire to do a black velvet wrapped case you now have the perfect fans to go with it.

 

[Mysterae]

Flocking Hell! Just when I thought Noctua fans couldn't look any worse. I wonder when we'll get the woodchip and blown vinyl versions? On the plus side if anyone has a burning desire to do a black velvet wrapped case you now have the perfect fans to go with it.

That made me chuckle!

Laurence Lowell Bowen will be a fan of this!

 

[nexusmaniac]

Flocking Hell! Just when I thought Noctua fans couldn't look any worse. I wonder when we'll get the woodchip and blown vinyl versions? On the plus side if anyone has a burning desire to do a black velvet wrapped case you now have the perfect fans to go with it.

Funniest thing I've heard all day!

 

[SortedGeeza]

Flock that

I can't see many people Flocking to buy them