PC cooling specialist Noctua has simply revealed a brand new PC energy provide that it’s designed in collaboration with Seasonic. The brand new Seasonic Prime TX-1600 Noctua Version is clad within the distinctive brown, beige, and black tones related to the Noctua model, and the corporate additionally says it specifically designed the grill to cut back noise even additional. You’ll want deep pockets, although, as the worth is a large $569, $20 greater than the coveted Steam Deck OLED.
That is about as premium as you will get within the PC PSU world, and the specs are actually up there with the most effective energy provide fashions we’ve seen. The Seasonic Prime TX-1600 Noctua Version is rated at 1,600W, and likewise sports activities the 80 Plus Titanium badge, which means its effectivity sits at 90% or above at any load, from 10% to 100%. Maybe extra importantly, Seasonic and Noctua have particularly designed this PSU for “silence,” and on this case that doesn’t seem like hyperbole.
Based on the 2 firms, the absolutely modular PSU’s semi-passive fan management system means the provided Noctua NF-A12x25 fan received’t even spin up till the PSU goes over 50% load at regular working temperatures (+/-25°C).
Put this PSU in a PC with elements that received’t draw greater than 800W, and also you’ll have a silent PSU for essentially the most half, even when gaming. In our exams, even a power-hungry Core i9 14900K system taking part in video games on an Nvidia RTX 4080 solely attracts 557W at peak load, in order that’s loads of headroom.
There’s nonetheless loads of energy on faucet for individuals who need it, although, with two 16-pin PCIe 5.0 connectors for the most recent graphics playing cards, such because the forthcoming Nvidia RTX 5000 collection. The all-important 12V rail (the one which powers your CPU and GPU) additionally has an enormous 133.33A present ranking, which is sufficient to energy a ridiculous stage of PC energy.
So what’s Noctua’s function in all this? Firstly, you get an excellent 120mm Noctua NF-A12x25 contained in the unit, which is without doubt one of the finest PC followers you should buy proper now.
Nevertheless, Noctua has additionally actually gone to city on the design of the grill that covers the fan, which it claims can “allow it to run ~8-10dB(A) quieter than the already quiet normal mannequin” of this Seasonic PSU, and backed up this declare with graphs of its check outcomes. This grill, says Noctua, has been “engineered and optimized to make sure as easy as attainable strain gradients when the blades of the NF-A12x25 fan cross the struts of the grill.”
The corporate expands on this by saying that “the grill’s radial struts are angled and swept towards the sense of rotation of the fan and the sweep of its blades, which helps to keep away from conditions the place the main edges of the fan blades are parallel or virtually parallel to the grill struts.” This, says Noctua, “would trigger a high-pressure pulse adopted by a sudden drop in strain when the blade strikes out of the overlapping place.”
In the meantime, the entire bundle comes with a full set of individually sleeved cables clad within the basic Noctua black and brown shade scheme. It’s a giant unit, although, measuring 210 x 150 x 86 mm, so that you’ll have to be sure to have room in your case for it.
Noctua is making some daring claims for a fan grill, nevertheless it’s additionally demonstrated that it is aware of what it’s doing with cooling and airflow, and we’ve been impressed by the corporate’s cooling merchandise up to now. If you wish to see why, try our Noctua NH-D15 evaluate, the place we have been struck by this cooler’s very good construct high quality, wonderful cooling, and low-noise operation, incomes on the high place on our greatest CPU cooler shopping for information.
