Noctua redux Series & Accessory Kit Review

👤by Ed Hume Comments 📅19-07-14
NF-R8 redux fans
Noctua’s NF-R8 redux series is an expansion of their 80mm offerings. Where you can get two varieties of regular NF-R8 fans, you can now get three varieties of 80mm redux fans – PWM and Voltage-controlled 1800 rpm fans and a 1200 rpm Voltage-controlled fan.



Noctua has a lot to say about this little fan:

The Noctua Raised-Blade-Design of the NF-R8 series was developed by the Austrian Institute for Heat-Transmission and Fan Technology . . . and specifically tailored to 80mm fans with extremely low rotation speeds. The result is a performance improvement of up to 10% compared to conventional blade geometries.

Both the angle of attack and the design of the blade area of the NF-R8 rotor are optimised for maximum airflow and minimum noise emission at speed ranges below 1800RPM. Raising the leading edge above the rotor hub and lowering the trailing edge below the bottom of the rotor hub results in an extended profile chord length, which compensates for the reduction in blade surface caused by the steeper angle of attack and hence increases the overall blade force. The continuous radial increase of the blade curvature towards the blade tips ensures sufficient static pressure despite of the slow rotation speeds. A significant reduction in noise emission is achieved through the rounding of the fan blades towards the rotor hub as well as the rounding of the rotor hub itself. This way, the NF-R8 is significantly more quiet than other high end silent fans at the same performance thanks to its specific optimisations for ultra low noise application.


They aren’t kidding about the “extremely low rotation speeds.” All the other 80mm fans I have hanging around are 2400 rpm and higher, optimized for pushing air to cool crowded electronics. These Noctua fans clearly have another mission: quietly cooling things that computer enthusiasts have built.



As best I can tell, these redux units are identical to the originals, except for their color.



You will find most NF-R8 redux fan specifications portrayed graphically in the Results section of this review. Static pressure specs are 1.41 mm H2O at 1800 rpm, and 0.67 mm H2O at 1200 rpm.

One last bit before we move on: Noctua did not see fit to change the blade shapes on this fan. One could argue that they don’t sell enough to make it worth their while. On the other hand, Noctua has been very picky about their fans. The S12A, for example, is their third variation on that fan. This leads us to suspect that there is not much performance that could be gleaned from enhancing this fan.


13 pages « 2 3 4 5 > »

Comments