Noctua teases 'something new' that looks very much like the desk fan prototype it's had on show before

Noctua's new product in a teaser video.
(Image credit: Noctua)

Here I am genuinely curious as to what Noctua, a company that specialises in making fans, is cooking up. Over on the company's official X account, the company has teased "something new is coming…" with a short teaser video showing what it might be. From that, it's not entirely clear what we're looking at, but it's certain not to be one of its usual beige and brown fans.

From the video it's clearly a product with more coverings and curves than a usual case fan, though there definitely is a fan included. So we can rule out more screwdrivers, then. Dive into the replies for the post and there may be an even clearer indication of what it might be, however.

X user thatcsdude has posted an image in reply that shows off a prototype for a Noctua desk fan, with an "airflow amplification system". Lo and behold, it shares the same coverings and curves as shown in the teaser video, albeit in a far less attractive plastic finish to the clean-cut black shown in the video. The prototype is essentially a mount for a Noctua fan with USB power, meaning there's no need to keep the fan hooked up to a header in the inside of your case.

We've no confirmation that what's shown in this video is one and the same with the prototype product on display, but it sure darn looks like it. We know what this teaser isn't showing us, however, and that's Noctua's long-awaited next-gen 140mm fan.

Noctua's next-gen fan promises to be the final word in gaming PC fans, with world-beating performance in a range of use cases, including both airflow for a case fan and static pressure for a radiator fan. It does so with the use of premium materials and extremely tiny margins for the fan's blades and casing. Unfortunately, tiny margins and high expectations mean it's been beset by delays. After nearly a decade of development, it remains to be released. Expected in Q2 of this year, the fan has been delayed again until Q3, 2024.

When asked about this over on X, Noctua says it'll offer updates about the fan over at the Taiwanese tech show, Computex—the last place I saw the prototypes in-person. The show runs from June 4 until June 7.

Jacob Ridley
Managing Editor, Hardware

Jacob earned his first byline writing for his own tech blog. From there, he graduated to professionally breaking things as hardware writer at PCGamesN, and would go on to run the team as hardware editor. He joined PC Gamer's top staff as senior hardware editor before becoming managing editor of the hardware team, and you'll now find him reporting on the latest developments in the technology and gaming industries and testing the newest PC components.

Read more
MSI GeForce RTX 5090 32G Special Edition with five fans
The RTX 5090 might make triple-fan cards look light on cooling if these four-fan and five-fan versions from Gigabyte and MSI are anything to go by
Two of the best PC fans side by side on a blue background
Best PC fans in 2025: I've put these case fans through their paces to find the coolest and quietest
A lightened screenshot from an Nvidia teaser video showing what is potentially an RTX 50-series graphics card in a PC
Hiding in the shadows, this Nvidia teaser video might have given us our first look at a Founders Edition RTX 50-series GPU
The Thermaltake's new liquid cooler with a screen to display images and videos
You've heard of a CPU cooler screen, but have you heard of a *curved* CPU cooler screen? Apparently it has 'unmatched performance and visual appeal'
A screenshot of a video on BiliBilli showing an air conditioning unit attached to a PC with Nvidia, AMD and Intel stickers.
The definition of overkill: Cooling an RTX 4090 to a claimed 20°C with a household air conditioning unit
Two HP Omen Max 16 gaming laptops--one black in the front, one white behind--float in a blue-pink gradient void. The laptops are partially open and are arranged to look not unlike a pair of butterfly wings.
What's cooler than being cool? HP's Omen Max 16 featuring an omnidirectional fan that thwarts dust buildup and keeps this gaming laptop a little closer to ice cold
Latest in Cooling
Photo of Thermal Grizzly TG Putty
Thermal Grizzly TG Putty review
A screenshot of a video on BiliBilli showing an air conditioning unit attached to a PC with Nvidia, AMD and Intel stickers.
The definition of overkill: Cooling an RTX 4090 to a claimed 20°C with a household air conditioning unit
A Noctua NH-L12S cooler installed on a motherboard.
Noctua NH-L12S review
A Be Quiet! cooler installed on a motherboard inside a gaming PC.
Air coolers are still cool
The Thermaltake's new liquid cooler with a screen to display images and videos
You've heard of a CPU cooler screen, but have you heard of a *curved* CPU cooler screen? Apparently it has 'unmatched performance and visual appeal'
The Noctua NH-D15 G2 all put together.
Noctua NH-D15 G2 review
Latest in News
Gabe Newell in a Valve promotional video, on a yacht.
Go ahead and complain the discounts aren't as steep as they used to be, but Steam just had its biggest year ever for seasonal sales
Valve Steam Deck OLED handheld PC
'The future of hardware at Valve is bright': Valve celebrates the success of Steam Deck and Steam OS
Key art of the videogame Lunacid, showing a pale, long haired knight in purple armor contemplating a purple, flaming sword surrounded by the different phases of the moon.
One of my favorite indie RPGs is getting a follow-up made with FromSoftware's 25-year-old Super Mario Maker for first person dungeon crawlers
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 image - Henry riding a pink and blue striped horse while holding a fish
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 now has Steam Workshop support, and of course one of the first mods lets you adjust the 'jiggle physics'
Still image of Bastion holding a bird, taken from Microsoft's Copilot for Gaming reveal trailer
Microsoft unveils Copilot for Gaming, an AI-powered 'ultimate gaming sidekick' that will let you talk to your console so you don't have to talk to your friends
Erenshor - A player and two simulated MMO party members stand on a plateau in front of a yellow landscape
This RuneScape-looking 'simulated MMORPG' has all the nostalgia without the drama because all the other 'players' are NPCs