Asus and Noctua are preparing for an Ada Lovelace collaboration.
ChipHell reports that Asus and Noctua will introduce their jointly designed GeForce RTX 40-series graphics cards at CES. Naturally, the boards will include cooling systems designed by Noctua and performance enhancements by Asus. The companies are expected to display the products at CES, but it is unknown when they will be available for purchase.
The only thing we know about the forthcoming GeForce RTX 40-series Noctua Edition graphics cards is that they will utilize Noctua-designed cooling systems and be based on Ada Lovelace-generation graphics processors. It is unknown if the new coolers will continue to utilize the Noctua NF-A12x25 fans found on the existing Noctua Edition graphics cards, but it is possible. In the coming months, we must determine if these boards will be among the best graphics cards money can buy.
Asus may offer GeForce RTX 4090 (GA102), GeForce RTX 4080 (GA103), and/or GeForce RTX 4070 Ti (GA104) boards with Noctua coolers, keeping in mind the introduction timing. It is difficult to design a quiet air cooler for a component with a thermal board power of up to 600 W, so it is unknown whether Nvidia’s flagship product will be included in this new family. However, a Noctua Edition graphics card’s near-silence is an expectation for all users.
When Asus and Noctua released the GeForce RTX 3070 Noctua Edition and GeForce RTX 3080 Noctua Edition graphics cards in 2021, the hardware community reacted with great enthusiasm. The products provided a very respectable performance increase over reference cards, while the Noctua-designed coolers remained silent even under heavy load.
These products had a minor flaw: they were released relatively late in the GeForce RTX 30-series ‘Ampere’ graphics processors’ lifecycle. Despite poor timing and extremely high street prices, demand for Asus GeForce RTX 3070 and RTX 3080 Noctua Edition graphics cards were high.
This time, the two companies reportedly intend to unveil GeForce RTX 40-series Noctua Edition boards at CES, roughly three months after Nvidia introduced its high-end Ada Lovelace GPUs formally. The early introduction suggests that the two companies view their collaboration as a success; however, we are eager to see the performance boost that these new GeForce RTX 40-series Noctua Edition graphics cards will bring compared to their reference counterparts.
It makes a great deal of sense for Asus to continue offering its most powerful GeForce RTX 40-series GPUs under its own ROG Strix brand while retaining Noctua Edition for those seeking a balance between performance and quietness. Once these boards are launched, we will determine whether this is true. Keep in mind that the information regarding the introduction of new Asus Noctua Edition graphics cards at CES comes from an unofficial source, so treat it with caution.
