Noctua Chromax Review – It’s Time to Get Colourful!

Final Thoughts

Price

The Prices for Noctua products are typically a bit higher than most, but that’s to be expected given they’re pretty much the best quality and performance available. Not saying other brands can’t compete, but Noctua does have a solid reputation for quality. Their NF-S12A and NF-F12 PWM fans are £19.99 respectively. The larger NF-A14 PWM is £21.99, and NF-A15 HS-PWM is £23.99, while spare anti-vibration colour mounts are £4.99.

The Chromax Heatsink covers range from £17.99 up to £27.99, dependant on the model you need. They come in black, white, and swap variants for pretty much ever Noctua tower cooler in recent years.

Finally, the Chromax Extension Cable and Y-Splitter cable sets come at a pretty reasonable price. They range from £8.99 to £9.99 for a set, with 3 x Y-Splitters per pack, and 4 x extension cables per pack.

Overview

Once again, Noctua has done a great job of delivering premium quality products. Are any of them essential to their product range, not really, but for those who want to really fine tune the customisation of their build, they’re certainly welcome. As I said before, I’m a big fan of Noctua and even like the colour scheme of their brown fans. However, trying to build an all black, or white, or red gaming PC with Noctua wasn’t easy. Now with the Chromax range, you can keep the same high-end performance you know and love, and dress it up to match your other hardware.

Build Quality

If anything, the build quality on all of these products is much better than it needs to be. The cables are incredibly durable, and the rubber finish weave on the colour sections is really tough, won’t snag, won’t splinter, and certainly won’t come away from the heat shrink wrap. The wrap is extremely tight and strong, and if anything they used a little too much. I would have like to see more of the cable, especially the Y-Split, having colour too it. Of course, Noctua no doubt did it the way they did for build quality and reliability first, which isn’t a bad thing.

The magnetic insert and mounting system, the rubber anti-vibration mounts, and the uniform paint job on the covers just speak quality. Everything fits, clicks, locks, and stays in place with precision. Again, we wouldn’t have expected anything less.

Colour

I love that you can easily take the metal covers, and respray them, or create your own inserts with ease. For modders or just those eager to change the look from time to time, it’s a nice thing to have. The products are a little more expensive that I’m sure some of you would like, but I think they’re pretty great value for money overall. Not only can you add them to your existing Noctua products without replacing the whole set, but you can easily tailor it to almost any build, thanks to such a wide range being available from Noctua.

Pros

• Class-leading build quality
• Excellent support for most Noctua products
• Works with existing coolers
• Same high-end Noctua performance
• Colours… on a Noctua product!
• Durable cables
• Easy to install
• Easily modded and customised

Cons

• None

Neutral

• A little less black and a little more colour on the Y-splitters would be nice, but hardly a deal breaker