The PC cooling specialists at Noctua are already renowned for making top-tier fans and CPU coolers, and they’ve now also turned their attention to the burgeoning AIO cooler market. At a Noctua event in Japan, the company provided a close look at its new thermosyphon liquid cooler design, which takes a very different approach to most AIO liquid coolers, as it doesn’t require a pump.
Instead, a simple waterblock is attached to the CPU, with two tubes connecting it to the radiator. That’s a radically different approach to even the best CPU cooler designs you can buy right now, with most AIO coolers having a pump unit either immediately on top of the waterblock, or occasionally on the radiator. According to Noctua, the secret behind this pump-free cooler design is its use of a phase-change coolant.
Instead of the usual liquid coolant with additives, Noctua has instead filled the loop with a refrigerant. The idea is that the heat it absorbs from the CPU causes the coolant to vaporize into a gas and ascend into the radiator. This in turn cools the refrigerant, so it turns back into a liquid that can travel back down to the waterblock.
The physics of the device means the radiator has to be installed in the roof of your case, immediately above your CPU, which limits its versatility. On the plus side, however, with no pump unit, the noise will be substantially reduced (the only motors will be in the fans attached to the radiator), and that’s also one less moving part that could fail. Noctua also claims that the way the coolant absorbs the heat when it becomes a gas means it can offer superior cooling performance to water cooling too.
The new cooler was originally shown off in prototype form at Computex 2024, but Japanese tech site Hermitage Akihabara has snapped some more pictures of it from the recent event, where Noctua also discussed when it could be released. According to Noctua, it’s still a case of if rather than when for this work in progress, but if it goes to plan, Hermitage Akihabara says it’s currently scheduled to be released in 2026.
In the meantime, check out our guide to the best AIO cooler if you’re looking for a new liquid cooler right now, as well as our guide to the best gaming CPU to see which processor will best suit your needs.
You can follow us on Google News for daily PC games news, reviews, and guides. We’ve also got a vibrant community Discord server, where you can chat about this story with members of the team and fellow readers.