Real Noctua GPU vs Redneck Engineering My Own 

Derbauer already said that he wasn't right and there are actual differences in the heatsinki itself

12:15 the smoke in doom looks so realistic that i thought the card is on fire.

12:18 for a split second the smoke effect in doom made me thing the card was smoking.

12:06 - lol I thought the GPU was smoking.

Linus: "You won't see that in the real world. Our room is only 18 degrees C." Other Canadians: "Look a mister big shot heating his room to 18C in January!"

I'm disappointed they didn't go for a 3080 or 3090 in the collab, just to really show off that Noctua cooling prowess. If it can keep the heart of a dying star from hitting 75C, it's legitimately impressive.

They never could've anticipated the size of the 4090.

James: “I’ve seen dogs get stuck together” _Doesn’t elaborate_

I've been saying for a couple of years now, Noctua needs to make a case and other theme PC components. I actually enjoy the colors. Noctua theme build when?

When Linus showed us the noise of the fans, I could only hear one thing. My 8 years old laptop's fans spinning as loud as a jet engine.

You can definitely make this work. I picked up an RX 580 4GB early in the pandemic for like $50 because the fans wouldn't spin. I took the shroud off and zip tied two 120mm case fans to it and then hooked the case fans up to a spare fan controller I had. I just cranked the dial on the fan controller when gaming and temps still stayed below 70C. Ended up selling it after the GPU shortage hit for like $140

I did a noctua mod myself, but I found it worked much better with 3 of their smaller fans tied to the GPU instead of 2 of the larger fans. Reason being, the hot air trying to escape out the fin stack would face turbulence caused by the faster moving air trying to sheer past it from the overhang of the large fans. 3X90mm fans gave me 50-60c temps in games, and I was even able to drive them off the graphics card fan connectors.

I like how Linus said "we suck" as if it was the entirety of Canada that failed to build a GPU cooler

Linus: So, I’m gonna shut up for a second here Everyone: Impossible

Been using a modded 1080 Ti for three years now. Was an MSI Armor OC version originally. After the mod it became the 1080 Ti x Arctic x beQuiet. - Changed the anemic stock heatsink with an Arctic Accelero 3 Extreme. For the GPU/heatsink thermal compound i went with Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut (liquid metal). - Swapped out the 3 included 90mm Arctic fans that ship with that heatsink (removed the plastic shroud too) for 3x92mm beQuiet SilentWings2 full fat 25mm haight fans (PWM, 33.15 CFM, 18.6 dB) zip tied to each other and then on top of the heatsink. - Added individual aluminium heatsinks on top of every vmem chip and on all the power stages (used 25% thermal glue + 75% Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut thermal paste to glue each in position) The whole thing grew in height from a one and a half slot to a 3 and a half slot card. It went from loud af at stock clocks to being inaudible even under heavy OC. Temps went from 75-80c under load with no OC, to 50-55c under load with my daily OC applied (+ 69 core clock, +699 mem clock). Been using it like this ever since i did the mod, about three years ago. Some benchmark scores (17c ambinent temp, max OC applied: 2025-2037mhz core clock / 6443mhz mem clock): - 4196 points in Unigine Heaven Benchmark 1080p (Ultra Quality, Extreme Tessellation, 8xAA) - min FPS: 41,9 / avg FPS: 166,6 / max FPS: 347 (52c max) [scored around - 6492 points in Superposition 1080pExtreme - min FPS: 39,55 / avg FPS: 48,56 / max FPS: 56.48 (18c-44c max) - 10528 points in Superposition 4kOptimized - min FPS: 62,56 / avg FPS: 78,75 / max FPS: 102.26 (19c-46c max) - 10347 points in TimeSpy (paired with a 5.1Ghz OCed 8700K, 10819 points just for the Graphics score) (57c max) The only 1080 Ti's i've seen in the wild that beat my scores are usually XOC bios swapped and/or custom loop watercooled variants. Most high end 1080 Ti's out there, at stock clocks, usually score: - Heaven 1080p Ultra-Extreme-8xAA: 3300-3400 points - Superposition 1080pExtreme: 5000-5200 points - Superposition 4kOptimized: 8600-8800 points - TimeSpy: 9000-9200 points (9500-10000 Graphics score) *When i say high end, i mean Strix, Aorus Extreme, etc So, in conclusion, i made an Armor OC 1080Ti (one of the cheapest, hottest and loudest 1080Ti's) compete (mostly beat) the most high end 1080Ti's out there.

Love the closed captions/subtitles, Do Maternal is my favorite game.

I actually have had my own "Noctua-Edition" for the last 2 years. Using a Morpheus 2 custom cooler with 2 noctua fans on my 1080ti, my peak temps also only reach 55°C with the side panels off. and it is whisper quiet too. 11/10 would recommed

It's a cool looking cooler in a " I have many leather-bound books and my apartment smells of rich mahogany" sort of way.

I always use cases with opaque panels so I have reaped all the glorious Noctua benefits with none of the downsides. I really hope they continue this colab.

This is my new favorite GPU. This needs to become an industry standard.

Love how when Linus first put it on test, the game in the background made it look like smoke and flames were coming out of the GPU!

James and Linus's no-filter cconversations are relationship goals.

Watching Linus as the dog line sank in was just amazing, I think his brain just short circuited trying to find the correct response 😅

I use this kind of setup on my rig, except because I have a specific itx case, I just take the shroud of the gpu and slap it directly to the side of the case with the fans in between. I use a software called Argus Monitor to curve those fan speeds to the temperature of my GPU and it works well. I have a Sapphire Nitro+ SE 6900xt, and with 2 noctua fans I never see temps above 65 C

Normal gpu: 2 slots Noctua gpu: the whole pc

12:06 I *really* thought this taped thing was smoking and frying out (look at smoke coming out above the card). It was only after some seconds seeing it again from 12:13 on, while *trying* to get why Linus wasn't smelling it already, that I figured it out! 😅

"It's kinda sexy, like in a ugly way" - a perfect discription of the Noctua GPU

love there reactions to the temps while i look at my temps of 90c average because second hand mined on card because i was a dumb and brought a gpu during the shortages and wanted to keep my arm and leg

Imagine 3d printing a GPU shroud for GPUS. You could essentially repurpose old GPUS, using pc fans and a custom shroud. Breathing some new life, into old hardware, and limiting some E-Waste in the world.

"It's kinda sexy in, like, an ugly way" That's basically how I feel about Noctua at large. It doesn't look sleek and modern but it does look good... somehow...

Fwiw, the Extech 407750 has an SPL range floor at 30db. 28-29dB readings are caused by the electronics in the meter - it was likely quite a bit quieter. SPL meters that accurately read below 30dB get real pricey, real quick.

I had a thought while watching this: I wonder what the temps would be if you strapped a couple Blowie-Matrons to the cooler on the Noctua card. I know it defeats the whole purpose, but I like seeing how far something can be cooled with just sheer airflow.

I'm surprised that not a single review I've seen has mentioned the repairability (and longevity) aspects here. With literal desktop Noctua fans, not only will the fans easily last a decade or more, but if they ever fail, you can literally just replace them with any random 120mm fan you have lying around, no fuss. Compare that to specialized GPU fans that die after just a couple of years and are a nightmare to track down (plus you'll often get crap quality replacements, not genuine ones), and the small downside of size is completely outweighed, IMO.

"I've seen dogs stuck together." probably the best awkward moment of any ltt video.

Dang I wish I could have one of these. Great video like always!

Dang, when Linus put a mic next to this all I can hear is my own fans - through the headphone!

At some point, GPUs are going to need to start having dummy PCI-E connectors on their shrouds to fight the sag

"I've seen dogs get stuck together" - Shit James says

I want to see more brands do what MSI have done with their ITX 3060 Ti. The amount of heat pipes and heat sink you get, is balanced by a fairly solid fan. Where as, Evga decided to go with a chonk 2.75 slot heatsink and not much in the way of heat pipes with their 2060. It still runs okay. But, I believe in having effective heat wicking.

Just plug the fans on the GPU header Or use one of the motherboard headers and control the speed with argus monitor in order to sync the fan speed with the GPU temp with a totally custom fan curve

Linus: "It's kind of sexy in like an ugly way." Best way to describe this hideous masterpiece of a GPU.

I would love for GPUs to start coming with shrouds that hold full-sized fans. It would make it far easier to operate quite GPUs long-term.

Crazy how small the gpu boards really are. The majority of their size is heatsink. I like the idea of creating "perforated" circuit boards Meaning any areas that have nothing running through them link in board connectors, is laser etched out so air can not only pass over the board but through it as well.

This really makes me wanting the workshop back. It was so great.

12:12 just me saw the smoke in-game and thought damn whats going on lmao

That dog comment 🤣. I think that's the first time I've seen Linus speechless. James broke him lol.

I was excited for a moment, then I realized that none of those links actually let you purchase this GPU... Not that I can afford it right now, but I can dream. 👍😎👍

This is actually fire. I might have to make my next build a vintage style. The color scheme is perfect for that

"Is it worth buying" At MSRP ? Hell yes

Love the design and colour scheme. Would love to see a build that embrace this! Maybe something with dark stained wood and brass would work?

As already clarified, the heatsink is different for both but also the problem is you attached fans to motherboard sensor in your deshrouding, and it had to be around 1200 RPM whereas the noctua edition at that temp is around 2000 rpm. You had to normalize RPMs for a more fair comparison

13:17 Someone in the discord im in did the same mod but used a 3D printed shroud. Would that make a difference or no because the fans are tied to the cpu speeds?

Linus: I have 3d printers, laser cutters and a whole workshop. Also linus: let's use duct tape

Noctua: "we're so good at making fans that you will tolerate how ugly we make them"

I would love to see more graphics cards which use, or at least which are compatible with, standard sized case fans. 92mm or 120mm would make sense, and 140mm could also make sense. This will generally make cards thicker, but they don't need to be as thick as this one is.

Basically I was running this for more than 1 year now. I de-shrouded a standard 3080 and put it in a NR200P, with 2 12mm Noctua fans below. The annoying thing is fan speed control, but it’s a perfect setup forma thermal and noise standpoint.

“I’ve seen dogs get stuck together” had me crying

The truly mind blowing thing is how they thought a 2 slot support bracket was somehow enough for a 4 slot card. That thing was sagging on a god damn test bench.

You can make that work with 0 issues. I have a Zotac 1070 and naturally both fans died because... it's Zotac. Removed the shroud, zip-tied two 120mm Noctua to the heatsink and connected them with a Y-adapter directly (!) to the GPU. The GPU has no issues with delivering enough power to the fans because they actually use less power than the original fans and fan speed control via Afterburner works flawlessly. Now it's super silent any at least 6-7° cooler than before (maybe even more).

It does look beautiful. That brown / tan color of noctua fans is probably the most ascetically pleasing out of any fan type

I agree with Jay's take: the cooling is fantastic but wasted on a 3070. 3080/90 versions would take more advantage of how well it cools. Card looks awesome too.

"Is it worth it?" Sure, if you can find one

i would LOVE to do a build themed around this card.

I think it looks so classy. So good! I just want Noctua fans on everything!

That look on Linus's face when he realized what he meant about the dogs.

So, that DIY'd version of the Noctua edition gpu wasn't one to one. The heatsink was clearly smaller. If they wanted to do a one to one comparison, they should have used another Asus TUF card then strapped Noctua fans to it. That and I'm sure that putting tape on the sides of the heatsink where air should be escaping isn't helping thermals at all. That, or just buy a Morpheus cooler and put some Noctua fans on it. They are popular aftermarket aircoolers because they work pretty darn well and look really good in the black nickel finish.

I like the way it looks. Need to mount it outside the case for effect!

I can't unsee the owl on that cooler now... thanks.

"I've seen dogs get stuck together" Did nobody else catch that?

12:06 My heart skipped a beat. Holy shit!

2:06 THANKS EDITOR! Now I'll never be able to unsee the owl face again!

Had extraordinary performance with Raijintek coolers on my old 1080Ti compared with the stock cooler back then (evga sc2).

"I've seen dogs stuck together" I literally died

And then he pulls out a comically large GPU, funniest shit I ever seen

The answer is yes, you can build this yourself.. you just need a good aftermarket heatsink as well. I've got a vega64 attached to a Morpheus with two noctua fans with the low noise adaptor.

Absolute mad lads with the AC set to 18C

"So many slots, you won't know where to begin." "Heh-heh. Cool."

"I have seen dogs getting stuck together" alpha male talk

I love how asus isn’t afraid to take risks and innovate. Probably my favorite tech company just cuz they embrace the crazy shit while also making high quality products

With the 4090 out this is now just a normal sized cooler

Saw JTC's video on this, and gotta say I'm a huge *fan*

Major Hardware did a RU-vid video similar to this only be 3D printed the shroud for the fans to match as closely as possible the media shots of the card before it shipped. Obviously since it hadn't shipped yet, he wasnt able to compare real world performance between the real deal and his copy, but it's a great video!

You could 3D print actual brackets pretty easy. Get your flatbed scanner out, import the scan for reference to your screw hole distances, import any 120mm fan and just make little doodads to go from one screw hole to another.

So, i used noctua fans on my 1070 when i bought it second hand and the fan were horribly loud. Only difference i see here is that i used plastic strips, but it's generally the same. Of course, the 1070 doesn't make as much heat as this one does. My gpu was whisper quiet and i never had any issues with heat. I don't think i ever reached higher than 60*C I would highly reccommend this mod if you don't mind a shabby looking gpu (unless you 3d print or something).

This is how all GPUs should be cooled, they cool great, its quiet and super easy to replace with pretty much any fan being a standard desktop fan if one dies. GPU heatsinks are so big these days anyway 120mm or even 140mm desktop fans are definitely the way to go.

I've made my own DYI Noctua edition card using an ASUS RTX 3070 Dual (non-OC) and the fans spin at about 1500 RPM (controlled by the card itself with a small adapter) with temps maxing out at 68 degrees (74 for the hot spot) running benchmarks (but it doesn't get quite as high during actual gaming). So it _is_ possible to get a similar performance to the real thing, but I guess the card you use will influence your performance a lot... But also letting the card control your fans is probably a very good idea which you should've tried :/ maybe it would run the fans a bit faster but it could've made up for the difference in the heatsink. Also, the NF-A12 aren't the most focused fans out there, so you have to make sure the fans are really tight against the heatsink, or else the air will just go out the edges.

The GPU paste could make a difference also if you had the fans set to system and made a custom curve you could see better temps. I do this with my GPU because I have the ASUS phoenix 1660 super, putting a 120mm fan and doing a custom curve as well as undervolting has helped me tame the beast. I no longer have temps of 90*C I typically max out at like 75 but stay around 60-65 now. Oh and despite the undervolt I actually have a slight overclock as well.

linus videos are like cooking shows for techies. im addicted

Good on you G.Skill for actually naming your RAM in a way that's distinguishable from DDR4 varients. I knew I liked those guys. Also, that Crystal style GPU on the bench is gorgeous. Would go well with Triden Z Royals I need a prettier card... unfortunately for me even if I could afford it good luck getting one. lol

This reminds me of two penny Jay's Delta fan experiments. The fin density of a heatsink is designed for a particular fan in a good assembly. This means that replacing it will have limited returns.

12:13 Looks like the card is about to burst into flames with that smoke animation on the monitor 😄

12:06 That timing was beautiful.

I'd be curious to see if he replaced the fans in the asus/noctua designed one with the same fans he jerry-rigged up to see if theres a difference between them getting their power/speed from the gpu. was disapointed he didn't ramp up the speed a little to see if there was a difference. Also take the heat sink off the asus/noctua and put it on something else. I bet the bigger heat sink is the difference maker.

Very thorough investigation im glad you considered air dynamics, Funneling, blocking air paths, and reducing vibrations

12:13 I thought the smoke was like a chill effect put in but it was just the game lol

Watching this video because the fans on my GTX 1070 strix are just kicking the bucket!!! Grinding noises!!

I hope they keep this collaboration going for the next gen as well, I kind of want one

Actually love the idea and design of the ASUS Noctua card. I have lots of space in my case, just put a big ass heat sink and fan full. I have space in my case for a reason, fill that bad boy up. Also, regular desktop fan? Easy to replace and upgrade?

Isn't it funny that this is a colab between Noctua who use an owl as a logo and Asus who also uses an owl for its Strix line

I just checked the price of these in the link in the description. My entire system with a founder's edition 3070 probably cost me less than just that card alone would, and the founder's edition 3070 is already pretty quiet in a case. I love Noctua as much as the next person, but it's hard to see how this would be worth it.