These past few weeks, rumors about an Asus x Noctura graphics card have been circulating online. There were leak photos of the graphics card as well. Well, today, Asus and Noctua made it official. Asus announces the GeForce RTX 3070 Noctua Edition graphics card. As you may have seen from leaked photos, it looks like an RTX 30 TUF graphics card slapped with Noctua NFA12x25 fans. Check out more from the official news release below. Noctua also added some performance comparison of the Noctua edition vs a graphics card with a “standard fan”.
ASUS and Noctua announce ASUS GeForce RTX 3070 Noctua Edition Graphics Card
ASUS today announced the ASUS GeForce RTX™ 3070 Noctua Edition in collaboration with Noctua. Inspired by the dedication of the PC “DIY” modding and enthusiast community, the graphics card incorporates optimized airflow and sustained high performance with Noctua’s signature aesthetic to deliver incredible performance.
Optimizing Airflow – New Heatsink Design:
The ASUS GeForce RTX™ 3070 Noctua Edition incorporates a newly designed heatsink and a pair of Noctua’s signature NF-A12x25 fans to optimize airflow characteristics. A massive, 2.3-slot heatsink was developed in collaboration with the R&D team at ASUS and Noctua engineers.
“Using our extensive thermal R&D experience, we’ve created a new GPU heatsink that’s tailor-made for the performance characteristics of the state-of-the-art NF-A12x25 fans,” said Kent Chien, Corporate Vice President and General Manager of the ASUS Multimedia Business Unit. “Our teamwork gives noise-conscious gamers and Noctua enthusiasts a unique graphics card that maximizes heat dissipation per decibel of noise emitted, all in a package that coordinates perfectly with other Noctua products in a DIY PC.”
Bridging Silence with Performance:
The collaborative development process resulted in achieving top thermal performance per decibel of noise emitted from a graphics card. The ASUS GeForce RTX™ 3070 Noctua Edition produces a 10 dB lower sound pressure level when controlling power limit, ambient temperature, and thermal junction temperature.
“By using our NF-A12x25 fans and collaborating to fine-tune the heatsink for use with them, this card achieves a significant boost in performance-to-noise efficiency,” added Noctua CEO Roland Mossig. “ASUS’ line-up of GeForce RTX 3070 cards is already outstanding, but we’re confident that the Noctua Edition will be the cherry on the cake for noise-conscious customers.”
Unique Collaborative Aesthetic & Features:
The graphics card incorporates signature ASUS features with unique characteristics present in Noctua’s aesthetic. The card includes a custom brown shroud for the duo of NF-A12x25 fans, Noctua’s signature brown color scheme, and a secure mounting system. ASUS and Noctua logos are included on the front and sides of the shroud, along with subtle graphics on the full-length alloy backplate.
The ASUS GeForce RTX™ 3070 Noctua Edition is outfitted with all signature features present in ASUS graphics cards. The card features a dual-mode BIOS switch which comes preset to Quiet mode for an optimal balance of noise and performance. The card also includes a 0 dB idle mode which keeps noise levels to a minimum under light graphics loads. Exclusive Auto-Extreme assembly technology assures precise placement and clean soldering of onboard components, and a vented backplate design gives heated air a shortcut into a case’s natural airflow path. A 144-hour validation process ensures optimal performance out-of-the-box.
Asus RTX 3070 Noctua Edition Noise Performance
When used in cases with good ventilation and at moderate ambient temperatures of 24°C or lower, both cards will keep their fans at very low speeds even at 100% GPU load. In such a typical setting, the standard version is already very quiet at only 18.3 dB(A). However, the fine-tuned heatsink and the more efficient NF-A12x25 fans of the Noctua Edition still enable it to achieve a further 5.7dB(A) reduction in noise levels as well as a 4°C reduction in GPU temperatures.
According to Noctua, the ASUS GeForce GeForce RTX 3070 Noctua Edition is the ideal card for quiet cooling enthusiasts who demand serious GPU performance without sacrificing the quietness of operation.
Pricing and Availability
ASUS GeForce RTX 3070 Noctua Edition will be available worldwide from mid-October 2021. Asus did not mention its MSRP. However, expected that the retail price for this graphics card would be relatively high as well. GPU shortage is still an issue, and we haven’t seen any RTX 30 cards touching NVIDIA’s suggested prices.
If you’re not familiar with the GeForce RTX 3070’s performance, you can check out our MSI GeForce RTX 3070 Gaming X Trio review here or GALAX GeForce RTX 3070 SG review here.
