ASUS and Noctua have collaborated again for another graphics card, and this time, it’s the ASUS GeForce RTX 4080 Noctua Edition, the third graphics card to feature Noctua fans and a heat sink that has been co-engineered by Noctua, the premium cooling components company known for its beige and brown color scheme. This is a special version of ASUS’ TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 4080 that swaps its stock 110 mm fans with two of Noctua’s award-winning NF-A12x25 PWM 120 mm units and pairs them with a more elaborate, tailored heatsink with vapour chamber that features five instead of two 8 mm diameter heat pipes, enabling what the company has described as the quietest card in its class, featuring improved thermals and acoustics. The ASUS GeForce RTX 4080 Noctua Edition graphics card is available beginning today for what is said to be $1,650, a substantial premium over the MSRP of the GeForce RTX 4080 ($1,199).
“Building on the success or our previous collaboration, we are delighted to present the ASUS GeForce RTX 4080 Noctua Edition. Once again, we have combined our expertise with Noctua’s mastery of low-noise cooling to create a graphics card that offers an unparalleled experience without compromising on noise levels, reflecting the strength and innovation of our collaboration.” said Kent Chien (Corporate Vice President and General Manager of the ASUS Multimedia Business Unit).
“The first two Noctua Edition graphics cards were a resounding success, so we’re proud to continue our partnership with ASUS”, says Roland Mossig (Noctua CEO), “Like with the previous Noctua Edition cards, we’ve closely cooperated with ASUS to create the quietest card in its class, bringing our signature low noise levels to the GeForce RTX 4080 series.”
From a Noctua press release:
While the heatsinks of the RTX 3070 and RTX 3080 Noctua Edition have already been tailored in aspects such as size and heatpipe layout in order to make the most out of the Noctua NF-A12x25 fans’ superior aerodynamic performance, the heatsink of the RTX 4080 Noctua Edition has been re-designed from the ground up to achieve maximum thermal efficiency: By adding a vapour chamber and using its superior heat-spreading capabilities to transfer the thermal energy to five instead of two 8mm heatpipes (plus three instead of six 6mm ones), the Noctua Edition provides significantly better cooling performance than the original TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 4080. This, in return, enables it to operate with slower fan speeds and, combined with the class-leading efficiency of the NF-A12x25 fans, to run quieter than any other air-cooled card in its class.
When running the fans at their maximum speed, like it might be required in worst-case situations such as when fully stressing the card in poorly ventilated cases or with very high ambient temperatures, the reduction in noise levels is as big as 14.9 dB(A). At medium fan speeds (70% PWM), the Noctua Edition runs 16.8 dB(A) quieter while being fractionally hotter (0.8°C). The picture at low fan speeds (such as at typical auto settings with 23°C ambient temperature) is similar with near-identical temperatures and a reduction in noise levels of 4.8 dB(A), making the already quiet original ASUS TUF Gaming card even quieter.
In sum, the Noctua Edition provides lower noise levels across the entire speed range with the most prominent improvement of ~15-17 dB(A) at medium to maximum fan speed and around 5 dB(A) at lower speeds.
Like the previous Noctua Edition cards, the GeForce RTX 4080 model features a dual BIOS that enables customers to switch between a performance profile that provides the lowest GPU temperatures and a quiet profile that allows slightly higher temperatures in order to achieve the best possible acoustics. Catering to the demands of Noctua’s customers, the quiet profile is set as the default.
In summary, the ASUS GeForce RTX 4080 Noctua Edition is the ideal card for quiet cooling enthusiasts who demand serious GPU performance without sacrificing quietness of operation.
