A redditor has taken to r/sffpc to show off their latest project, a custom GeForce RTX 4090 from INNO3D that’s been updated with three of Noctua’s NF-A9 fans, enabling not only what they say are lower noise levels, but also substantially lower temperatures versus the GPU’s original cooling solution.
“3D- printed a case for my 4090 inno3d and installed 3 Noctua NF-A9 fans,” zaME19 wrote this week, sharing a gallery that includes a photo of how the GPU looks in a case that’s decked out with other Noctua coolers. “Im really satisfied with the results, temps are around 8 degrees cooler and the card runs alot quieter.”
“I used the screws from the original cooler and i didnt had much wiggle room in the installation process, so take your time measuring the dimensions of the card and the brackets,” zaME19 said in response to another poster who is thinking about doing the same for their AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX, which they say has loud fans.
“Because of the immense lenght of the card, i had to print two seperate pieces and connected them afterwards. PLA is the way to go in the printing process,” they added.
Will zaME19’s work inspire INNO3D to link up with Noctua for an official version? Perhaps, but for now, GeForce users who are interested in a more official approach will want to look into the ASUS GeForce RTX 4080 Noctua Edition, a collaboration between the two companies that saw NVIDIA’s $1,199 GPU being outfitted with two of Noctua’s NF-A12x25 PWM 120-millimeter fans, not to mention a new heat sink:
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.
ASUS and Noctua also previously teamed for a GeForce RTX 3070 and GeForce RTX 3080 Noctua Edition, but it’s unclear whether the companies might be stepping up their collaborations to include NVIDIA’s Ada gaming flagship.
The ASUS GeForce RTX 4080 Noctua Edition is currently selling for over $1,600 at retailers that include Amazon and Newegg.