Noctua Shows Off Pump-Free Liquid Cooler, Announces Debut Date

Noctua plans to release its first liquid cooling system in 2026. Moreover, it will work on the principle of a thermosiphon, that is, without a pump. This was told by the company’s founder Roland Mossig in a conversation with journalists from the Japanese publication Hermitage Akihabara. Noctua demonstrated a prototype of such a cooling system at the Computex exhibition last year, and now it has presented it at an event in Japan.

Image source: Noctua / Hermitage Akihabara

According to the concept, the cooling liquid heated in the water block turns into steam and, under the action of natural convection, rises through one of the tubes to the heat exchanger (radiator), on which a pair of 120 mm fans are installed. There, the liquid condenses so that, under the action of the same convection, after cooling, it returns through another tube to the water block on the processor. The presence of a pump, as in conventional liquid cooling systems, is not provided here. All movement of the liquid is provided exclusively due to natural convection. Heat pipes in computer coolers work in a similar way.

«”When we release it, it will be a product that delivers performance that satisfies our customers,” Mossig said, adding that “if all goes well, we expect the product to be commercially available sometime in 2026.”

According to Noctua, due to the heat capacity reserve provided by the heat absorption of the liquid before its evaporation, such a cooling system will match the efficiency of maintenance-free liquid cooling systems. At the same time, it will be free of the disadvantages of traditional liquid systems, such as noise and vibration of the pump or the risk of its mechanical failure.

However, such a system cannot be called completely silent, since its radiator is equipped with two fans. In addition, the principle of natural convection imposes restrictions on the location of the radiator: the heat exchanger with fans must be installed under the top panel of the case, and the tubes through which the working fluid circulates must have a certain angle of inclination in the middle part so as not to interfere with circulation. Unlike this system, conventional maintenance-free liquid cooling systems can be installed both in the upper part of the case and in the front, provided that the part of the radiator with connecting tubes is located above the level of the pump on the CPU.

However, most modern PC cases are designed with top ventilation in mind, and the Noctua radiator/condenser unit is similar in size to a standard 280mm liquid cooling system radiator. In theory, it should even fit into some small form factor systems.