Noctua has just unveiled the Noctua PWM NA-FH1, a compact new fan hub that can power eight fans at once via a single motherboard header and includes added circuit protection to ensure your system is protected from the potential load of all those fans.
While fan hubs aren’t normally the most exciting of product releases, the PWM NA-FH1 is worth paying attention to for several reasons. For a start, not many hubs offer fully eight four-pin channels, and those that do often don’t have the ability to pass on the PWM fan speed control of the motherboard, instead relying on manual control.
The PWM NA-FH1 is also impressively compact with dimensions of just 93 x 43 x 12.5 mm, which compares to 101.4 x 37.4 x 17 mm for the similar Phanteks PH-PWHUB_02 fan controller. This ensures the NA-FH1 should easily fit into the often tight gap between the underside of motherboard trays and case panels. The NA-FH1 also includes four neodymium magnets on its underside, again making installation even easier – no need to mess around with double-sided foam tape.
Less ideal for installation is the inclusion of a SATA power input. These power connections are rather bulky and many of us have managed to otherwise completely do away with them having moved to M.2 storage devices instead of SATA hard drives and SSDs. However, while the SATA power is needed for getting the highest power draw of up to 54W from the device, it can also run on just the 4-pin PWM input from your motherboard, with it able to power 5V and 12V fans up to a total of 24W.
Whichever power option you choose, the circuits are protected against overcurrent thanks to a self-resetting fuse, ensuring you don’t damage either your fans or your motherboard. White status LEDs also provide a quick reference for diagnosing any issues.
One thing to note is the PWM NA-FH1 isn’t designed to work with any software-based fan control, whether Corsair iCUE, NZXT CAM, or the like. Instead, it will simply follow the lead of the signal given to its 4-pin PWM input – so you could control that input via software, but not the individual fans themselves.
The Noctua PWM NA-FH1 is just $35 and available immediately. It includes the hub and a 30cm 4-pin input cable for easy installation in most cases. Just yesterday we were singing the praises of the Noctua NF-A12x25 120mm case fan and we would expect that level of expertise to be applied to this new fan hub too.
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