ASUS GeForce RTX 3070 Noctua OC Edition (LHR), RTX3070-O8G-NOCTUA, 8GB GDDR6, 2x HDMI, 3x DP

Die Vorstellung der ASUS GeForce RTX 3070 Noctua Edition sorgte für einiges Aufsehen, denn schließlich hat sich Noctua bei Lüftern und Kühlern einen gewissen Namen erarbeitet, der nun in einer Zusammenarbeit mit ASUS in der Kühlung einer Grafikkarte aufgehen soll. Wie gut dies gelungen ist und wo hier auch zukünftig Chancen zu suchen sind, schauen wir uns im folgenden Test an.

Der österreichische Kühler- und Lüfterspezialist Noctua hat sich mit Asus zusammengetan und die Asus GeForce RTX 3070 Noctua OC Edition ist dabei herausgekommen. Im Test zeigt sich schnell, dass die Kombination in Sachen Kühlleistung und Lautstärke derzeit weder zu schlagen noch auch nur zu erreichen ist.

High-end graphics cards follow a formula that's been tried and implemented over and over again, look at the STRIX series which have been an ongoing success with very few changes. Choosing a vendor these days; you do base on aesthetics, cooling performance, and, in 2021, availability, as performance for most cards is essentially the same. With that in mind, I seem to appreciate more and more what ASUS tried to accomplish with the Noctua Edition RTX 3070, it's something else, a different approach, and we like that. It really is one of the quietest high-end graphics cards on the market, however at the cost of a massive 4.3-slot form factor paired with two high-quality but brown/beige fans. The end result is a virtually silent product in its default configuration. The exceptionally low noise levels allow this product to be a notch more expensive. The RTX 3070 Noctua OC originally had an MSRP of $830, that however already is a $330 premium over the NVIDIA-specified MSRP of $500. Pricing and actual availability will remain to be the biggest hurdle, we looked and found this product selling for 1250 EUR, and that's just a massive no-go zone. The acoustic and temperature performance both are grand, the looks however trivial, the performance is as expected. Overall, if you think from an audiophile point of view, the product has a lot of merits. But again, there are lots of premium products out there that perform close in acoustics with looks to match. Perhaps in the future next to the DUAL, TUF, and STRIX lines we'll see other cards based on an ASUS Noctua line, devoted to those demanding extremely low noise operation. And this conclusion needs to end there. The release of the Noctua 3070 is more of a trial than something for the masses. The release creates a bit of marketing hype and if you're lucky you'll find one in etail. However future designs and gauging the interest of the public with a Noctua series is what this release likely is all about. Recommended for those interested in true silent operation.

The ASUS GeForce RTX 3070 Noctua OC is a pleasant surprise this season, which is dominated by news from AMD and Intel. Personally, I've always wondered why Noctua doesn't get involved in more collaborations—with an extremely strong reputation and brand name, they are THE cooling specialists. I feel like ASUS is a great match for Noctua, as they have tons of experience with graphics card engineering and can offer the resources to support such a project.

...instrumental in making this RTX 3070 the quietest high-end card we've ever tested. Most premium graphics cards tend to be variations on a well-trodden theme. Performance is largely similar due to scaling limitations from the GPU and memory, so the choice of vendor is predicated on aesthetics, cooling performance, and in 2021, availability. Asus takes a different path with the RTX 3070 Noctua Edition. Rather than offer more glitz via RGB or an extra 20MHz frequency which makes literally no difference to framerates, the decision to adopt over-the-top cooling is pivotal in reducing noise and creating great PR buzz. A 4.3-slot form factor, monster housing, and an oversized heatsink featuring dual high-quality fans are instrumental in making this RTX 3070 the quietest high-end card we've ever tested. So much so, in fact, that our test PC, cooled by a custom-curve AIO, is practically silent at idle whilst producing the most inoffensive hum at full gaming load. It's true to say that most rival cards can also be made vastly quieter by spending a bit of time fine-tuning the fan curve, but this Asus/Noctua creation does it right off the bat. Some will baulk at the colour scheme, some will be left agog by its sheer size, and others may wish to see the same treatment on the true upper echelons of GeForce RTX and Radeon RX hardware. All valid points. What's uncontestable, however, is this card's ability to churn out healthy framerates with the least amount of aural fuss. Recommended to quiet-computing aficionados.