In a market filled to the brim with flashy RGB rivals that try to be as eye-catching as possible, there are very few brands making CPU coolers that try to make as little noise as possible. Noctua is one of those manufacturers, and it has a talent for making low-profile coolers that, despite using fairly boring brown and beige colors, are alluring must-haves within the best gaming PCs.
Noctua has just marked 20 years in business, and as a celebration, it’s launching a brand new product that looks perfect for any PC builder’s desk, or indeed any hardware editor’s testing bench. The NP-DM3 is a premium-grade deskmat that shows a commemorative timeline of Noctua’s innovation in the CPU cooler market through the years.
I wouldn’t think of a history lesson as a great display for the top of my gaming desk, but I can’t think of a better way to mark this brand’s 20th birthday. Its products’ use of brown, beige, and creamy colors is almost ironically cool. It’s the sort of brand you go to when you’re sick of the silly, childish RGB the kids are using these days. This new deskmat is no different; it’s totally classy, and its use of fairly bland colors is somehow really soothing on the eye.
Noctua’s coolers are beautifully low-profile, both in their physical attributes and their noise levels – and both can be massively important. I used a Noctua cooler for my first ever build, and it managed to keep an otherwise fiery Intel Core i5-13600K relatively calm despite being in an ITX small-form-factor build.
“Things have come a long way since we’ve launched our very first CPU coolers 20 years ago”, said Roland Mossig, CEO at Noctua.
“We’re incredibly grateful that so many customers have turned out to share our passion for performance, quietness and quality. It’s this shared passion that has enabled Noctua’s evolution, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank our customers for their continued trust”, Mossig said.
I’m always really glad to see hardware brands reach out into the mouse mat game, especially since it’s an area I’ve only recently come to appreciate. Getting the right size for you can be tough, but the 90x40cm size of Noctua’s new NP-DM3 is a really versatile size for most desks.
I recently went down a bit of a rabbit hole when buying a new deskmat, ultimately landing on the SteelSeries QCK Performance options. I had never truly appreciated how different surfaces could change the way your mouse moves when gaming. Different speeds of surfaces will benefit different games, with more friction giving you stopping power for accuracy, but slicker mats letting you glide, which can help with tracking a target.
Like a few premium options on the shelves, Noctua’s new mat features an anti-slip rubberized bottom and a low-friction fabric on top that will likely make it an ideal choice for gamers who like a faster, gliding pad. Wear and tear is one of the biggest checkboxes for me with deskmats, since one of my older ones wore out completely within a year, but Noctua says this new one utilizes premium quality materials, stitched edges, and a “highly wearproof” printing that will prevent that timeline from disappearing over the next 20 years.
Alongside this new mouse mat, Noctua has also revamped its website, making it a little more streamlined and navigable, which will come in handy if you’re trying to look through its wares to get the right cooler for your build.
For more on PC components, take a look at the best graphics card, the best RAM for gaming, and the best computer speakers.