This leaked RTX 3070 GPU could be the quietest air-cooled graphics card yet

A brown and beige Heatsink Fan NoctuaNH-L9i CPU cooler on wooden slats.
(Image credit: Fuadi Afif | Shutterstock)

ASUS may have accidentally leaked an upcoming Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070, and it could be the quietest air-cooled GPU to date if it's the real deal.

As first reported by Wccftech, ASUS' Vietnamese Facebook page posted photos of a curious looking RTX 3070 featuring brown and beige Noctua fans. The Facebook post has since been taken down. The design seems to be based on ASUS' Dual V2 OC Edition series of RTX cards, which feature two large fans. The Noctua fans look similar to the NF-A12x25 the company currently sells. The Facebook post did not reveal a release date nor did it mention if other RTX cards would also be getting the Noctua treatment. But the Facebook post did mention a price of 26 million Vietnamese dong, or around $1,143

ASUS Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 with Noctua fans

(Image credit: Wccftech)

This isn't the first time ASUS Noctua fans have popped up online. ASUS had apparently registered a line of Noctua branded cards on the Eurasian Economic Commission website. And before that, HWCooling had reported that Noctua was working with ASUS for coolers on its Strix line of graphics cards. 

Noctua is an Austrian computer hardware company best known for making CPU heatsinks and case fans. The brand has been defined by its brown and beige color scheme, which looks like the wood panel furniture from the 1970s. 

Regardless of its varying shades of brown, Noctua has established itself among PC building enthusiasts for making high quality and high airflow computer fans that produce minimal noise. It's so good that many computer builders are willing to overlook the color scheme just so that they can gain some cooling and noise performance.

ASUS Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 with Noctua fans

(Image credit: Wccftech)

The RTX 3070 cards shown in the picture above do seem to be standard affair. Along with the courtroom color scheme, the card will have a backplate with a finned heatsink with several heat pipes for better heat dissipation. It will be powered by dual 8-pin connectors and output video either via three HDMI ports or two DisplayPorts. 

Either way, at a potential price of $1,143, this Noctua branded RTX 3070 will come at a hefty premium. A reference RTX 3070 by Nvidia costs $599 by comparison, assuming it can be found at retail. Given the continued GPU shortage caused by the global pandemic, we wouldn't be surprised if these cards sell out immediately. That is, if it's actually a real product. 

Imad Khan

Imad is currently Senior Google and Internet Culture reporter for CNET, but until recently was News Editor at Tom's Guide. Hailing from Texas, Imad started his journalism career in 2013 and has amassed bylines with the New York Times, the Washington Post, ESPN, Wired and Men's Health Magazine, among others. Outside of work, you can find him sitting blankly in front of a Word document trying desperately to write the first pages of a new book.