Noctua has announced a long-term partnership with Carbice, "a U.S.-based expert in vertically-aligned carbon nanotube thermal interface materials." Noctua revealed during this year's Computex that it will become the exclusive retail distributor of Carbice's carbon nanotube thermal pads.
A dedicated cooling pad for AMD Ryzen processors, the NT-CP1 AM5/4, will be the first Carbice product available to buy from Noctua from September 2026. The Austrian cooling company will also collaborate with Carbice on "future product development" as well. This strategic partnership is what Noctua were teasing last week, rather than a hairy fan as Jacob theorised.
It's been a minute since we last wrote about Carbice's carbon nanotube CPU cooling tech. Thermal paste is still a fine way to keep your processor cool, but after hearing one too many horror stories about gooped-up CPU sockets, I can't help but get in my own head about applying it my-clumsy-self. Carbice offers a pad that is instead "mess-free, maintenance-free," and will hopefully keep your processor's sockets clear. Carbice's Ice Pad will also be bundled with the soon to be re-launched Ryzen 7 5800X3D.
"Carbice's unique, innovative TIM technology has already proven to be a game changer in applications that demand ultimate reliability such as satellites, aerospace or critical infrastructure," Noctua CEO Roland Mossig said of the partnership, "We're confident that the superior long-term performance, ease-of-use and dependability of Carbice pads will be equally attractive for PC enthusiasts, so we're excited to bring them to this market space and to collaborate with Carbice on future R&D."
The full announcement goes into a bit more detail about Carbice's carbon nanotube tech. Apparently, "thanks to the pads' robust mechanics and carbon nanotubes that incrementally conform to surface microstructures," the thermal performance of this bit of kit actually improves over time (whereas traditional thermal paste can crack and delaminate).
Carbice's products are also unusual in the field of cooling pads. The press explains, "Unlike other carbon or graphite-based thermal pads that can be brittle, slippery and electrically conductive, Carbice pads are reinforced by an aluminium backbone that’s sandwiched between the carbon nanotube forests, and the entire surface is protected by a nanoscale polymer coating. This unique structure makes them highly robust, tacky enough to stay in place during installation and effortless to remove."
As keen as I am to get my hands on one of Carbice's CPU pads come September, Noctua have notably not yet revealed pricing information. I'm willing to bet that a steady hand and a tube of thermal paste will continue to be the most affordable CPU cooling solution for a while yet.
