The arrival of the Intel Core 12 CPUs has meant a new socket, the LGA1700, which with its more rectangular shape has forced the design of new AIO heat sinks and radiators. However, it seems that there are compatibility problems between the Noctua heatsinks and radiators and some ASUS motherboards.
When building a heatsink for a new family of processors, not only do you have to take into account the specifications of the CPU itself, it also requires collaboration with the motherboard manufacturers that are going to be released at the same time. Since a misunderstanding can lead to incompatibilities in the assembly.
Well, we cannot deny the good reputation of Noctua in the market of cooling systems for CPUs and it is that they have managed to be one of the most prominent in the industry, which gave them the privilege of announcing before anyone else heatsinks for the Intel’s new processors for LGA 1700 socket, It seems that they are not compatible with all motherboards of a certain manufacturer.
Noctua heatsinks and ASUS boards get on badly
No, it is not that ASUS and Noctua are at odds or there is a bad relationship between both companies, since the former has been a customer of the latter’s solutions for a long time, to the point where the manufacturer and assembler makes use of the Noctua solutions in several of its products.
What is happening? The problem does not affect all motherboards under the Z690 or B660 chipsets, but it turns out that some of them are not mechanically with the heatsinks NH-D15, NH-U12S, and NH-U12A of Noctua, the main reason being the height of the heatsink covering the VRMs on the motherboard. On which ASUS motherboards can Noctua heatsinks be mounted? Well, the following:
- ROG Maximus Z690 Formula
- ROG Strix B660-i Gaming
- ROG Strix Z-690-A Gaming WiFi D4
- ROG Strix Z690-F Gaming WiFi
- ROG Strix Z-690-E Gaming WiFi
- ROG Strix Z-690-G Gaming WiFi
- ROG Strix Z-690-I Gaming WiFi
- ROG Strix Z-690-I Gaming WiFi D4
- TUF Gaming B660M-PLUS WiFi
All other ASUS motherboards can use Noctua heatsinks without any problem.
The rest of the brands are not affected
Noctua has also reported that Intel’s LGA1700 socket processor motherboards are not affected and their heatsinks may mount their problems. As you can see in the different lists that we attach as images above these lines, although there are exceptions such as some EVGA boards where they can only be mounted on horizontal orientation.
Although regardless of the brand it seems that they all have a common problem, the need for mounting kits due to the pressure problems that exist with the Intel Core 12, which seems to have to do with the nature of the socket. In any case, it is recommended not to use the cooling systems designed for LGA1200 socket CPUs, not only because of the pressure on it, but also due to the fact that the heat distribution is different.
