Intel LGA-1851 socket for 2024 Arrow Lake series
One of Noctua’s most popular coolers supports Intel’s new socket.
Noctua NH-U12A cooler, Source: Akiba PC Hotline
Some of you may have already guessed that some LGA-1700 compatible coolers will also work for the LGA-1851 socket. This was hinted by the first details on the LGA-1851 socket that Benchlife leaked more than a year ago. Although both sockets are similar, the new socket will have a slightly different Z-height, with the integrated heatspreader height increasing from 6.73-7.4mm (LGA-1700) to 6.83-7.49mm (LGA-1851).
Noctua has confirmed that its NH-U12A mounting kit for the LGA-1700 socket will also fit the LGA-1851 socket. The manual shows that both sockets require the same kit, which is already included with all the coolers that Noctua released since the 12th gen Core “Alder Lake” series launched in 2021.
Noctua NH-U12A cooler, Source: Akiba PC Hotline
Therefore, Noctua is the first company to announce that its LGA-1700 kit for NH-U12A cooler is compatible with the next-gen Intel CPUs. In this case, that is the Arrow Lake-S series, as the Meteor Lake-S desktop CPUs were reportedly canceled. The first motherboards with the LGA-1851 socket will be available next year. This is, of course, great news from Noctua, even before Intel officially revealed anything about this socket.
This is the first cooler, but it’s not clear if other coolers from Noctua or other companies will also work for LGA-1851. Compatibility may depend on the cooler surface or the mounting mechanism. But since both sockets have the same package size of 37.5x45mm, most coolers may work fine with minimal or no changes to the mounting kits.
Intel LGA 1851 socket, Source: Benchlife
Note that although this compatibility is confirmed by the new packaging, which was first seen in Japan, the company is yet to update its official compatibility list to include the LGA-1851 socket. This was not the case at the time of writing.
Source: Akiba PC Hotline
