Noctua doubles down on the confirmation of AM5 socket mounting kits that will be shipped out at no additional cost to existing buyers of their coolers.
The upcoming AMD Ryzen 7000 series processors powered by the Zen 4 architecture use the new AM5 socket yet AM4 coolers by Noctua are still compatible with them thanks to the mechanism of the threads attaching to the standard AM4 stock backplate, which if you have already figured out, the exact same positions.
Therefore, all SE-AM4 models as well as all Noctua multi-socket coolers purchased since January 2019 can be reused without any modification while multi-socket coolers bought before that date that has been applied with either NM-AM4 or NM-AM4-UxS kits also benefit from this no-hassle transition. Essentially, anything older than 2019 that can use the NM-AM4 or NM-AM4-UxS supports AM5.
And of course, with all things free there are bound to be caveats and surely, there are 2 unfortunate members being left out of this offer which are the NH-L9a-AM4 low-profile cooler and the NM-AM4-L9aL9i mounting-kit (You like updating a mounting kit with a mounting kit updating??). The reason for ditching the NH-L9a-AM4 is due to the nature of the product replacing the standard AMD backplate with a custom one so logically, you won’t be able to do that on AM5.
To secure a unit of the new mounting kits free of charge, you’ll need to submit a proof of purchase featuring an eligible Noctua CPU cooler and either an AM4 or AM5 CPU/motherboard. As shipping periods and verification of submissions take time, urgent users can grab one over at Amazon at USD7.90.
On the other hand, future Noctua coolers will be 100% AM5 compatible out of the box starting Q1 next year.
