Noctua Lets Intel’s Skylake-X ‘Basin Falls’ X299 Socket Slip, LGA 2066 Inbound

Noctua’s latest announcement is the first official recognition of the rumored LGA2066 socket for the forthcoming X299 Basin Falls platform, which marks a departure for Intel’s HEDT platform. In the past, HEDT processors shared the same socket as the E5 Xeon server family, such as the 2011-3 socket with Broadwell-E. Last year, we discovered the massive LGA 3647 socket that Intel is deploying for Purley (aka Xeon Skylake-EP).

Noctua also had a prototype cooler on hand at the show, which confirmed the new socket will support both Purley and Knights Landing platforms. Of course, such lavish socket accommodations would make little sense for the casual enthusiast; Intel added the extra pins to support whiz-bang enterprise technology like 100Gbps Omni-Path and three UPI interconnects. As we opined at the time, LGA3647 likely served as an initial indication that Intel would offer a separate socket for the HEDT platform.

Sure enough, Noctua’s press release claimed that the new Basin Falls X299 platform will employ the LGA 2066 socket for Skylake-X and Kaby Lake-X. The naming scheme also marks another departure for Intel, this time from the “E” branding typically associated with its HEDT processors.

Owners of older Noctua CPU coolers will be happy to discover that the company is now offering a free mounting upgrade for those of you planning on upgrading to Intel’s upcoming LGA2066 platform and Skylake-X CPUs.

It should be noted that most current Noctua coolers already include the SecuFirm2 mounting system for LGA2011 that’s compatible with LGA2066 motherboards without the need for upgrades or modifications. In fact, this kit is compatible with most Noctua retail coolers produced since 2005, except for the NH-L9i and NH-L9a low-profile models.

Noctua CEO Roland Mossig stated:

We’re determined to provide the best possible support to our customers and, over the years, we’ve sent many thousands of mounting kits free of charge to users who wanted to upgrade to new platforms. With Skylake-X just around the corner, we’re pleased to announce that we’ll extend this offer for LGA2066. Owners of older Noctua retail heatsinks that don’t support LGA2011/LGA2066 out of the box will be able to upgrade to the new socket free of charge!

To request your free mounting upgrade, you must submit proof of purchase in the form of a screenshot, photo, or scan of your original invoice for an eligible Noctua CPU cooler and either an LGA2066 motherboard or CPU. Those of you who no longer have your receipt can simply write your full name and the current date on a piece of paper, take a photo of the paper next to your CPU cooler, and upload that as proof of purchase.

Once available, the kit can also be purchased in retail stores that carry Noctua products such as Newegg, Amazon, Frozen CPU, Outlet PC, Xoxide and others.

The following coolers can be upgraded to fit LGA2011 / LGA2066 free of charge using the NM-I2011 upgrade-kit:

• NH-C12P
• NH-C12P SE14
• NH-C14
• NH-D14
• NH-D15 SE-AM4
• NH-U12S SE-AM4
• NH-L9x65 SE-AM4
• NH-U12
• NH-U12F
• NH-U12P
• NH-U12P SE1366
• NH-U12P SE2
• NH-U9
• NH-U9B
• NH-U9B SE2
• NH-U9F

The following coolers can be upgraded using the NM-I2011 kit but are not eligible for Noctua’s free mounting offer:

• NH-U12DX
• NH-U12DX 1366
• NH-U9DX 1366
• NH-U9DO (Note that the A3 version is not compatible!)