Noctua Offering Free Alternative Mounting Kit For NH-L9a Users

Just over a month ago we brought you the news that Noctua were offering all customers a free upgrade kit for the Haswell LGA 1150 socket if they had bought a Noctua product that didn’t support that socket. As always it was an impressive gesture by Noctua showing their customer support, attention to detail and professionalism. Today we see something even more impressive that sees Noctua essentially producing a free upgrade kit to end users to correct the mistake of motherboard vendors that didn’t follow the AMD motherboard specifications properly.

The new freely provided alternative mounting mechanism is actually pretty simple and consists of only four motherboard spacers. The reason it is required is that certain motherboards, the ASRock FM2A75M-ITX or FM2A85X-ITX for example, attach components to the rear of the AMD motherboard socket – which is actually not supposed to be done according to AMD specifications. As a result, the Noctua NH-L9a did not work on these systems because of this poor socket implementation by some motherboard vendors.

However, the new Noctua mounting kit allows users to now install their NH-L9a on any AMD motherboard without having to worry about whether the motherboard vendor has installed components where they shouldn’t. The new design removes the need for the stock AMD backplate, as clearly demonstrated by the above diagram.

“The SecuFirm2 mounting system of the NH-L9a complies strictly to the AMD specifications and guarantees 100% compatibility with mainboards that follow these specifications”, explains Mag. Roland Mossig (Noctua CEO). “We’ve been overwhelmed with the great press and customer feedback on this cooler, but unfortunately, some mini-ITX mainboards do not follow the AMD specifications, so the NH-L9a could not be installed on these. We have now designed an alternative mounting option and will provide the new parts to customers who need it free of charge.”

As always customers can get access to this free mounting kit upgrade by simply contacting Noctua support with proof of purchase of a Noctua NH-L9a and proof of purchase of an AMD motherboard that is incompatible with the stock mounting mechanism.

In addition to that, all Noctua NH-L9a CPU coolers that ship will have these parts included and the documentation has been edited to account for this new mounting alternative.

This really reinforces Noctua’s excellent reputation for customer service and product support. Surely no one can disagree that what Noctua are doing is a great thing, but the question is should Noctua have to correct other people’s mistakes? Or should the motherboard vendors who don’t follow AMD socket specifications be paying for it?

Source: PR