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All three versions of Noctua’s NH-D15 G2 are compatible with the NM-IB8 mounting solution: the standard, HBC, and LBC versions. Other Noctua models are not compatible.
The NM-IB8 is Noctua’s first offset mounting kit optimized for Intel processors. Previous generations of Intel CPUs (including LGA 1700 chips) took advantage of a monolithic die design, which always had a hotspot area very close to the center of the CPU package. As a result, they did not need any sort of mounting offset to improve cooling performance.
Noctua first started shipping offset mounts for AMD AM4 and AM5-based processors. These offset mounts also prioritize shifting a Noctua cooler’s central portion toward the CPU’s hottest part, namely the chiplet containing the CPU cores. However, on AMD Ryzen-based chips, the cores are located in a different location compared to Arrow Lake chips.
The NH-D15 G2 is the successor to the legendary NH-D15 that debuted all the way back in 2014. One of the most prominent upgrades with the G2 variant is the addition of two alternate variants of the cooler, tailored-made for specific CPUs. The HBC variant (High Base Convexity) has a modified contact plate optimized for LGA 1700 chips that bend heavily in their socket. LBC (Low Base Convexity) is aimed at relatively flat CPUs such as LGA 2011 or AM4 processors.
These alternate versions are primarily geared towards enthusiasts or overclockers who want to extract as much performance from the NH-D15 G2 as possible. There is still a vanilla version of the cooler that works with all types of chips and is tuned for balanced performance across a variety of chips.
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