PC cooling giant Arctic assured its customers with LGA1700 processors that their existing Arctic coolers are fully compatible with the upcoming LGA1851 socket for Core Ultra 200 (codenamed Arrow Lake) processors.
These Arrow Lake chips are expected to arrive in late October and slot into the new LGA1851 socket. Arctic said on its blog, “According to current information, the mechanical dimensions remain unchanged.” The company added, “Arctic has assured customers since last year that all coolers purchased from October 23 onwards will support the new socket.”
Although the LGA1851 socket will have more pins than the LGA1700 socket, its exterior dimensions will allegedly remain the same. Although we’ve heard rumors that you could reuse your current LGA1700 cooler, Arctic is among the first to confirm this officially. This means users upgrading to the Arrow Lake chips and the corresponding Z890 motherboard (reportedly set to be revealed on October 10) can save a few dollars by reusing their current cooling system.
However, suppose you already have a cooler running at the edge of its performance. In that case, you might consider upgrading to something beefier, as Intel’s next-gen desktop chips are seemingly expected to run hotter than their predecessors. Enthusiasts who want every ounce of performance from their Intel chips will also likely want to get a specially designed AIO liquid cooler or water block, significantly as hotspots on the new processors have reportedly shifted versus the previous chips. But if you’re the average user and you don’t push your desktop PC to its limits, you could extend the life of your current Arctic cooler that you use with your LGA1700 processor.
While Arctic has announced that its LGA1700 coolers are compatible with the upcoming LGA1851 socket, it’s fair to assume that other cooler makers will soon make the same announcement. However, given that each manufacturer might have a slightly different mounting method, you’d want to confirm this with your brand before upgrading your system. That way, you’re guaranteed that the cooler you have right now will work with Arrow Lake chips, and you won’t end up frustrated (or worse, damaging your new motherboard or CPU) when you find out that your current cooler isn't up for the job.
Contributing Writer
Jowi Morales is a tech enthusiast with years of experience working in the industry. He’s been writing with several tech publications since 2021, where he’s been interested in tech hardware and consumer electronics.