Heatsink using a mounting method where you place screws through the 2 S939 mounting holes are rendered useless; this includes popular heatsinks like the Thermaltake Big Typhoon, Noctua NH-U 12, Scythe Katana and the Tuniq Tower 120.

The only heatsinks which can be re-used on the new socket without extra’s are those with clips, clips made for the S939 K8 bracket. The new bracket allows them to be installed without issue, plug and play. Below you can see an Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 installed on AM2:




See the update section at the end of the page for new updates and mounting brackets which allow MORE exisiting heatsinks to be used on the AM2 platform

The list

So which heatsinks have clips, which ones “could” fit through use of a custom bracket? We’ve gone through our heatsink reviews and added the necessary bits of information concerning compatibility. We also added heatsinks we have not tested yet but are confirmed to work with AM2, either natively, or through use of a new clip/bracket.

Manufacturer and Model	Will fit AM2	Might fit with custom bracket
Aerocool Dominator
Aerocool DP-102
Aerocool Extreme		•
Aerocool HT-101
Aerocool HT-102
Aerocool X-Fire	•
Alpha PAL8045
Alpha PAL8942
Alpha S-PAL8055F
Alpha S-PAL8952
AMD 4 Heatpipe Stock Heatsink	•
Arctic Cooling Alpine 64	•
Arctic Cooling Freezer 64	•
Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro	•
Arctic Cooling Super Silent 2L
Arctic Cooling Super Silent 4Pro L		•
Asetek VapoChill Micro
Asus X-Mars	•
Coolermaster Aero7
Coolermaster Hyper48		•
Coolermaster Hyper6		•
Coolermaster Hyper6+
CoolerMaster Jet 7
Coolermaster Susurro	•
Coolermaster Vortex Dream		•
Coolermaster X-Dream
Coolermaster X-Dream SE
COOLINK Cool Armor2VS		•
COOLINK Cool Tank1 Power		•
CoolJag 661C		•
CoolJag JAF8025H1
CoolJag JAF8025H2
CoolJag SFO-H Copper	•
CoolJag V558A
Evercool CUF-715CA
Evercool CUW8-715		•
Evercool HPC 925
Evercool K802-715	•
Evercool MAG-01
Evercool NW11F-CL825		•
Evercool PT01A
FSP Group Silent System Kits		•
JMC 401100 Phoenix 70		•
LSCool LSHS-X500		•
Noctua NH-U 12	• (new bracket)
Noctua NH-U 9	• (new bracket)
PrimeCooler HyperCool 4+		•
PrimeCooler Hypercool I+		•
PrimeCooler Hypercool II+		•
PrimeCooler HyperCool III+		•
PrimeCooler MegaCool I+
PrimeCooler MegaCool II+
PrimeCooler MegaCool III+
Scythe FCS-50		•
Scythe Kamaboko		•
Scythe KamabokoZ		•
Scythe Kamakaze
Scythe Kamakiri		•
Scythe Katana		•
Scythe Katana CU		•
Scythe Mine	• (1)
Scythe NCU2000		•
Scythe Samurai		•
Scythe Samurai Z	• (1)
Scythe SCNJ-1000 Ninja		•
Scythe Shogun
Sharkoon HPS1
Sharkoon Red Shock
Silverstone NT02
Silverstone NT04	•
Silverstone NT05	• (new bracket)
Silverstone NT06	• (new bracket)
Speeze Coppersnake		•
Speeze EE704B3 DolphinReef	•
Speeze EE782B3 CopperReef	•
Spire CF450B0 CoolGate		•
Spire DiamondCool II
Spire SP495S11-U QuieTude VI		•
Spire Verticool
Spire Verticool II
Swiftech MC462-A
Swiftech MCX4000
Swiftech MCX462-V
Swiftech MCX478-V		•
Swiftech MCX6400-V
Swiftech MCX775-V
Thermalright ALX800
Thermalright HR-01	•
Thermalright SB-2
Thermalright SI-120		•
Thermalright SI-97
Thermalright SLK800
Thermalright SLK900U
Thermalright SLK947U
Thermalright SLK948U
Thermalright SP-94
Thermalright SP-97
Thermalright XP-120		•
Thermalright XP-90		•
Thermalright XP-90C		•
Thermalright Ultra-90	•
Thermalright Ultra-120	•
Thermaltake Big Typhoon
Thermaltake Blue ORB II
Thermaltake Mini Typhoon	•
Thermaltake Polo735		•
Thermaltake Sonic Tower
Titan Siberia	• (with new clip)	•
Titan Vanessa-L
Titan Vanessa-S	• (with new clip)
TTIC NPH-1
TTIC NPH-101
TTIC NPH-2
TTIC NPH-201
TTIC NPH-775-1
TTIC NPH-K8-1
Tuniq Tower 120
Vantec CopperX CCK-7025
Zalman CNPS7000CU		•
Zalman CNPS7700CU		•
Zalman CNPS8000	•
Zalman CNPS9500CU
Zalman CNPS9500-AM2	•

- (1) Scythe mounting clips will fit on some AM2 bracket, see which one here

From the whole collection of third party heatsinks only a handful can be used with the new socket AM2 bracket. Luckily there are some excellent high performance units as well as low noise heatsinks on that short list. The Scythe Mine and Arctic Freezer 64 Pro offer an excellent price/performance/noise ratio. The Thermalright HR-01 is aligned toward the rear with on this Asus motherboard, while other AM2 mainboards seem to have similar orientation to most S939 boards. Can you spot the ugly duckling?


MSI - EPOX

Gigabyte - Abit

Biostar - Asus


If you are planning to buy a new heatsink for your current system, it might not be a bad idea to check if your choice is compatible with the AM2 mounting bracket. We’ll return with more AM2 information in the coming weeks and keep you updated on the advances at the cooling front.

Question/Comments: forum thread


----- Update 23/5/2006 -----

Added Zalman CNPS9500-AM2 (reviewed by Frostytech here)
----- Update 24/5/2006 -----

Titan emailed us, with their additional clip their Vanessa S and Siberia heatsink will fit on the default AM2 bracket. Their earlier shipments don't have this new clip, you can request the new clip by sending them an email with proof of purchase.

Aerocool will not add AM2 support to their older heatsinks, but their new "X-Fire" is compatible with AM2. Added it to the list.

Noctua will announce their AM2 compatible NH-U series at Computex in June
----- Update 25/5/2006 -----

Thermalright is planning to release a new mounting bracket for AM2, no date specified yet though.

Thermaltake has 5 AM2 compatible models listed here, the Mini Typhoon being the most high-end one.
----- Update 13/7/2006 -----

Silverstone send me news of their AM2 compatible heatsinks:
NT04 - AM2 compatible now
NT05 - AM2 compatible with updated mounting bracket (late July/August)
NT06 - AM2 compatible with updated mounting bracket (late July/August)
the new mounting bracket can be ordered through this email address

Noctua offers free AM2 Upgrade-Kits for NH-U12 and NH-U9 users, check their site. With this custom mounting bracket you can install coolers who used the 2 mounting holes at each side of the older S939 socket with screws.



----- Update 31/7/2006 -----

Thermalright released a custom bracket which allows P4 Clip-on heatsinks to be used on AM2! Here's what it looks like: