More LGA775, Pricing, and Power

More LGA775

Reportedly, the pins on LGA775 motherboards are particularly fragile. The mechanism feels quite hardy, though, so long as you don’t apply undue tension to it. Granted, I wasn’t about to test the connection to its breaking point, but after several insertions and removals, none of the board’s pins were bent or broken.

The new LGA775 socket

Because the cooling solution no longer needs to secure the processor, Intel devised a much simpler way of attaching it. In fact, the reference heatsink can be installed without any tools at all; it simply plugs in at each of four holes around the LGA775 interface. It needs to dissipate about 115W of power (indeed, more than that for future Pentium 4 processors), and is consequentially larger.

Pricing

In addition to the 925X core logic, Intel is exploiting the occasion to debut its new Pentium 4 model system. There are currently six LGA775 processors; the 3.4GHz Pentium 4 Extreme Edition ($999) retains its name, while the other five “Prescott” chips bear monikers within the new 5-series. A new 3.6GHz chip ($637) is known as the Intel Pentium 4 560, the 3.4GHz ($417) is renamed the 550, a 3.2GHz ($278) is being offered under the 540 name, and so on, down to 2.8GHz ($178) Pentium 4 520.

Intel D925XCV desktop board

Intel D915GUX desktop board

Keep in mind also that you’ll need DDR2 memory and a new graphics card if you opt for a 925X motherboard. More likely than not, a new power supply will be necessary, and if you haven’t yet adopted Serial ATA, a new hard drive as well.

The D925XCV side panel

The D915GUX side panel

Power

Though others have expressed some success in using new 925X motherboards with conventional power supplies, Intel’s 925XCV reference board includes a 24-pin ATX header, along with the standard four-pin auxiliary connector for delivering power. Further, high-end PCI Express graphics cards (ATI X800 XT and NVIDIA’s 6-series) will require a new six-pin connector to supplement power drawn from the PCI Express slot. A majority of board vendors will undoubtedly include an adapter to convert two of the familiar four-pin connectors into a single six-pin plug, but given the Pentium 4’s increasing power requirements, the draw of modern graphics cards, and say, a RAID array, it’d be wise to upgrade anyway.