Intel Core i7 Nehalem 965 XE 3.2GHz review

Страница 5 - Близък поглед към Intel Core i7 Nehalem

Having covered a solid part of the theory demonstrating that Core i7 works, we never shown what physical differences does the processor bears.

First of all, Intel Core i7 has 75% more pins than Core 2, a 1366 of them to be precise. Apparently the direct connection to the memory and the new QPI protocol require a "few" more "pins" on the processor and motherboard. It is a fact that since LGA775, Intel continue to support processors wit no actual pins on them, decision that is admirable indeed - after all bending or breaking a processor pin is not that rear occasion (there is processor on my keyring because of such incident). AMD on the other hand continue to manufacture their processors with actual pins on them, but that's not much of a problem for us, since we rarely use them in our reviews :)

Of course it is quite clear that the new processor is also bigger. In most cases the Core 2 coolers will not Core i7. Exceptions are the high end coolers intended for at least two sockets (LGA775 and AMD AM/AM2/AM2+), as it is possible that manufacturers will provide new mounting brackets for LGA1366 too. For example just prior to the Nehalem Core i7 review release our friends from Noctua announced that they will supply to each of their customers that sends them some sort of proof of obtaining the processor in view (proof as in serial number of the box and purchase date) a set of free LGA1366 mounting brackets for their coolers. We got our sets for the coolers that we've reviewed before at the same time the sample of Core i7 965 XE arrived, providing in this way ourselves with a stable air cooler capable of enduring our regular and overclock tests.