Common LGA-1366 Cooling Myths Busted

With the entry of the Core i7 Bloomfield series processors this September thru October, the computing world will witness the entry of a new motherboard processor socket, the 1366-pin Land Grid Array (LGA-1366). FrostyTech demystified the new socket in respect to the way coolers are to be designed to be compatible with it, which will have implications on a vast segment of DIY consumers since LGA-1366 is meant to be a high-performance flagship computing platform. There are two key factors at play:

• The layout and cooler-retention mechanism of the socket
• The area of contact between the cooler and the processor's integrated heatspreader (IHS).

Firstly, your LGA 775 cooler won't fit on the LGA 1366, reason being that for the LGA 775, the mount-holes on the motherboards for retention pins / bolt-through kits used to be 72 mm apart. For the LGA 1366 they are 80 mm apart. It wouldn't be wise improvising an adapter to make it work either, since the heatsink's contact area with the IHS will be reduced. For the LGA 775 it is 28.5 sq. mm while it's 32.0 x 35.0 mm (yes, it's rectangular).

Speaking of the cooler retention mechanism, some coolers could use spring-tensioned machine screws to attach the heatsink to a metal backing plate. Intel's stock cooler is found to use standard through-PCB plastic push-pin mounting brackets. There won't be a retention cage (of the sort found on the older Socket 478 motherboards).