The LGA-1156 Socket and New Heatsinks

The LGA-1156 socket, as its abbreviated name implies, is designed to interface with Land Grid Array packaged CPUs. The pins are located in the socket itself. To install you set the CPU in the socket, lower a clamp and then fasten the clamp in place with a lever.


The LGA-1156 Socket

I wish I could provide a more detailed motherboard pic but a quick Google search should yield good results. The entire plate that holds the CPU in place actually lifts up and to the right in the picture above. The notch at the left of the plate slides under the screw you see on the left side and the lever at the bottom secures it in place. It works pretty well in person.

The new socket requires a new cooler. The four mounting holes are closer together on the LGA-1156 socket than they are on LGA-1366 boards, but further apart than LGA-775. It’s just different enough to require a brand new cooler, or at least a new mounting bracket.


Thermaltake's SpinQ: Our first LGA-1156 cooler

Thermaltake sent over its SpinQ which will ship with an adjustable LGA-1366 bracket that can be used on both LGA-1156 and LGA-1366 motherboards. Each peg can slide back and forth to get the right positioning before locking it down, allowing the cooler to work on both platforms.


Oooh, adjustable mounting pegs

The cooler performed just fine in our tests and looks painful so try not to sit on it.

Lynnfield’s Secret? Turbo Mode The First Lynnfield Sample
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  • Hyperion1400 - Friday, May 29, 2009 - link

    *Presses imaginary edit button*

    "Don't forget, Istanbul is heading..."
  • MadMan007 - Friday, May 29, 2009 - link

    Awesome preview, too bad about HT.

    I think there's an error with the labelling for the first pass x264 encoding test on pg 7.
  • dwade123 - Friday, May 29, 2009 - link

    i5 is perfect for ITX motherboard compared to i7. Can't wait!!!
  • nubie - Friday, May 29, 2009 - link

    +1 they need to get an ITX motherboard for these immediately, if not sooner!

    One chip motherboard with integrated PCI-e x16 is perfect for ITX gaming system, should drive the cost of them way way down :)

    Dual x8 PCI-e 2.0 is fine for Crossfire or SLi (not that I would ever plan to run them)

    Is there any chance of an nVidia 9800/GTS250 integrated ITX motherboard? I would just about die if you could get one of those for around $200 ;)
  • Mr Perfect - Friday, May 29, 2009 - link

    Absolutely! Can you imagine all that horsepower in such a small FF? Hopefully Zotac makes another mini-ITX with a x16 slot on it.
  • Depeche - Friday, May 29, 2009 - link

    By the time I got the i7 the i5 comes out and when I finally get the i5 some other series comes out. I can't keep up :)

    Get these CPUs in the Bench Beta :P
  • A5 - Friday, May 29, 2009 - link

    This kind of thing (and the motherboard round-ups that used to be here) were the reasons I came to AT. If this pans out, I'm definitely building a Lynnfield system to replace my aging Socket-939 rig.
  • philosofool - Monday, August 3, 2009 - link

    As a bonus, if you buy into LGA 1156 now, you will probably be able to get a considerable upgrade in 2 years just by replacing the CPU. The LGA 1156 socket should last awhile, at least as long as LGA 775, but maybe longer, because the memory controller was the big reason for a new socket.
  • nuudles - Monday, June 1, 2009 - link

    I agree, great article!

    I also have only an an old s939 rig (opteron 150 - so i am still in the single-core world), and I also suspect this is the one I have been waiting for:)

    I initially thought I would wait a bit longer till the 32nm parts come out (damn Intel for their tick-tock), but since the first 32nm parts will be more mainstream (2C/4T) where the Lynnfields are high-end mainstream (or whatever its called) I think the 2.8 Lynnfield would suit me nicely for the next 3-4 years.

  • faxon - Monday, June 1, 2009 - link

    yea i would wait man. i upgraded from my 939 rig to an e5200 and now i have a Q9650 @ 4GHz @ 1.296vcore. given the performance benchmarks, even a 3.7ghz lynnfield will probably outperform my 4GHZ quad in games

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