Intel LGA 775 915 925 Platform :: Setup

For starters I was happy that Intel sent a floppy with all the correct SATA drivers on it instead of just having the drivers on the CD. It is the small things that matter sometimes and in the past many a company has omitted the presence of the SATA drivers on the unavoidable needed floppy. The Windows OS environment in its current state has no native SATA drivers and the only way for the OS to recognize the Serial bus is to have a working floppy drive and drivers on a floppy when Windows prompts for the drivers.

New CPUs means new cooling solutions and Intel tried and failed with their new cage-less design that barely cools their lower speed CPUs. The new cooler is very easy to use and install and Intel's attempt could have been better if it only functioned as well as it was ergonomic. Hey, they are halfway there at least and with some redesigning it could become a viable solution, but for now, Ouch!

Trying to get up and going worked out okay with the Intel boards using the 3.4GHz EE, but using the other boards and Intel's shipped cooling solution I kept getting thermal error problems. With the 3.6GHz Prescott none of the boards would even post using their cooling solution no matter what I tried, so I gave up. I finally had to go down to Swiftech and get my old pal Gabriel Rouchon to custom build me a heatsink/fan combination that would work.

Even the quiet fan he gave me was no match for the heat of the 3.6GHz Prescott and I ended up modifying an old noisy 7200RPM fan to cool the little overheating bugger down. Even that was no simple task as the new motherboards use a four-pin, not a 3-pin design like the Socket 478 platform for their CPU fan header located on the board. We did work our way around that little dilemma and finally get the 3.6GHz to function although heat was still almost at the 75C level according to Intel's onboard heat sensor.