The LGA-1366 interface is a joy to work with. Installation of the CPU is a simple matter of removing the CPU cap from the motherboard, lifting the lever and the CPU cover, aligning the CPU along the notches (only installs one way), lowering the CPU in place, lowering the CPU cover and lowering the lever. Anyone who has installed a LGA-775 CPU should be familiar with the process.
Intel's DX58SO motherboard was used for testing the CPU. This is Intel's latest extreme performance motherboard and the latest BIOS supports the Core i7 975XE CPU and the Core i7 950 which was just launched. After installing the motherboard into a new custom test station built by Thrasher2 our resident tech, we proceeded to install Windows Vista with SP1 and the various test software. Real world performance was not noticeably faster on the same machine as on the Core i7 965XE. As the processor speed up was 133MHz and everything else being equal, which meant that performance in games should not increase by more than 5% in almost any case.
