Intel's® launch of the CPU will most likely be with fairly limited quantities at first, but by the end of the year they are expected to be about 40% of the total shipments and top to bottom coverage of their entire desktop processor line. The introduction of the LGA775 also signals a rapid shift from the 130nm Northwood to the 90nm Prescott core. Starting with the 3.6GHz. units, all Intel processors will be built on the Socket T platform.

The new socket features an increase to 775 pins, up from the previously well known socket 478. The big change here comes in the form of where the pins are located - on the socket. The new CPU features conductor pads on the bottom where you would normally find the pins. When installed, the CPU rests on the angled pins and is pressed down onto the pins to solidify the connection.

One drawback to this arrangement is that the pins are flexible, and therefore very easy to be pushed into the wrong direction. There is also 775 different pins, so if you happen to accidentally bend one of them, you're probably going to bend several of them and the chances of you getting them all straightened up to usable condition again are very slim.

Intel® will be selling 4 flavors of LGA-775 Prescott CPUs throughout 2004. The different CPUs will be; the newer P4 CPU's with an 800MHz. FSB with a FMB standard of 1.5, the same P4 800MHz CPU with a FMB of 1.0, the P4 533MHz. CPU without Hyper-Threading, and the Celeron CPU. About 17% of all Celerons shipped in 2004 are expected to be using the Prescott core. The LGA775 Prescott Celeron CPU will most likely only be aimed at Intel's own Grantsdale-GV platform motherboards.

The new LGA-775 CPUs are expected to be every bit as power-hungry as their 478-pin Prescott predecessors. The wattage drain on the new CPU's is expected to be around 100W. Intel has been focusing on a rounded heat sink design with semicircular bi-furcated fins. Bi-furcated fins are split about half way down their shaft. This gives the heat twice as much surface area to dissipate from without adding additional "keep-out" space to the motherboard layout. Large manufacturers such as Thermaltake have already introduced prototype units to the market for evaluation and will be completely ready by the time that the new socket motherboard hit the shelves.

> INTEL LGA775 Integration Guide

Images

Although there is not very much information available on the LGA-775 CPU's at this time, we do have some images collected from around the web that we can share with you.

LGA-775 Socket T Open	LGA-775 Socket T Closed	LGA-775 Socket T CPU Bottom
LGA-775 Socket T Open	LGA-775 Socket T Closed	LGA-775 Socket T Heatsink