Introduction

Ready or not, the age of Nehalem is finally upon us and with it comes Intel's new Socket LGA 1366 processor interface. Socket LGA 775 has lived a long and distinguished life, longer than any other Intel processor socket to date. To put this in perspective, when LGA 775 first came on the scene we were still using Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) graphics cards.

For cooler manufacturers, Intel's i7 couldn't come soon enough. Since LGA 775 reigned supreme for such a long period of time, cooler sales have steadily declined. With diminishing returns on investment, funding for research and development has also dipped and without strong R&D, innovative new products come few and far between.

It was time for Intel to finally show some love to cooler manufacturers and with LGA 1366 Intel is giving out more hugs and kisses than a "provider" on Craigslist having a Saturday night special.