I might actually do this!

Generally, I would insert/remove a CPU as seldom as possible for precisely the reason that you're stressing the various moving parts/flexing the board a bit/removing and replacing the HSF and having to make sure it's properly seated and that the thermal paste is adequately applied, etc. If you know what you're doing, and you tear apart computers regularly, you're probably fine. I mess around with my computers all the time and rarely have a problem. If you're not so confident about building computers, then I'd leave well enough alone once you get the CPU installed and properly seated. Just my 2 cents worth.

Properly seated is the million dollar question with the Foxconn socket though. Well, I've put together a few computers in my time, but not to recently. I'm comfortable with the hardware for my own part though.. On the other hand, I don't think I have it in me to properly examine 1156 tiny pads. One doesn't realise how small they really are untill the CPU is in your hand. I even lost track of it for a few minutes when I was snapping some shots of the two coolers for my friend. That had me worried!

Well this is awesome. The LGA 775 clips for my Cooler Master V8 are assembled upside down. So I would be hand torquing the thing to the CPU, if the bolts even reach through the backing plate.. And the tension springs would be left dangling in the air..

Eh. I uppose this isn't the end of the world. I'll have to snip open the ends of the clips so I can free the pins and put them back the right way.. Also, the 775 implementation by EVGA seems like a slight hack job, as the holes are rotated. It's not really their fault, just what's necessary to have both. The end resault is that the HSF will be rotated on the mobo and look strange. The backing plate is VERY close to the backing of the socket itself. Enough that I'm slightly concerned.

Ha! Ok, well, the adjustable clips I'm dealing with also fit the 1156 holes. So, in theory, this thing is OK for pretty much any socket there is. I noticed that what I was dealing wiht is the same kit they show on their website for 1156... And in that picture, their's is also configured the same way.

All right! I'm setup on the new system!

A few problems I ran into:

First of all, and this is pretty amusing, I was so caught up with all the new stuff and worrying about the 1156 failures and trying to find the rihgt cooling solution and so on... Well a *minor* oversight on my part; the EVGA mobo has no IDE! So I'm down one hard drive there, and my optical drive too.

Second, the first x16 slot being higher on this board than the old one and blocks the lowest HDD slot. Also, the Cooler Master V8 so large that blocks the upper slot. So in the 3 drive holder of my Antec mid tower, I can use only yhe center slot. I still have two slots where a floppy might have gone if I owned one.. But I did have 5 drives installed before, so all told, I'm out two hard drives and my CDRom. At least the internet works.

I wanted to hop right into some Fallout 3. With the Fallout Mod Manager, I've never needed the DVD in the drive. But now it seems I do. Strange.

Well it's already been a little while. I'm just sitting at a base clock of 3.2ghz right now, turbo causes it to run just under 3.4 normaly, and it *can* peak at around 3.8ghz with one core, but seems to sort of bounce back and fourth from 3.4 to 3.6 to 3.8. That's prime95 though, so a less intenssive single threaded app might stay higher. I don't know. It probably wouldn't need to, so who cares? At any rate, the idea that turbo would kick it up to 3.8 or close to 4.0 is purely theoretical, if not just plain wrong. That said, Dragon Age Origins has yet to drop below 30fps at max settings at 1080p, and often just stays locked at 60. I'm happy. Other games seem to play a lot better too that I had no idea just how CPU bound I really was. For example, Need For Speed Undercover never seemed to drop to a low frame rate, but it did sort of buck and surge. I thought it was due to whatever BS they have in the physics engine due to the absurd speads. I was wrong, it's very smooth and consistent now. Fallout 3 is a lot better, but I knew it would be. The final push to the end isn't a slide show, which is fantastic! It slows down if everything explodes in my face, but whatever.

I don't see a need to push higher overclocks any time soon. Some day, and probably with a different video card, I will. And I haven't even installed 64-bit windows yet! You guys might be right about more than 4 gigs is overkill, but I still don't care. :p