[RyanCahoon]

Using MATLAB 2012a on a Intel Core i7-3615QM:

Using linear equation solver (backslash operator): 0.26977 seconds
Using invert-and-multiply: 2.4433 seconds

N = dlmread('N.dat');
d = dlmread('d.dat');

numIters = 100;
tic;
for i=1:numIters
    r = N \ d;
end
disp(['Linear solver ' num2str(toc/numIters)]);

numIters = 10;
tic;
for i=1:numIters
    r = inv(N) * d;
end
disp(['Invert and multiply ' num2str(toc/numIters)]);