What The Socket? Intel’s Lineup Of LGA Parts Explained

Here’s an overview of the various LGA sockets from Intel. I am still on the 1155 myself.

Computers have used socketed processors for most of the PC’s lifespan, a few notable exceptions like Intel’s cartridge-based Pentium II and III aside. Transitions between these sockets are traditionally seamless, with the newest quickly superseding its predecessor, but that’s changed over the last few years. There are now several sockets that are still viable and can still accommodate an upgrade. Here’s a quick run-down of the sockets and the options available to each.

Still 1156 (core i5 750) here. Want to upgrade soon but just got laid off so that will have to wait.

OK, I had to read the article to make sure he wasn't saying what I thought he was saying.

Every socket has superseded the previous. There are never 2 sockets that occupy the same consumer space at the same time.

All this guy is saying is that chances are you could still find a compatible processor for your *not current* motherboard and it will give you an upgrade. This would seem like a very obvious statement, mostly because it is a very obvious statement.

What you can't do is put a new CPU in an older socket. Even back in the day when Socket 775 was around for several years you still couldn't put a new Socket 775 CPU in an older motherboard...it still had to be from the same "family" of Socket 775. I can't put a Q6600 in my old Pentium D motherboard.

I was about to say: "Slot 1 still holds a wonderful spot in my heart." Then he said my current computer is "ancient" Come on!! One day I'll upgrade, just is spendy having to upgrade every piece of hardware besides a case and PSU.

Yeah, kind of a pointless article aimed at those that know little about PC's.

On a side note, the 1366 Platform 100% has an upgrade path for cheap with Xeon 6Core cpus. Abeit they need to be overclocked to keep up, they can be tremendous bang for the buck if you need the extra 2 cores for work or gaming.

I gotta say, this is where AMD really spoiled me in the past. AM3 and AM3+ allowed for a LOT of iterations of processors and didn't limit what socket type you had to get in order to support a hex or octocore over a quad. Only had to make sure the motherboard supported the wattage/tdp of the chip itself. Not quite sure why Intel forces a brand new socket (nearly) every generation.

Hey, with an X5680 Upgrade and 24G of Ram and SSD's in Raid 0 plus a gtx 980, I'm still on 1366 and until something forces me to use USB 3.0 and or my disk I/O usage Must be from a different SaTa type, I see no reason to change.

Socket 370 for lyfe.