Socket T
|
Template:CPU socket Socket T, also known as LGA 775, is Intel's latest CPU socket. LGA stands for Land Grid Array, which means that the pins are on the motherboard, not the processor. The Prescott (Pentium 4 core) is the only processor to use the LGA 775 socket type, for now. Intel changed from Socket 478 to LGA 775 because Intel plans to offer a Front side bus of 1066 MHz and the new pin type has better power distribution to the processor. The 'T' in Socket T was derived from the now cancelled Tejas core, which was to replace the Prescott core.
The new socket type also has a new method of connecting the heat dissipation interface to the chip surface and motherboard. In previous sockets the main heatsink-fan retention mechanism was not directly connected to the motherboard and supposedly had a tendency of falling off durring transit of prebuilt computers. Now the heat dissipation interface is connected directly and securly to the motherboard on four points, versus the two of the Socket 370 and the "flimsy" four point connection of the Socket 478.
The Socket 775 pin-on-motherboard design has drawn criticism from electronics vendors and computer magazines, who claim experiments show that taking out and reinserting an LGA packed CPU ten to twelwe times will destroy the CPU socket and thus make the motherboard dead beyond repair. Motherboard vendors have complained that LGA packaging was introduced solely to move the burden of bent pin problems from Intel to the electronics vendors. Considering that mainstream Intel processors actually sell for a higher price than most of the motherboards they are designed to fit in, the LGA 775 design may actually prove beneficial to the end users and computer technicians. They lose less by accidentally ruining a motherboard rather than destroying the CPU.