 Many
times when people buy a new computer or motherboard the think
they will be able to upgrade their processor later on. They
figure that at most they will have to download a free BIOS version
upgrade for their motherboard and install it before replacing
the processor with a faster one. However, that is based on the
premise that the new processor will be using the same model
of socket as on your current motherboard. However, Intel and
AMD are about to Socket To You. Their new lines of processors
coming out this year will be using different sockets than their
current lines of processors.
For Intel, Socket LGA-775 will replace the current Socket
478. There will be no Pentium 4s above 3.4 GHz for Socket
478; however, there will continue to be new Celeron processors.
The first LGA-775 processors will be out in the second quarter
of this year and will be P4s from 2.8 to 3.6 GHz with 3.8
GHz processor coming out in the third quarter and 4.0 GHz
coming out before the end of the year. Celerons will also
be put out for the new socket later in the year. Another processor
that will use SOCKET LGA-775 has a rumored code named of "Tejas,"
is supposed to have superior performance over the P4. It will
include the dual 32 bit/64 bit capability like the current
Athlon 64 and FX lines. It should be coming out in the first
quarter of 2005, but rumors are that they could come out before
the end of this year (The Xeon processor which has this capability
is called Nocona, which will be out in second quarter 2004).
Of course, to get socket LGA-775 you will not only need to
get a new motherboard, but a new case as well. The ATA motherboard
form factor is being replaced by the BTX form factor. But
it is even more complex than that because the BTX form factor
standard has three different motherboard sizes in the standard:
BTX, MicroBTX, and PicoBTX. Full size BTX is for standard
desktop systems. MicroBTX is for compact PCs. PicoBTX is for
compact systems for entertainment, mobile, and industrial
applications. You will be able to use ATA power supplies with
BTX. The new chipsets will have PCI Express (replaces PCI
& AGP) and the capability of using DDR2 RAM (the type
of RAM used now on high end graphics cards, which are moving
to DDR3 this year). Watch your chipset because Intel is coming
out with five of them with different capabilities: 915G, 915GL,
915 GV, 915P, and 925X (915 series is known as Grantsdale.
925 series is known as Alderdale.).
For AMD the current Socket A (Athlon XP: 462 pins), Socket
754(Current Athlon 64), and Socket 940 (Athlon FX) things
will be changing too. There will be no new processors for
Socket A because the Athlon XP has ended its development in
favor of the Athlon 64 and FX. For Socket 754 the highest
expected processor for it will come out in April of this year,
the Athlon 64 3700+. For Socket 940 the last processor released
for it, the Athlon FX-53 should be out already. Socket 754
& 940 will be replaced by May of this year by Socket 939
using processors of the Atholn 64 and FX lines. AMD has said
that that its processors should include the SSE 3 instruction
set now found on Intel P4 Prescott and Extreme Processors,
but have not said when this will be and starting with which
processors (probably starting with the Athlon 64 4000+ and
Athlon FX-55, probably coming out in fourth quarter 04 or
first quarter 05). Look for Socket 939 motherboards to be
moving to BTX form factors, PCI Express, and DDR2; as the
new Intel processor motherboards will be doing. Of course
this means new chipsets too.
Yes, Intel and AMD are about to Socket To You. However, many
other changes will come with it. So you have to look at doing
some major upgrades or buying a new computer in the future
rather than just upgrading your processor.
Timothy Everingham is
CEO of Timothy Everingham Consulting in Azusa, California.
He is also Vice Chair of the Los Angeles Chapter of ACM SIGGRAPH,
the largest chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery's
(ACM) Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive
Techniques and one of Southern California's significant professional
organizations within the entertainment and media industries.
He is also on the Management Information Systems Program Advisory
Board of California State University, Fullerton; which he
also graduated from with honors with the double majors of
Management Information Systems and Accounting. In addition
he is the Vice President of the Windows Media Users' Group
of Los Angeles. He is also part-time press in the areas of
high technology, computers, video, audio, and entertainment/media
and has had articles published throughout the United States
and Canada plus Australia, England, & Japan. He is a member
of TUGNET. Further information can be found at http://home.earthlink.net/~teveringham
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