Socket F

CPU socket
name = Socket F


caption = rfu-c|2006-12-28
formfactors = Flip-chip land grid array
type = LGA
contacts = 1207
protocol =
fsb = 200 MHz System clock
1 GHz HyperTransport
voltage =
processors = Opteron 2xxx, 8xxx series
Athlon 64 FX FX-7x series

Socket F is a CPU socket designed by AMD for its Opteron line of CPUs, and released on August 15 2006 [ [http://www.amd.com/us-en/Corporate/VirtualPressRoom/0,,51_104_543~111541,00.html Press Release] ] . The socket has 1207 pins, and is referred to as "Socket F (1207)" in all AMD literature [http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/content_type/DownloadableAssets/qcsalessheet_opteron_V4_02_19_07.pdf] .

Socket F is primarily for use in AMD's server line, and will be considered to be in the same socket generation as Socket AM2, which will be used for the Athlon 64 and Athlon 64 X2; as well as Socket S1, to be used for Turion 64 and Turion 64 X2 microprocessors. Such socket generations are intended for DDR2 support.

Socket F does not support Fully Buffered DIMM. Processors planned for Socket F will also likely support DDR3 and other technologies, like XDR-DRAM. But when such RAM is used on an FB-DIMM, no motherboard or CPU change is necessary to support the new RAM, as all FB-DIMMs use the same DRAM slots regardless of the RAM employed. This overcomes the old drawback of the Hammer architecture, with its integrated memory controller necessitating the replacement of the (potentially very expensive) CPU to support a new memory type. However, AMD has removed FB-DIMM from its roadmap recently.

While technical documentation was readily available for earlier generations of AMD processor sockets, the "Socket F (1207) Processor Functional Data Sheet" (AMD document number 31118) has not been made publicly available.

AMD Quad FX platform

:"Main article: AMD Quad FX platform"Socket F is the base for the AMD Quad FX Platform (referred to as "4x4" or "QuadFather" prior to release), unveiled by AMD on November 30, 2006. This modified version of Socket F, named Socket 1207 FX by AMD, and Socket L1 by NVIDIA, allows for dual-socket, dual-core (four effective cores and eight effective cores in the future) processors in desktop PCs for home enthusiasts.

References

External links

* [http://tweakers.net/reviews/638 Tweakers.net: First benchmarks of Socket F Opterons in databasetest]
* [http://tweakers.net/nieuws/39753 Tweakers.net: Pictures of the socket] nl icon
* [http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=958 Dailytech: AMD's Next-gen Socket F Revealed]
* [http://www.pcstats.com/NewsView.cfm?NewsID=46731 PCstats: Socket F Near Term Roadmap]