Socket-478 is a 478-contact CPU socket used by some Intel Celeron, Pentium 4, and Pentium 4 Extreme Edition CPU’s. Socket-478 supports a 100MHz, 133Mhz, or 200Mhz Front Side Bus. The Socket-478 is a Pin Grid Array (PGA) Zero Insertion Force (ZIF) socket. A ZIF socket features a lever on one side of the socket. When this lever is pulled up, the spring contacts inside the socket are opened. This allows the CPU to be inserted easily into the socket. The lever is then pushed down, closing the spring contacts and Read More

Socket 423 is a CPU socket used for early Intel Pentium 4 CPU’s, operating at up to 2GHz. Socket 423, also known as PGA423, is a pin grid array (PGA) socket with 423 pins arranged in a 39×39 matrix with 26×26 pins removed from near the center. Each Socket 423 is 2.1″ x 2.1″ (5.33cm x 5.33 cm). The Socket 423 was used by Intel for less than a year, from November 2000 to August of 2001.  Socket 423 only supported Pentium 4’s built with the Williamette core.  The fastest Read More

Socket-939 is a 939-contact CPU socket which is used by AMD CPU's, such as the Athlon 64 and Athlon 64 FX. Socket-939 supports a 200MHz system clock and a 1000Mhz HyperTransport link. The Socket-939 is a Pin Grid Array (PGA) Zero Insertion Force (ZIF) socket. A ZIF socket features a lever on one side of the socket. When this lever is pulled up, the spring contacts inside the socket are opened. This allows the CPU to be inserted easily into the socket. The lever is then pushed down, closing the Read More

The Pentium family of processors is the current generation of CPU's for personal computers from Intel. Pentium processors trace their heritage all the way back to the original Intel 8088 CPU used in the original IBM-PC in 1981. Intel renamed the 80586 processor Pentium because of the difficulties of trademarking numbers. This was a move by Intel to create confusion in the marketplace which would reduce commodotization in the CPU market and allow them to retain higher profit margins in the face of low-cost competitors like AMD. Intel retained the Read More

Xeon is an marketing name for Intel’s server-class CPUs from the Pentium family. Intel has manufactured and sold Xeon versions of the Pentium II, Pentium III, Pentium 4, and Pentium MP CPUs. Xeon CPUs are differentiated from each other by their CPU speeds, Front Side Bus speeds, and the size of their L2 cache and L3 cache. Current Xeon CPUs require the use of Dual Channel DDR or DDR2 SDRAM. Intel also manufactures low-voltage versions of the Xeon CPUs. In addition to reduced voltage, these Xeon’s also produce less heat. Read More