Difference between revisions of "Socket 5 / 7 / Super-7 Motherboards"

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== Socket 5 ==
 
== Socket 5 ==
 
[[File:Socket5.jpg|200px|thumb||Socket 5]]
 
[[File:Socket5.jpg|200px|thumb||Socket 5]]
Socket 5 was the successor to Socket 4. Socket 5 used 3.3V for the processor instead of the 5V that Socket 4 used, resulting in a much lower power dissipation. This is good, as this will decrease the amount of heat (remember that AT cases had very poor ventilation) that the CPU will produce.
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Socket 5 was developed for the Pentium "P54C" CPU that operated at 3.3v instead of the original P5's 5.0v. This was a die shrink revision of the Pentium and operated at 75-120MHz with a bus speed of either 60MHz or 66MHz.
Socket 5 used 32-bit FPM or EDO memory modules and they usually had to be installed in pairs. Supported FSB's were usually 50MHz, 55MHz, 60MHz and 66MHz.
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Usually Socket 5 supports Pentium CPU's of 75MHz to around 133MHz, Winchip (though not all Socket 5 boards will be compatible with Winchip CPU's) and Pentium Overdrive. This makes them somewhat more flexible then Socket 4, but not as flexible as Socket 7 or Super 7 and as Socket 7 and Super 7 are much more common, Socket 5 is a lesser option when looking at flexibility from a CPU perspective.
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Though Pentium MMX CPU's are not officially supported (as they run on a slightly lower 2.9V), Pentium MMX CPU's may run just fine at 3.3V.
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No Socket 5 ATX boards are known to exist. No Socket 5 boards with AGP are known to exist. Usually Socket 5 boards had PCI and ISA slots, though 1 or 2 VLB Socket 5 motherboards may have been made.
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There are several CPUs from companies other than Intel available for Socket 5. The Centaur/IDT Winchip and the AMD K5 are perhaps most well known. There are also several Intel Pentium Overdrive CPUs that were produced to match Socket 5 options to later Socket 7 CPU clock speeds.
  
Socket 5 was very short lived and was quickly replaced by the much more well known Socket 7
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Socket 5 motherboards are built to the AT specification, and typically use PCI and ISA slots. There were some with VLB slots as well, and some have onboard audio or video.
  
== Socket 7 ==
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=== Chipsets ===
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*'''430NX "Neptune"''' - PIO IDE. IDE controller may be buggy. FPM DRAM. Asynchronous cache. 512 MB cacheable RAM limit. 512 MB max RAM.
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*'''430FX "Triton"''' - 16 MB/s DMA IDE, EDO DRAM, and pipeline burst synchronous cache options. 64 MB cacheable RAM limit. 128 MB max RAM.
  
[[File:ATC-5030_430TX.jpg|200px|thumb||Socket 7 Motherboard]]
 
  
Socket 7 was originally created by Intel as a successor to Socket 5, though many different manufacturers have created compatible CPU's for Socket 7.
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== Socket 7 ==
Socket 7 was the first CPU socket to support a split rail for it's CPU's. Also Socket 7 motherboards featured a higher maximum CPU speed compared to Socket 5.
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[[File:ATC-5030_430TX.jpg|200px|thumb||Socket 7 Motherboard]]
Even though Socket 7 usually ran from 75MHz to 233MHz,some motherboard manufacturers created motherboards that were able to run chips at speeds of up to 400MHz (and higher when overclocking the FSB). Socket 7 chip sets were again designed for FPM or EDO RAM, though some of the later ones were designed for SDRAM, such as Intel 430VX, Intel 430TX, VIA VP3 (though the earliest known Socket 7 boards with support for SDRAM only supported memory modules to a maximum of 32MB when the memory module is dual sided. Running a higher density module will usually result in half or three quarters of the memory not being seen by the motherboard). Usually EDO and FPM could be mixed (as long as the EDO and the FPM modules are installed in pairs), but EDO and FPM could not be mixed with SDRAM usually, as they have different operating voltage.
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Socket 7 also supported a small variety of FSB's, ranging from 50MHz all the way to 83MHz, though what FSB's are supported depends on the motherboard itself. Usually Socket 7 motherboards had 4 settings for setting the FSB. 66MHz was the highest officially supported FSB by the vast majority of Socket 7 motherboards, though later motherboard manufacturers often officially supported higher FSB's like 75MHz and 83MHz (even though quite often this did in fact overclock the chipset).
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Socket 7 brings "split-rail" support for CPUs, which is required for the Pentium MMX "P55C" CPU. Official bus speeds are typically 60 and 66 MHz, but some motherboards allow a wider range to support some models of non-Intel CPUs. Alternative CPUs include products from Cyrix, AMD, Rise and IDT/Centaur.
  
A large variety of CPU's is supported by Socket 7, ranging from Intel to AMD, Rise, Winchip and Cyrix. Only Super 7 provided even more flexibility.
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Socket 7 motherboards are available in AT and ATX form factor. They have PCI and ISA slots. Some have extra onboard components like audio and video.
  
Most of the time Socket 7 boards are AT form factor (or propriety). Sometimes they come in ATX form factor. The vast majority sport PCI and ISA slots (only a few had AGP).
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=== Chipsets ===
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==== Intel ====
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*'''430HX "Triton"''' - 16 MB/s DMA IDE, EDO DRAM, and pipeline burst synchronous cache options. Supports either 64 MB or 512 MB cacheable RAM. 512 MB RAM max.
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*'''430VX "Triton"''' - 16 MB/s DMA IDE, EDO DRAM, 2clk SDRAM, and pipeline burst synchronous cache options. 64 MB cacheable limit. 128 MB max RAM. Slightly slower than 430HX.
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*'''430TX''' - 33 MB/s UDMA IDE, EDO, 2clk SDRAM, and pipeline burst synchronous cache options. 64 MB cacheable limit. 128 MB max RAM.
  
 
== Super Socket 7 ==
 
== Super Socket 7 ==
Super Socket 7 (or Super 7 for short) is basically the same as Socket 7, except in that it officially supports a 100MHz FSB. As Intel left Socket 7 for it's Slot 1 solution, Intel's competitors were left with an aging platform.
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Super Socket 7 is an AMD creation. They modernized the Socket 7 platform with AGP and 100 MHz bus support for their K6-2 processor. Intel was not involved with this nor did they produce CPUs specifically for it.
  
As Super 7 had no official support from Intel, no Super 7 Intel CPU's nor chipsets were made, this was left to it's competition.
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Chipsets were produced by ALI, VIA and SiS. The boards come in AT and ATX form factors and usually have AGP, PCI and ISA. Some boards use integrated graphics and forgo the AGP slot.
Overall, Super 7 provides great flexibility in CPU speed, ranging from around 100MHz to almost 600MHz (and higher when overclocking). Super 7 was also the last socket to make extensive use of jumpers for setting up the CPU multiplier, FSB and CPU voltage.
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Super 7 does often have AGP issues (be it either by software (because of instable drivers) or because of hardware (due to the AGP slot not being able to provide enough power to it's AGP graphics card)). This can be worked around by making use of a PCI graphics card. Also the software issues can be worked around by using an AGP 3DFX graphics card, as 3DFX graphics cards made less use of the features that AGP provided, it was thus also less prone to cause any issues.
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Usually Super 7 comes in ATX formfactor, though AT Super 7 boards do exist. Usually they have an AGP 2x slot (no Super 7 motherboards with AGP 4x slot were ever made).
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These solutions competed against Intel Celeron and Pentium II.
Even though Super 7 shares the same general dimentions with Socket 7 and Socket 5 on the lower spectrum and Socket 370 and Socket A on the higher spectrum, the fitting of a Socket 370 or Socket A CPU cooler will often not work as there are often motherboard components in the way of the larger CPU cooler, preventing it's installation.
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Revision as of 08:49, 27 February 2013

Socket 5

Socket 5

Socket 5 was developed for the Pentium "P54C" CPU that operated at 3.3v instead of the original P5's 5.0v. This was a die shrink revision of the Pentium and operated at 75-120MHz with a bus speed of either 60MHz or 66MHz.

There are several CPUs from companies other than Intel available for Socket 5. The Centaur/IDT Winchip and the AMD K5 are perhaps most well known. There are also several Intel Pentium Overdrive CPUs that were produced to match Socket 5 options to later Socket 7 CPU clock speeds.

Socket 5 motherboards are built to the AT specification, and typically use PCI and ISA slots. There were some with VLB slots as well, and some have onboard audio or video.

Chipsets

  • 430NX "Neptune" - PIO IDE. IDE controller may be buggy. FPM DRAM. Asynchronous cache. 512 MB cacheable RAM limit. 512 MB max RAM.
  • 430FX "Triton" - 16 MB/s DMA IDE, EDO DRAM, and pipeline burst synchronous cache options. 64 MB cacheable RAM limit. 128 MB max RAM.


Socket 7

Socket 7 Motherboard

Socket 7 brings "split-rail" support for CPUs, which is required for the Pentium MMX "P55C" CPU. Official bus speeds are typically 60 and 66 MHz, but some motherboards allow a wider range to support some models of non-Intel CPUs. Alternative CPUs include products from Cyrix, AMD, Rise and IDT/Centaur.

Socket 7 motherboards are available in AT and ATX form factor. They have PCI and ISA slots. Some have extra onboard components like audio and video.

Chipsets

Intel

  • 430HX "Triton" - 16 MB/s DMA IDE, EDO DRAM, and pipeline burst synchronous cache options. Supports either 64 MB or 512 MB cacheable RAM. 512 MB RAM max.
  • 430VX "Triton" - 16 MB/s DMA IDE, EDO DRAM, 2clk SDRAM, and pipeline burst synchronous cache options. 64 MB cacheable limit. 128 MB max RAM. Slightly slower than 430HX.
  • 430TX - 33 MB/s UDMA IDE, EDO, 2clk SDRAM, and pipeline burst synchronous cache options. 64 MB cacheable limit. 128 MB max RAM.

Super Socket 7

Super Socket 7 is an AMD creation. They modernized the Socket 7 platform with AGP and 100 MHz bus support for their K6-2 processor. Intel was not involved with this nor did they produce CPUs specifically for it.

Chipsets were produced by ALI, VIA and SiS. The boards come in AT and ATX form factors and usually have AGP, PCI and ISA. Some boards use integrated graphics and forgo the AGP slot.

These solutions competed against Intel Celeron and Pentium II.