LGA sockets use a terrestrial network array style of integrated circuit packaging. LGA 775 was introduced by Intel in 2004 and is compatible with some of Intel’s lower-end Celeron CPUs, server and workstation oriented Xeon, and the Core. AMD entered the LGA socket market in 2006 with Socket F. LGA sockets contain many more contacts than earlier IC packaging techniques. As of May 2011, Intel has released more LGA sockets, and AMD has replaced Socket F with Socket C1,207 and G1,974.
An LGA socket is a type of central processing unit (CPU) socket that uses the terrestrial network array style of integrated circuit packaging. Many processors, or CPUs, have pins that go into socket pin holes to connect them to the motherboard. In contrast, the LGA socket has pins, while the processor has a flat surface. The LGA socket is also known to have a relatively high concentration of CPU contacts.
The PA-8000, which information technology company Hewlett-Packard (HP) released in 1995 for its HP 9000 line of workstation and server computer systems, was the first computer chip designed for an LGA socket. Semiconductor company MIPS Technologies, Inc. (MIPS)’s R10000 based on reduced instruction set computation (RISC) followed in 1996. The LGA socket concept, however, didn’t catch on until 2004, when another company of semiconductors, Intel Corp., introduced LGA 775.
Also known as Socket T, LGA 775 was initially designed primarily for some of the Intel Pentium 4-powered chips. This is the fourth iteration of the company’s flagship brand. Since then, LGA 775 has been identified as compatible with some of Intel’s lower-end Celeron CPUs; Server and workstation oriented Xeon; and the Core, which debuted in 2006 and soon replaced the Pentium as the company’s top-tier offering.
Intel’s main competitor, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), entered the LGA socket market in 2006 with Socket F. Surpassing LGA 775 with its 1,207 pins, AMD made it for some of its processors under its umbrella Opteron, which is the equivalent of the Intel Xeon and made its debut in the same year as the socket. Socket F is also used for the hardware enthusiast version of the 64-bit Athlon chip called the AMD Athlon 64 FX. Socket T, or LGA 775, and Socket F remain two of the most popular LGA sockets.
A major reason for the LGA socket’s growing popularity during the mid-2000s and its eventual dominance at the end of the decade is because it contains many more contacts than earlier IC packaging techniques. The previous major standard was the pin grid array (PGA), which, like LGA, had pin contacts arranged in an orderly manner on the socket. Intel introduced the first memorable PGA-based socket with the 1-pin Socket 169 contact in 1989. In the 1990s, PGA was the industry standard and would remain so for a decade and a half until LGA successfully challenged its primacy.
As of May 2011, Intel has released more LGA sockets in addition to LGA 775. They are LGA 771, or Socket J, in 2006; LGA 1366, or socket B, in 2008; and LGA 1156, or Socket H, in 2009. Intel will release LGA 2011, also called Socket R, in late 2011. As for AMD, since the debut of Socket F, it has replaced it with another 32-pin Socket C1,207 in 2010. The 34-pin G1,974 socket appeared later in the year.
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