The socket is a zero insertion forcepin grid array type with 462 pins, hence the alternative name Socket 462. About nine pins in the socket are blocked to discourage accidental insertion of Socket 370 CPUs on Socket A motherboards.
Socket A was replaced by Socket 754 and Socket 939 during 2003 and 2004 respectively, except for its use with Geode NX processors.
Technical specifications
Support of processor clock-speeds between 600MHz (Duron) to 2333MHz (Athlon XP 3200+)[1]
Initially launched with 100MHz FSB support in the earliest chipsets it evolved stepwise to faster 200MHz FSB while maintaining pin compatibility throughout its lifetime. However, clock, timing, BIOS and voltage differences restrict compatibility between older chipsets and later processors.[2]
Socket dimensions are 5.59 cm (5.24 cm without lever) × 6.55 cm or 2.2" (2.06" without lever) × 2.58", almost roughly the same as Socket 370 sockets.
Heatsink
Heatsinks were commonly attached directly to the CPU socket, but some motherboards also had 4 holes for fastening bigger heatsinks to the motherboard. Those holes are placed in a rectangle with lateral lengths of 35 mm and 65 mm.
Socket A mechanical load limits
AMD recommends that the mass of a Socket A CPU cooler to not exceed 300grams (10.6ounces). Heavier coolers may result in damage to the die when the system is not properly handled.
All Socket A processors (Athlon, Sempron, Duron and Geode NX) have the following mechanical maximum load limits[3] which should not be exceeded during heatsink assembly, shipping conditions, or standard use. They came with a warning that load above those limits may crack the processor die and make it unusable. The limits are included in the table below.
These load limits are quite small compared to the load limits of Socket 370, Socket 423 and Socket 478 processors. Indeed, they were so small that many users more often than not ended up with cracked processors while trying to remove or attach heatsinks to their fragile processor core. This makes installing non-standard or non-certified heatsink solutions a risky business.[citation needed]OEM aluminium heatsinks typically provided smaller thermal tolerances, so the improper application or absence of a thermal pad or thermal grease or operation in high room temperatures may result in some Socket A CPUs overheating and crashing, permanently damaging them and rendering them unusable.
Chipsets
AMD offered official chipsets for the Slot A/Socket A CPUs. These are included in the table below.
AGP2×, SDRAM Irongate chipset family; early steppings had issues with AGP2×; drivers often limited support to AGP1×; later fixed with "super bypass" memory access adjustment.[5]
In practice, third-party chipsets were heavily favoured by motherboard manufacturers. Stability problems and compatibility quirks from these chipsets abounded from manufacturers not following chipset designers' guidelines. This caused long-lasting damage to AMD's reputation, despite AMD having nothing to do with the poorly-realised hardware.[citation needed] A similar incident happened with third-party chipsets for Super Socket 7 CPUs.
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Socket_A, and is written by contributors.
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