Socket 775

[amddiesel]

How long will intel's socket 775 last? What is the socket roadmap look like.. I made a mistake building a top of the line 939 rig two years ago not knowing that my upgrade path was very slim

 

[chookman]

Much the same is going to happen anytime you build a new system. Theres always something new around the corner... and very rarely can you get away with a significant "upgrade" without replacing critical system components.

In saying that... 775 should be around for a little longer... Penryn is due Q1 2008 i believe which is only a die shrink to 45nm and should be a drop in, for any current mainboard. However, Nehalem is due i think Q3 2008 somewhere around there... that could possibly change sockets and even if it didnt motherboards purchased now have no chance of supporting it becuase Nehalem will have its own memory controller like the AMD's do.

IMO if you have the money now... then buy now, possibly wait till the new x38 chipset comes out which is supposedly only about a month away which has PCI-e 2.0 and supports full 16x on 2 pci-e slots (possible support for SLI although this is unlikley).

 

[CompTIA_Rep]

There is always something better a year out. Keep that in mind.

Buy something that does the job you need now, that currently has more potential, such as the 775 socket. If it does what you need it do, you cant go wrong.

 

[jaguarskx]

Nehalem CPUs will introduce two new sockets; socket B for the desktop and socket H for servers.

If Intel can manage to release a new CPU architecture every two years (as they stated they would when Conroe was first released), then you can expect socket changes every two years. It's not definitive, but it is very possible.

Therefore, don't depend on "future proofing" 'cause within about two years whatever PC you build or buy will become "obsolete". That's 'cause your motherboard will not be compatible with the next gen CPU.

There's a flip side, perhaps the successor to Nehalem will still be socket B and H, but it will require a new chipset.

If you can wait until Nehalem is released in the second half of 2008 (my guess is Q4 2008), then wait.

If Q4 2008 is too long, then consider Q1 2008 for the Penryn CPUs.

If waiting 5 months is too long, then build your PC around Conroe now.