Socket AM3 Already Obsolete?

They have not said whether the Bulldozer chips will use a new socket or still use the AM3 socket -- the changes to the internals of the chip doesn't mean that it will need a new socket design so ??

How can people believe that all of the current sockets are already obsolete? There are no better options at the moment so they cant be obsolete. If we are going to be looking into crystal balls to see if they will be used forever into the future then all sockets are obsolete from the moment they are out.

What will probably happen is BD will drop into AM3, but might have reduced operation somehow, maybe on power saving features.

If not, then I'm sure most people will be happy that Bulldozer is a clean break and probably needs a new mobo due to quad channel RAM.

Very many who have bought their AM3 setups along with a low to mid range CPU in the hopes of upgrading to a faster 'Bulldozer' CPU are surely not going to be happy (and/or definitely worried) by this news.. But at the same time, i personnely believe that AMD seriouslly requires a refreshed architecture to compete (overtake if possible) with their current generation Intel counterparts.. If 'Bulldozer' manages this feet but looses on the backward compatibility, i'd still think that We'll see more of happy faces compared to the sad or dejected ones..

If AM3 is obsolete then the 1156/1366 are dead and buried. You can't just make a socket for 15 CPUs and change to a new socket after that. AMD has some 75 AM3 CPU's not to mention the old AM2 and AM2+ CPUs.

Guess it all boils down to what you mean by Obsolete.

It's confirmed that the 1156 will be replaced by the 1155. So is the 1156 obsolete? If your definition is there will be no more CPUs for the 1156 then no it's not. Intel will likely release more cpus for that socket before the 1155 comes out. However if your definition of obsolete is that a replacement has been developed for the 1156 then yes it is obsolete.

Same holds true for the AM3 socket. Is it obsolete because there exists a new platform that's not yet released or that there are no new cpus for the current platform?

Something like that anyway. Forget who said it but whenever you buy a computer it's instantly obsolete. Such is the speed of computer innovation.

That's not what the article says.

75 CPUs? Yeah, OK.  

http://hothardware.com/News/AMD-Excitedly-Announces-Old... this article says it will be. Obviously there's way too much spec. for now so it's prob not worth stressing over just yet...

Until AMD says something about the "socket issue", i would take everything with a grain of salt about if Bulldozer is, isn't, or isn't able to run fully on the AM3 socket.

I don't care about Bulldozer, AM3 is about to cover all the budgets, from the single core Sempron to the 6 cores, needs only a few more fast quads and hexacores and everybody on AM2+/AM3 is set for the foreseeable future. And their newest chipsets have loads of PCIe lanes.

You can already run a single core or a 6-core cpu on AMD motherboards, and this is something you'll never be able to do with intel.

If Bulldozer does drop into AM3 motherboards, that will mean with AMD you can use 1-8 core cpu's in the same motherboard. If not? Well I honestly don't think that AMD owe's us anything - let Bulldozer be the clean break and we can go from 4-16 cores or even more using the next generation of mobo.  

AMD FOREVER!!!!!!

Ive seen this. Interesting, but none the less there are about 20 articles saying it will be, not to mention the AMD roadmap. Im not really believing anything now until AMD says so.

and not 75, but AM3 has had more CPU's on it than 1156 and 1366 combined, not to mention the backwards compatibility, so some AM2+ CPU's as well.

AM3 does NOT support any AM2+ CPUs, AM2+ is forwards compatible with AM3 but AM3 is not backwards compatible with AM2 or AM2+ so really if we want to talk about AMD and socket compatibility AM2+ is the one that is compatible with everything not AM3. You cannot count AM2+ CPUs in the list of CPU that work on AM3 because they dont.

Best answer selected by BadTrip.

Yep, now I see that I counted all the steppings and the business class CPUs too, my bad. More like 45-50 and there's little difference between some of them too (0.1-0.2GHz).

It seems the Phenom II X6 1075T is hitting the stores already.

Expected soon:

Phenom II x4 970 and Phenom II X4 975 (3.5 and 3.6Ghz -> 4.5GHz with OC?)

Also the Phenom II X2 560 (3.3 GHz), Athlon II X4 645/650, Athlon II X3 450/455, Athlon II X2 265/270, more Semprons and whatnot.

The thing is for the Intel guys that the 1156/1366 CPUs are so good and were quite an investment so they might not want to change to the new sockets too soon.

I think Intel doesn't need new high-end platforms but some budget CPUs on their newer sockets, they only have one under $100 CPU (Intel Pentium G6950) and only one under $200 quad (i5 750) on the 1156/1366.

Err....  

Did you happen to think about the looking at the sever/workstation cpu's where these can be in a Single or dual core configuration along with quad and hex core cpu on the lga 1366?  

http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=47646 (example of a LGA 1366 single core cpu. Who knew there was such a thing!   )

Now are they worth the price, No   but i'm just mentioning intel give more range on a socket than people might think.  

A single core nehalem?? That is just not right....

Nah, like I said, that could just be for the bulldozer with IGP and quad channel memory (who knows?), however AMD has said a lot that atleast part of bulldozer will be on AM3, but likely not the super performing part, but that might also cost $1000+. So who knows, I say we all stop worrying about it until things are official.

The part that I have always had a lot of trouble with this entire train of *sic* "thought" *sic* is how the older socket somehow magically becomes "obsolete" - and therefore 'bad' - just because there's something new. By the same logic, should I go slash my wrists because I spent $30K on a car and **GASP** Acura released a new one!?!? And (OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG!!) the new model is **GASP** more expensive than the older one I bought?? And (those bastards at Acura are *really* pissing me off now!!!) it has satellite radio and a connection for an MP3 player, when I still own Compact Discs!!! MY COMPACT DISCS WON'T FIT!!!!! HOW DARE THEY!!!

News Flash: My LGA775 is every bit as good as it was the day I bought it. My 939?? Yup!! Still every bit as good as it was the day I bought it. And **Gasp** so is my 1366. (OMG, Scott - Say it isn't so!!)



Here's a small, and perhaps a little uncomfortable, fact, gentle~people: Personal Computers And Their Components are COMMODITIES. (i.e. - a generally available physical thing which is interchangeable with other things of similar purpose) i.e. Whether it's Intel or AMD - it's still a fe*king PC, folks. And at any given price point - and at any given time - if nobody told you what was in the box then precious few could possibly tell what CPU was occupying what slot on what motherboard without checking in the Windows system information.

You buy what you need. When you need it. When it's used up, and/or you want a better one. Then do wander off to buy the new thing.


So the bottom line is that - - IMHO, of course - - the whole socket "controversy" is nothing more than an asinine man~made b*llshit story.

The car comparison is not very accurate, one doesn't usually upgrade the engine or chassis.

Tens of millions of people bought socket 939 or 478 and had no upgrade path so they ended up spending much more. Lots bought AGP mobos when PCIe was just in, etc. Even for the 775 one had to change the mobo in order to upgrade the CPU.

Many people are tired of this stuff, they want their systems to be upgradeable. I want to keep my AM2+ mobo for 5 years and be able to upgrade anything on it, that's why I bought one with solid capacitors and whatnot.

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey