Report: Upcoming Socket FM2+ Will Support Older Trinity and Richland APUs

News
By Niels Broekhuijsen
published

A report from ComputerBase.de indicates that the Trinity and Richland APUs will work in the upcoming FM2+ socket.

Earlier we informed you that AMD is preparing a new socket called 'socket FM2+.' While we knew that this socket was built specifically for the Kaveri APUs, a new report now indicates that the socket will be backwards compatible with 'older' Trinity APUs, as well as the just-released Richland APUs.

The folks over at ComputerBase.de also managed to get a snapshot of the FM2+ socket that looks remarkably similar to the FM2 socket. The difference between the sockets lies in two pins, two that are covered on the FM2 socket, but uncovered on the FM2+ socket. This means that while 'older' Trinity and Richland APUs will drop right into the FM2+ socket, it also means that the upcoming Kaveri APUs will not fit, or work in the current FM2 socket -- pins will bend.

This is good news for owners of either Trinity or Richland APUs, because it means that if you want functionality found on newer boards, or if your current board breaks down, you have more cherries from which to pick.

Niels Broekhuijsen
Niels Broekhuijsen

Niels Broekhuijsen is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He reviews cases, water cooling and pc builds.

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11 Comments Comment from the forums
  • the1kingbob
    I would rather have been able to upgrade the CPU in an old computer than the motherboard. Though I guess some backwards compatibility is better then none. Go AMD!
    Reply
  • digiex
    "This is good news for owners of either Trinity or Richland APUs...." It's really good news indeed since motherboard always breakdown ahead of the processor.
    Like with the case of the AM2/AM2+ processors, my processors AM2+ are still fine but I can no longer find an AM2/AM2+ motherboard. In this case it's the other way around, you can fit an AM3 CPU in an AM2/AM2+ motherboard but AM3 motherboards are not compatible with AM2/AM2+ CPU's because of the DDR2 to DDR3 transition of the built-in memory controller.
    Reply
  • de5_Roy
    i guess it's a glass half full/empty situation.
    if you have a trinity/richland apu and your mobo breaks, you can get an fm2+ mobo. glass half full.
    if you have a socket fm2 motherboard, you cannot upgrade to a higher performance kaveri apu because kaveri might be backwards incompatible. glass half empty.
    i think majority of trinity/richland powered pc owners would have wanted a way to upgrade their apu without buying a new motherboard. so it's mostly glass half empty.
    Reply
  • firefoxx04
    I was hoping to upgrade my A4 Trinity to one of the "flag ship" fm2+ quads. I bought the best board I could too.
    I purposely bought the slowest apu I could so I could get the job done until Kavari. Wooops.
    Reply
  • sarinaide
    10923459 said:
    i guess it's a glass half full/empty situation.
    if you have a trinity/richland apu and your mobo breaks, you can get an fm2+ mobo. glass half full.
    if you have a socket fm2 motherboard, you cannot upgrade to a higher performance kaveri apu because kaveri might be backwards incompatible. glass half empty.
    i think majority of trinity/richland powered pc owners would have wanted a way to upgrade their apu without buying a new motherboard. so it's mostly glass half empty.

    Most APU's are more expensive than the boards, I would personally rather change the board than chips, that way you get new functions and features without losing out on the chip which is a last resort upgrade. Makes perfect sense to me.

    A10 6800K $149
    ASRock FM2A85X Extreme 6 $95



    Reply
  • mouse24
    Hasn't AMD adding the (+) to the end of a socket name been the "this mobo will work with the previous generation" for ages now?
    Reply
  • de5_Roy
    10923646 said:
    Most APU's are more expensive than the boards, I would personally rather change the board than chips, that way you get new functions and features without losing out on the chip which is a last resort upgrade. Makes perfect sense to me.
    A10 6800K $149
    ASRock FM2A85X Extreme 6 $95
    might make sense to you specifically, but not to most people. especially the users with cheaper priced apus(usually around the same price or less than the mobo). according to current trends, if motherboard (and chipset) swap attributed to significant apu performance improvement, it woulda mattered. for example, how much apu performance does a75 chipset add to a trinity apu over a llano apu? since i don't know how an fm2+ motherboard will influence existing trinity/richland apus, i won't comment on that.
    Reply
  • sarinaide
    What if you have a A55 or A75 board that comes in at $40-70, going to FM2+ down the line while netting more connectivity and features, don't know how much performance gain there will be for Trinity/Richland parts but should be some gain even minute. Motherboards outdate before a CPU so its more sense for FM2+ to be backward compatible than for FM2 to be forward compatible.
    Reply
  • puddleglum
    This probably means Kaveri is going to be delayed while it's chipset gets here first. FM2+ lets you sell boards that work with currently available CPUs while you wait for the next.
    Reply
  • silverblue
    "a new report now indicates that the socket will be backwards compatible with 'older' Trinity APUs, as well as the just-released Richland APUs."
    This is the other way around to AM2+ which allowed you to use a newer CPU series on an older board. It is a shame that FM2 won't work for Kaveri, however by having Trinity and Richland work on a newer socket, they can offload their older inventory easier. Additionally, by not leaving the socket announcement too late, there should hopefully be an avoidance of too many FM2 boards still in the channel. AM3+ was available a good few months before FX and I doubt it did AMD any harm at the time.
    Now, those two extra pins... different memory interface? :)
    Reply