Socket compatibility list?

ChuckMaurice · January 5, 2017

At my beginnings in hardware, sockets were simple. You had AMD (AM3/AM3+) and Intel (LGA 775). Everything else was old or specific to servers and such, and backward-compatibility was almost a matter of decades. Now Intel has released multiple CPUs with different sockets and I'm so lost.
When I had no choice but to leave the LGA775 socket, I upgraded my trusty Quad core to a Haswell i5 (4690K), still fine especially considering the new Kaby Lake equivalent is only like 30% more powerful. But it got me curious : would I have to change my motherboard if I ever upgrade ? Which socket should I choose to maximise "futureproofness" ?

Is there any comprehensive list of most bought CPUs and compatible sockets?

Godlygamer23 · January 5, 2017

If you're upgrading to a new architecture, then yes. The socket you're using is not compatible with future CPU architectures. With your question about socket choosing, the problem with that is Intel will create new sockets with their CPUs, so the whole "future proofing" idea goes out the window completely. New products will be released by Intel, and Intel will likely use new sockets for them, along with new chipsets.

ChuckMaurice · January 8, 2017

I got this simplified chart from Arstechnica, and wrote what I think are correspondant sockets in blue
If I'm right, I currently have an Haswell 22nm CPU on a LGA1150 socket. Previous gen was LGA1155, but what is curent gen socket? still 1150? so the engraving process has no influence on the socket used ?
Can we expect another socket with Cannonlake?

CODENAME AND YEAR	PROCESS	PROMINENT CONSUMER CPU BRANDING	TICK/TOCK
Westmere (2010) - LGA1156 ?	32nm	Core i3/i5/i7	Tick (new process)
Sandy Bridge (2011) - LGA1155 ?	32nm	Second-generation Core i3/i5/i7	Tock (new architecture)
Ivy Bridge (2012) - LGA1155 ?	22nm	Third-generation Core i3/i5/i7	Tick
Haswell (2013) - LGA1150 ?	22nm	Fourth-generation Core i3/i5/i7	Tock
Broadwell (2014-15) -	14nm	Fifth-generation Core i3/i5/i7, Core M	Tick/"Process"
Skylake (2015-16)	14nm	Sixth-generation Core i3/i5/i7, Core m3/m5/m7	Tock/"Architecture"
Kaby Lake (2016-17)	"14nm+"	Seventh-generation Core i3/i5/i7, Core m3	"Optimization"
Cannonlake (2017?)	10nm	TBA	"Process"

Godlygamer23 · January 8, 2017

42 minutes ago, jldjul said:

I got this simplified chart from Arstechnica, and wrote what I think are correspondant sockets in blue
If I'm right, I currently have an Haswell 22nm CPU on a LGA1150 socket. Previous gen was LGA1155, but what is curent gen socket? still 1150? so the engraving process has no influence on the socket used ?
Can we expect another socket with Cannonlake?

CODENAME AND YEAR PROCESS PROMINENT CONSUMER CPU BRANDING TICK/TOCK

Westmere (2010) - LGA1156 ? 32nm Core i3/i5/i7 Tick (new process)

Sandy Bridge (2011) - LGA1155 ? 32nm Second-generation Core i3/i5/i7 Tock (new architecture)

Ivy Bridge (2012) - LGA1155 ? 22nm Third-generation Core i3/i5/i7 Tick

Haswell (2013) - LGA1150 ? 22nm Fourth-generation Core i3/i5/i7 Tock

Broadwell (2014-15) - 14nm Fifth-generation Core i3/i5/i7, Core M Tick/"Process"

Skylake (2015-16) 14nm Sixth-generation Core i3/i5/i7, Core m3/m5/m7 Tock/"Architecture"

Kaby Lake (2016-17) "14nm+" Seventh-generation Core i3/i5/i7, Core m3 "Optimization"

Cannonlake (2017?) 10nm TBA "Process"

Broadwell uses LGA1150, same as Haswell(assuming normal desktop. No BGA or Enthusiast sockets). Skylake uses LGA151 which is what Kaby Lake is using. If you look at the way Intel has been handling their CPU architectures recently, a correlation starts to form - they will use the socket for two generations, and then move onto a new socket. With that in mind, Cannonlake will likely use a different socket.