AM2 CPU Socket Design

[lopri]

This pisses me off for variety of reasons. I mean, making it such that aftermarket 939 HSF's don't work is one thing, but:

1) Its rectengular design means there is usually only one direction (instead of both horizontal and vertical) to mount a HSF, which can reduce cooling performance of the HSF.
2) Its ridiculously close proximity to DIMM sockets means LOTS of aftermarket heatsink will have an issue with memory sticks. Forget those tall fancy RAM.

Also at its launch, 790FX/790X northbridge was extremely close to CPU socket as well. These days mobo manufacturers worked this issue out, but it's still such a short sight that it makes me wonder what the design team was thinking.

Obviously there had to be reasons, but those reasons can't be an excuse to the frustration an end-user has to go through. (Unless those reasons were absolute necessity for future compatibility, which I doubt) At least Intel sockets are square, often allowing work-arounds without totally wasting a HSF one paid for.

/end rant

 

[Sylvanas]

I found the AMD mounting mechanism way more friendly than the Intel one. With the AMD socket, all I need is a light touch to secure one end of the heatsink over the overhang and it's done, 5 seconds (I remember commenting about this in my MSI/DFI mobo review thread using a Zalman 9500). With the 775 socket it means taking a screw driver and pressing down hard on one end of the mobo to secure the latch- bending and warping the board in the process. I think it more depends on the individual mobo and what heatsinks they put on, whether they are low profile or not. Luckily with my current DFI board the norrthbridge and Mosfet sinks are quite low profile so it makes things much more accessible- I'm not a fan of the fancy fins going everywhere design that was in a few years ago 'for optimal airflow/ heat dissipation'.

(Unless those reasons were absolute necessity for future compatibility, which I doubt) At least Intel sockets are square, often allowing work-arounds without totally wasting a HSF one paid for.

I disagree, AMD have been way more future proof in their socket design- AM2 owners can put in a shiny new Quadcore (provided their manufacturer has the BIOS support) in an old AM2 board (not AM2+) like the Asus Crosshair. Intel were still selling socket 478, 775, and now the i7 sockets all in the same era of AM2 (and it looks like Intels 32nm budget CPU's are bringing with them another socket).

 

[ilkhan]

Originally posted by: Sylvanas
(and it looks like Intels 32nm budget CPU's are bringing with them another socket).

I still wonder how people can say this with a straight face.
s1156 is the desktop socket
s1366 is the server socket
s15xx is the 4+ socket server socket
s989 is the mobile socket

All have a distinct role in the lineup. Just because s1366 is being used as a high end desktop socket (really a dual socket system cut down to one socket) doesn't make it the desktop socket.

 

[Flipped Gazelle]

Originally posted by: lopri
This pisses me off for variety of reasons. I mean, making it such that aftermarket 939 HSF's don't work is one thing, but:

1) Its rectengular design means there is usually only one direction (instead of both horizontal and vertical) to mount a HSF, which can reduce cooling performance of the HSF.
2) Its ridiculously close proximity to DIMM sockets means LOTS of aftermarket heatsink will have an issue with memory sticks. Forget those tall fancy RAM.

Also at its launch, 790FX/790X northbridge was extremely close to CPU socket as well. These days mobo manufacturers worked this issue out, but it's still such a short sight that it makes me wonder what the design team was thinking.

Obviously there had to be reasons, but those reasons can't be an excuse to the frustration an end-user has to go through. (Unless those reasons were absolute necessity for future compatibility, which I doubt) At least Intel sockets are square, often allowing work-arounds without totally wasting a HSF one paid for.

/end rant

I've never been inspired to orient the cooler different from the default east/west configuration, but I guess this could be an issue.

I've used a number of K8 HSF's from Thermaltake and Coolermaster in AM2 builds w/o a problem.

 

[lopri]

I don't quarrel with the mounting mechanism. It's a proven method throughout Socket 939, and I agree it's superior to push-pins and very user friendly. (Though to be fair, push-pins aren't that bad as long as the HSF isn't too heavy)

Right now I use a Scythe Samurai, and despite there are 4 potential mounting directions I can only use 1 on my AM2 board. Same for Scythe Infinity, which has 2 ways but only 1 possible on AM2.

 

[mindless1]

How can you blame AMD for a motherboard manufacturer that chooses which way to orient the socket (since all along, any socket with a typical cam-mechanism lever and square CPU, couldn't possibly end up square unless they padded the sides with wasted space), motherboard manufacturer that chooses how close to put the memory slots, chooses where to put the northbridge?

I blame the heatsink manufacturers far more, there is no reason why they can't design so that the heatsink fins do not extend excessively outside the keep-out zone defined by AMD until those fins are a certain height off the motherboard.

Personally I don't like the way AMD's socket retention mechanism clips on, especially now that it's only *necessarily* the single center lug per side with AM2. At least it was two with skt 939, but either way they both knew heatsinks were getting ever taller and heavier, both of them should have spec'd that all boards use a backplate, that this backplate have male-female combo studs (like those on a motherboard parallel or serial port but larger) holding it to the board, and that all heatsinks have to use bolt-down spring loaded mechanisms like some higher end 'sinks did for skt A.

It might take a minute or two longer to install, but it would be far more secure, the backplate would prevent board warpage, and so long as the fins are kept out of the way it is actually easier to put a heatsink on or take it off with the board still in a system. I haven't been comfortable shipping any finished system with the heatsink on it since the skt 370 era with exception of the few higher-end skt A sinks that did have bolt-through mounting (and a few more contemporary ones, it's not that there aren't any sinks that do this today but they aren't as common as they should be, IMO. Granted that means having to take a board out if there wasn't a standard backplate but I propose that there should have been that standard for both AMD and Intel, that they BOTH share the same backplate standard and that it not be as close to the socket as possible so it allows new socket designs to still fit within that boundary. With some forethought we could keep reusing the same heatsink standard until the year comes that it has to be water-cooled just to keep a CPU from bursting into flames because air-cooling won't cut it anymore (but then our water-blocks built on the same non-changing standard would be more useful long term investments). Need I suggest we adopt the same ideal for video cards, northbridges and southbridges?

I recall too many times I couldn't get to a spring clip to get a heatsink off of socket lugs without taking a PSU out, or the northbridge 'sink was in the way, or the fins plus memory, etc. Eventually I took an old screwdriver and bent it in creative angles so it would fit in these confined spaces to unclip 'sinks.

 

[imported_Scoop]

Originally posted by: Flipped Gazelle

Originally posted by: lopri
This pisses me off for variety of reasons. I mean, making it such that aftermarket 939 HSF's don't work is one thing, but:

1) Its rectengular design means there is usually only one direction (instead of both horizontal and vertical) to mount a HSF, which can reduce cooling performance of the HSF.
2) Its ridiculously close proximity to DIMM sockets means LOTS of aftermarket heatsink will have an issue with memory sticks. Forget those tall fancy RAM.

Also at its launch, 790FX/790X northbridge was extremely close to CPU socket as well. These days mobo manufacturers worked this issue out, but it's still such a short sight that it makes me wonder what the design team was thinking.

Obviously there had to be reasons, but those reasons can't be an excuse to the frustration an end-user has to go through. (Unless those reasons were absolute necessity for future compatibility, which I doubt) At least Intel sockets are square, often allowing work-arounds without totally wasting a HSF one paid for.

/end rant

I've never been inspired to orient the cooler different from the default east/west configuration, but I guess this could be an issue.

I've used a number of K8 HSF's from Thermaltake and Coolermaster in AM2 builds w/o a problem.

Because of the 'default' mounting mechanism many good tower heatsinks have to be oriented so that they blow hot air right into the PSU which is not ideal. Or course you could blame the heatsink manufacturers for not designing a better one to utilize.

 

[Flipped Gazelle]

Originally posted by: Scoop

Originally posted by: Flipped Gazelle

Originally posted by: lopri
This pisses me off for variety of reasons. I mean, making it such that aftermarket 939 HSF's don't work is one thing, but:

1) Its rectengular design means there is usually only one direction (instead of both horizontal and vertical) to mount a HSF, which can reduce cooling performance of the HSF.
2) Its ridiculously close proximity to DIMM sockets means LOTS of aftermarket heatsink will have an issue with memory sticks. Forget those tall fancy RAM.

Also at its launch, 790FX/790X northbridge was extremely close to CPU socket as well. These days mobo manufacturers worked this issue out, but it's still such a short sight that it makes me wonder what the design team was thinking.

Obviously there had to be reasons, but those reasons can't be an excuse to the frustration an end-user has to go through. (Unless those reasons were absolute necessity for future compatibility, which I doubt) At least Intel sockets are square, often allowing work-arounds without totally wasting a HSF one paid for.

/end rant

I've never been inspired to orient the cooler different from the default east/west configuration, but I guess this could be an issue.

I've used a number of K8 HSF's from Thermaltake and Coolermaster in AM2 builds w/o a problem.

Because of the 'default' mounting mechanism many good tower heatsinks have to be oriented so that they blow hot air right into the PSU which is not ideal. Or course you could blame the heatsink manufacturers for not designing a better one to utilize.

The 3 tower heatsinks I've used (AC 64 Pro, Coolink Silentator, Ixtrema Pro 120 something) blew east-west, so not into the PSU. But then, those are the only 3 towers I've used.