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CPU Sockets

A

Armageddon415

Golden Member
How long will Intel keep using the Socket 478 and how long will AMD keep using Socket A? Right now I'm deciding on AMD or Intel and I want to chose the one that will last longer for me.
 
AMD will be making CPUs for SocketA for a while (their roadmap shows SocketA CPUs into the second half of 2003) but the final CPU revision appears to be coming up, namely Barton. Barton will be essentially Thoroughbred with 512kb of level-2 cache, as far as I've read, and hopefully it will work on motherboards that are compatible with the 256kb Thoroughbreds.

I don't remember what direction Intel will be taking. I was under the impression that they were going to stick with Socket478 for the... what is that next one, not Prestonia but...? Prescot, that's it. I'll go see if XBitlabs has any dirt on that.
 
Not sure... they're going to boost the level-1 cache by a factor of four, from what I'm reading, and the level-2 cache to 1Mb. As I understand it, the long pipeline of the P4 causes a big penalty if the CPU guesses a branch wrong and has to start from the top, so they are evidently working on improving the branch prediction too. Hope I'm not butchering that too badly. Anyway, its strongest point might be that Intel is hoping to eventually squeeze 5 to 6 GHz out of the new core, which is .09-micron technology.

Regarding the socket question, I've found conflicting reports. The Register says 479 pins here but another place showed socket478. Intel probably knows but they historically don't talk about unannounced products. I speculate that you should not expect today's motherboards to support Prescot, even if it ends up using Socket478, because it will probably be designed with a faster type of memory in mind... DDR-II maybe? It reportedly runs on a 666MHz fsb.

Any Intel cogniscenti have more info on this question?

edit: I know Prescot is somewhat tangential to your actual question about forward compatibility, Armageddon415, but if you can sift the facts out from the rumors (and rhetoric), there may be some relevant info here. What will your most intensive usage be, anyway... that might be a relevant question if you're shopping for the right platform for your needs?
 
Yep. The question is, will Prescot run well on the boards you can buy this month, if it's designed for memory that doesn't yet exist (DDR-II). I would count on a bunch of Northwood upgrades for certain, and I'd hope for Prescot but not count on it. See my edit above... what are you going to use it for?
 
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