Use in Microprocessors
LGA is used as a physical interface for microprocessors of the Intel Pentium 4 (Prescott), Intel Xeon, Intel Core 2, Intel Core (Bloomfield and Lynnfield) and AMD Opteron families. Unlike the pin grid array (PGA) interface found on most AMD and older Intel processors, there are no pins on the chip; in place of the pins are pads of bare gold-plated copper that touch protruding pins on the microprocessor's placeholder on the motherboard.
While LGA sockets have been in use as early as 1996 by the MIPS R10000 and HP PA-8000 processors, the interface did not gain widespread use until Intel introduced their LGA platform, starting with the 5x0 and 6x0 sequence Pentium 4 (Prescott) in 2004. All Pentium D and Core 2 desktop processors currently use an LGA socket. As of Q1 2006, Intel switched the Xeon server platform to LGA, starting with the 5000-series models. AMD introduced their server LGA platform starting with the 2000-series Opteron in Q2 2006. AMD offered the Athlon 64 FX series on socket 1207FX through ASUS's L1N64-SLI WS motherboards. It was the only desktop LGA solution offered by AMD.
The most common Intel desktop LGA socket is dubbed LGA 1155 (Socket H2), which is used with Intel's Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge series Core i3, i5, and i7 families. However, the Sandy Bridge-E Core i7 family uses the LGA 2011 (Socket R) socket. The LGA setup provides higher pin densities, allowing more power contacts and thus a more stable power supply to the chip. LGA packaging also has a tertiary benefit of placing pins onto the motherboard; if a pin breaks, the motherboard is often cheaper to replace than the CPU chip (as compared to a PGA chip/socket setup).
The AMD server LGA socket is designated Socket G34 (LGA 1944). Like Intel, AMD decided to use LGA sockets for their higher pin densities, as a 1944-pin PGA would simply be too large for most motherboards.
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