Difference between revisions of "Socket 4 Motherboards"
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All Socket 4 motherboards were made as AT motherboards or as proprietary boards. No ATX Socket 4 motherboards were ever made. No AGP slotted Socket 4 motherboard was ever made. | All Socket 4 motherboards were made as AT motherboards or as proprietary boards. No ATX Socket 4 motherboards were ever made. No AGP slotted Socket 4 motherboard was ever made. | ||
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| + | '''Today:''' These days Socket 4 isn't the best basis for a retro rig, as there are better alternatives out there. Socket 3 (486) boards are just as fast as Socket 4 and offer more flexibility then Socket 4, which generally speaking is locked at either 60MHz or 66MHz. Socket 7 (and Super 7) on the high end offer much more flexibility also and can be slowed down to almost the same speed using different processors and/or speed settings. Last but not least, Socket 4 motherboards aren't all that common as Socket 4 was so quickly replaced by Socket 5 and Socket 7. | ||
Revision as of 02:54, 20 February 2013
Socket 4
Socket 4 was released around 1993 and housed the very first real Pentium processor. Very few different CPU's have been made to fit this socket, which is limited to the Pentium 60MHz, the Pentium 66MHz and the obscure Pentium Overdrive which ran at either 120MHz or 133MHz. Because of the limited variety of CPU's manufactured for this socket and the limited speed options these motherboards provided, Socket 4 is a far less flexible platform when compared to Socket 3 or Socket 7. Socket 4 supported the then new 60MHz FSB and 66MHz FSB (even though some Socket 4 motherboards were made that had slower FSB's like 50MHz and 40MHz). Usually Socket 4 motherboards were fitted with ISA and PCI slots, though some VLB slotted Socket 4 motherboards were made. Socket 4 motherboards used either EDO or FPM memory modules and the memory modules had to be fitted in pairs where in it's predecessor, single modules were used. This was because Socket 4 was the first x86 motherboard that had a 64-bit memory bus (486 and earlier used a 32-bit, or a 16-bit memory bus).
All Socket 4 motherboards were made as AT motherboards or as proprietary boards. No ATX Socket 4 motherboards were ever made. No AGP slotted Socket 4 motherboard was ever made.
Today: These days Socket 4 isn't the best basis for a retro rig, as there are better alternatives out there. Socket 3 (486) boards are just as fast as Socket 4 and offer more flexibility then Socket 4, which generally speaking is locked at either 60MHz or 66MHz. Socket 7 (and Super 7) on the high end offer much more flexibility also and can be slowed down to almost the same speed using different processors and/or speed settings. Last but not least, Socket 4 motherboards aren't all that common as Socket 4 was so quickly replaced by Socket 5 and Socket 7.
