Intel & AMD Motherboard Socket Types Explained
Socket types mightn't be the most famous part of a PC, but they are extremely important in dictating what parts a builder is capable of using.
The standard for CPU performance in gaming PCs seems to be constantly changing, and with these changes comes a change in motherboard socket type compatibility. PC hardware, to the chagrin of new-to-the-industry PC builder, are not an independently functioning tools. The CPU cannot act without communicating with compatible RAM and motherboards, the GPU cannot get its job done without a compatible CPU, and none of these pieces of hardware do anything without an operating system. The act of building a PC is a complicated ropewalk of ensuring all desired components can play nice with each other, and this can be a tedious task for the inexperienced. None of this is going to change with the addition of the new Ryzen 7000 and Intel 13th generation CPUs. In fact, organizing a state-of-the-art build is going to get a little more complicated for the next year or so, especially for AMD users. This is because, as new generations of hardware are created, advancements are made from a foundational level, and with foundational changes comes changes that need to be made to supporting hardware. The motherboard is one such supporting piece of hardware, and although most modern motherboards share similar characteristics in terms of DIMM, PCIe, and M.2 slots, the most important, and trickiest, asset that one should consider first and foremost is their respective socket type. Socket types are the single most important feature motherboards carry when it comes to CPU compatibility. Today, the two most common socket types in the world are AM4 and LGA 1700. Both of these socket types, belonging to AMD and Intel, respectively, are home to the most popular gaming CPUs on the market. Because of this, knowing the differences between the two allows a PC builder to understand the supported motherboards for that vast majority of gaming PCs today.
