So here you go. The incomplete, not very good, database of every chipset, current up to LGA1200, LGA2011, AM2+, and sTRX40. It's filled with notes, (non-objective) commentary, and some links occasionally throughout.
I'm in the process of making it functional HTML, but I want to have it saved somewhere just in case. So it'll slowly be edited from a singular block of text.
The draft begins after this line.
This is a chipset database, and sometimes will have some bonus info about the socket/motherboard of the time. It is currently in beta stage and not every chipset will have a short description. Currently it's just a list of chipsets. Ctrl+F will be your friend here. If there's anything you'd like to add, simply comment below! I would like proof, though, since I'd like to keep this as true as possible. If you comment and say "I think 440BX supports Tualatin Pentium IIIs but you say it doesn't, but I last used it 20 years ago" I likely won't change it, but if you say "440BX supports Tualatin Pentium IIIs, here's a picture of a Tualatin P3 running on a 440BX board with proof that it's 440BX and a Tualatin P3" I will. Similarly, if there's anything inaccurate, feel free to call me out for it and it shall be changed (again, if true, whether by personal experiences or other means). The older stuff is harder to find accurate information on. Socket 0/1: Socket 0/1 is one of two early CPU sockets without an official name. This socket, Socket 0/1 is a 68-pin PGA socket for 80186 and 80286 CPUs (and yes, there is such a thing as a 186). CPUs for Socket 0/1 range in speeds from 6 to 25 MHz. Most Socket 0/1 boards also have sockets for 80187 and 80287 math coprocessors. The only difference between the 186 and the 286 is that the 186 has a 20-bit address width, and the 286 has a 24-bit address width. It was succeeded by Socket 0/2. I have never handled a Socket 0/1 motherboard before. Socket 0/2: Socket 0/2 is not an official socket name. It's what I've named the socket that 386 CPUs use. As it came before Socket 1, I've christened it Socket 0/2 and that is how it will be referred to in this database. It's a 132-pin socket, and holds very tightly to the chip, making it very difficult to remove the CPU from the socket successfully. Intel made a chip remover tool, but it had mixed success depending on how tight the chip was in the socket. I've handled one Socket 0 board, at my grandpa's house. I did not attempt to remove the CPU though as I don't own the CPU/motherboard. Socket 1: Socket 1 is the first CPU socket with an official name. It has 169 pins. It supports 16-33 MHz 486 SX, 486 DX, 486 DX2, and 486 OverDrive. Socket 1 is 5V only. Socket 2: Socket 2 is Socket 1 with an extra ring of pins around it. It supports Socket 1 CPUs, but only CPUs with a 25 MHz clockspeed or higher. Socket 2 can support CPUs of speeds up to 83 MHz, as it supports 63 and 83 MHz Pentium OverDrive CPUs. Socket 2 is still only 5V. Socket 3: Socket 3 is a 486 socket. Most motherboards had only ISA slots, of both 8-bit and 16-bit varieties, but some had VLB slots (an ISA 16-bit slot with some extra on the end) which allowed the cards to communicate directly with the CPU. These boards had no integrated controllers for anything but the keyboard port - everything else required an add-on card, whether it be sound, video, serial/parallel, modem, LAN, etc. Very late Socket 3 boards did have integrated controllers and/or PCI (I owned one such board - the PCI I-486P3G) but these were not common. CPUs of this time ran on 5v or 3.3v, and not all boards supported 3.3v. If they did, you had to set it manually with a jumper. Almost every setting was set via a jumper on the motherboard. The BIOS was very limited in functionality. Chipsets: Intel: 420TX - Up to 33 MHz FSB, only 5v CPUs (though you could run 3.3v CPUs in a 5v only board with a voltage adapter, I owned one of these as well), 30-pin or 72-pin SIMMs of up to 128MB RAM max, supports ECC, and PCI 1.0. 420ZX - Up to 33 MHz, 5v and 3.3v CPU support, 30-pin or 72-pin SIMMs of up to 160MB RAM max, supports ECC and PCI 2.1. 420EX - Up to 50 MHz FSB, 5v and 3.3v CPU support, 30-pin or 72-pin SIMMs of up to 128MB RAM max, supports ECC and PCI 2.0. Socket 4: Socket 4 is for the original Pentiums. It looks similar to Socket 478, but has only 273 pins. It is a 5v socket only. Chipsets: Intel: 430LX - 60-66 MHz FSB, max 192MB 72-pin SIMM RAM, parity support, PCI 2.0 SiS: SiS 501/502/503 - 50-66 MHz FSB, up to 128MB of 30-pin or 72-pin SIMMs, PCI 2.0 SiS 5101/5102/5103 - Same as SiS 501/502/503 except with 512MB max RAM SiS 5501/5502/5503 - Same as SiS 5101/5102/5103 ALi: ALADDiN - 66 MHz FSB, max 1GB ECC 72-pin SIMM RAM, PCI 2.1 Socket 5: Socket 5 supersedes Socket 4 with 3.3v, for the 2nd generation of Pentiums (not Pentium IIs though). Has 320 pins instead of 273. Chipsets: Intel: 430NX - 50-66 MHz FSB, SMP support, max 512MB parity 30/72-pin SIMM RAM, PCI 2.0 430FX - 50-66 MHz FSB, max 128MB of 30/72-pin SIMM RAM, PCI 2.0 VIA: Apollo Master - 50-66 MHz FSB, up to 1GB of BEDO RAM, PCI 2.1. Apollo Plus - Same features as Apollo Master except with a VT82C576MV southbridge instead of a VT82C576M/VT82C416 southbridge SiS: SiS 501/502/503 - 50-66 MHz FSB, up to 128MB of 72-pin SIMMs, PCI 2.0 SiS 5101/5102/5103 - Same as SiS 501/502/503 except with 512MB max RAM SiS 5501/5502/5503 - Same as SiS 5101/5102/5103 SiS 5511/5512/5513 - 50-66 MHz FSB, max 512MB of 72-pin SIMMs (but 1GB may be possible) SiS 5596/5513 - 50-66 MHz FSB, max 512MB of 72-pin SIMMs, PCI 2.1 ALi: ALADDiN - 66 MHz FSB, 1GB max ECC FPM RAM, PCI 2.1 ALADDiN II - 66 MHz FSB, 768MB max ECC EDO RAM, PCI 2.1 Socket 6: Socket 6 was a modification of Socket 3. It was released at the end of the 486 life cycle, and few motherboards were made with Socket 6. Socket 7: Socket 7 supports a WIDE range of CPUs: P5 Pentiums, AMD K5-K6, and Cyrix 6x86/MX CPUs. It's one of the most versatile sockets of this era. Socket 7 has one more pin than Socket 5, and this gives it "dual split rail voltage" capabilities, though I am not sure what this entails. Apparently not all motherboard manufacturers supported dual voltage. Additionally, Socket 5 CPUs can be used in Socket 7 motherboards (but not vice versa). Chipsets: Intel: 430FX - Supports PCI 2.0 430HX - Supports SMP, PCI 2.1, and USB 1.0. 430VX - Same features as 430HX minus SMP support and with SDRAM support 430TX - Supports SDRAM and UDMA/33, also adds ACPI support VIA: Apollo VP - 50-66 MHz FSB, max 512MB of PC66 SDRAM, PCI 2.0 Apollo VPX - Same as Apollo VP except with a FSB max of 75 MHz instead of 66 Apollo VP2/97 - Same features as Apollo VPX except with ECC support Apollo VPX/97 - Exactly the same as Apollo VPX Apollo VP3 - AGP 2X, 66 MHz FSB only, max 1GB of ECC PC66 SDRAM, PCI 2.0 SiS: SiS 5571 - 50-75 MHz FSB, max 384MB 72-pin SIMMs, PCI 2.1 SiS 5120 - Same features as SiS 5571 SiS 5581/5582 - Same features as SiS 5571 SiS 5597/5598 - Same as SiS 5571 with a SiS 5598 iGPU SiS 5591/5592/5595 - AGP 2X, 50-75 MHz FSB, max 768MB SDRAM, PCI 2.1 SiS 530 - 66-100 MHz FSB, max 1536MB SDRAM, PCI 2.2, SiS 6306 iGPU SiS 540 - 66-100 MHz FSB, max 1536MB ECC SDRAM, PCI 2.2, SiS 300 iGPU ALi ALADDiN II - 66 MHz FSB, max 768MB ECC EDO RAM, PCI 2.1 ALADDiN III - 66 MHz FSB, max 1GB ECC PC66 SDRAM, PCI 2.1 ALADDiN IV - 83 MHz FSB, max 1GB ECC PC100 SDRAM, PCI 2.1 ALADDiN IV+ - ALADDiN IV with an upgraded northbridge + southbridge - from M1531 & M1533 to M1531B & M1543. Slot 1: Slot 1 and Socket 370 sort of coexisted and sort of didn't. Socket 370 did replace Slot 1 eventually, but for awhile you could get boards with Slot 1 or Socket 370, along with adapters from Slot 1 to Socket 370. However, some of these only supported Celerons, not Pentiums. There were also Slot 1 to Socket 8 adapters, though not many people had Socket 8 CPUs and these were thus less common. Motherboards of this time were typically ATX in height, but not as wide. They had no 4-pin CPU power connectors, only a 20-pin ATX power connector, and either Socket 370 or Slot 1. These sockets could take Pentium II's, Pentium III's, and some Celerons. Speeds ranged from 200 MHz to 1 GHz. Motherboards of this era had either 72-pin SIMM slots or SDRAM slots. For expansion slots, you had 0-1 AGP slots (for graphics cards), 3-6 PCI slots (for sound cards, LAN, USB, modems etc. since that wasn't built in) and 0-2 ISA slots (for modems and older things). For drives, you had 1-2 IDE controllers, supporting up to 4 devices. You also had 1 floppy controller for up to 2 floppy drives. CPU support typically goes by the rule of: 66 MHz = Pentium II 100 MHz = Katmai Pentium III 133 MHz = Coppermine Pentium III Though some Coppermines had a FSB of 100 MHz. You can distinguish between them by the "B" mark, where if it has a B it supports a 133 MHz FSB. Chipsets: Intel: Intel 440FX - 66 MHz FSB. Supports both Slot 1 and Socket 8. Does not have AGP, and does not work with SDRAM - only 72-pin SIMMs. Supports 66 MHz FSB Pentium II's and Covington and Mendocino Celerons on Slot 1 - no Pentium III support. Intel 440LX - Same features as 440FX, but with up to AGP 2X support, SDRAM support, and up to 2 CPUs for SMP, or Symmetric multi-processing. Not all programs supported this though. Intel 440EX - Same features as 440LX, but is limited to max 256MB RAM and has no SMP support. Intel 440BX - Supports both 66 and 100 MHz FSB CPUs, so all P2's and Katmai P3's. Can use up to 256MB of RAM, has SMP support, and supports Coppermine Celerons along with Covington and Mendocino ones. Intel 440ZX - Same features as 440BX minus SMP. Intel i820 - 66, 100, and 133 MHz FSB, allowing it to support all Slot 1 CPUs (even those running via a Slot 1 to Socket 370 adapter). It can run up to 2 CPUs for SMP, and supports up to AGP 4X. Intel i820E - Same features as i820 with one exception - i820 supports UDMA/66, while i820E supports UDMA/100, giving it 100 MB/s transfer capability over IDE. VIA: VIA Apollo Pro - The same features as Intel 440ZX, plus Pentium Pro support (via a Slot 1 to Socket 8 adapter). VIA Apollo Pro+ - Has the exact same features as the Apollo Pro. VIA Apollo Pro 133 - The exact same features of the Intel i820 chipset, except that the Apollo Pro 133 only supports up to AGP 2X, not AGP 4X. VIA Apollo Pro 133A - The exact same features of the Intel i820 chipset. SiS: SiS 5600 - AGP 1x/2x, 66/100 MHz FSB, max 1.5GB PC66/100 SDRAM. SiS 600 - The exact same features as SiS 5600. SiS 620 - 66/100 MHz FSB, max 1.5GB PC66/100 SDRAM, SiS 6306 iGPU. SiS 630 SiS 630S DiS 630ST SiS 630E SiS 630ET SiS 633 SiS 633T SiS 635 SiS 635T SiS 640T ALi: ALADDiN PRO II ALADDiN TNT ALADDiN PRO 4 Socket 370: The other half of the Slot 1/Socket 370 Intel generation. Motherboards of this time were typically ATX in height, but not as wide. They had no 4-pin CPU power connectors, only a 20-pin ATX power connector, and either Socket 370 or Slot 1. These sockets could take Pentium II's, Pentium III's, and some Celerons. Speeds ranged from 200 to 1333 MHz. Socket 370 also supports Tualatin Pentium IIIs, which can run up to 1333 MHz. These do not work in Slot 1 to Socket 370 adapters as far as I'm aware. Motherboards of this era had either 72-pin SIMM slots or SDRAM slots. For expansion slots, you had 0-1 AGP slots (for graphics cards), 3-6 PCI slots (for sound cards, LAN, USB, modems etc. since that wasn't built in) and 0-2 ISA slots (for modems and older things). For drives, you had 1-2 IDE controllers, supporting up to 4 devices. You also had 1 floppy controller for up to 2 floppy drives. Chipsets: Intel: 440BX 815EP 815EP (B-step) 820 815E 810 810E 810E (B-step) 815EG 810E2 VIA: Apollo PM133 Apollo Pro 133 Apollo Pro 133A Apollo Pro 133T Apollo Pro 266 Apollo Pro 266T SiS: 630T 635T 630S 630ST 630E 630ET ALi: CyberALADDiN CyberALADDiN-T ALADDiN Pro 5 ALADDiN Pro 5T Socket 423: The first third of Pentium 4's. It didn't last too long as the design wasn't powerful enough to raise clockspeeds past 2 GHz. It was only used between November 2000 and August 2001. CPUs for Socket 428 didn't have unlocked multipliers. They were overclockable by raising the FSB, or Front Side Bus, but raising this too far will cause other buses to become out of spec and thus stop working (such as PCI, AGP, RAM, etc.) Socket 423 was supposed to use RDRAM, or Rambus DRAM instead of regular SDRAM, but it was very expensive and Intel switched to SDR and DDR support later. Chipsets: Intel: 845 - AGP 4X, PC133 SDR support, 3GB RAM max. 845D - Same features as 845 except it supports DDR 200/266 instead of SDR PC133, and only 2GB max instead of 3. Was released very late into Socket 423's lifetime. 850 - AGP 4X, 4 RDRAM slots, 2GB RAM max. The original chipset for Socket 423 but was replaced in favor if P4X266, 845, and 845D as RDRAM was very expensive. VIA: P4X266 - AGP 4X, SDR PC100/133, DDR 200/266 support, 4GB RAM max. The only chipset VIA made for Socket 423. SiS: SiS 645 - AGP 2X/4X, SDR PC100/133, DDR 200/266/333 support, 3GB RAM max. SiS 650 - AGP 2X/4X, SDR PC100/133, DDF 200/266 support, 3GB RAM max. SiS 650GX - Exactly the same as SiS 650. Socket 478: The second third of Pentium 4's. Boards are now almost always fully ATX in width and height. Now we have DDR/DDR1 RAM, with up to 4GB. These P4's were 1C/1T, 32-bit only, but went really fast. For expansion slots, same as last time, just without the ISA slots. We also see SATA on some boards. Chipsets: Intel: 845 845D 845E 845G 845GE 845PE 845GV 845GL 848P 850 865P 865PE 865G 865GV 875P VIA: P4X266 P4M266 P4X266A P4X266E P4M266A P4X333 P4X400 P4X533 PT800 PM800 PT880 PM880 P4M800 P4M800 Pro P4M890 PT880 Pro SiS: SiS 645 SiS 645DX SiS 648 SiS 648FX SiS 649 SiS 649FX SiS 649DX SiS 650 SiS 650GX SiS 651 SiS 655 SiS 655FX SiS 655TX SiS 661FX SiS 661GX SiS R658 - AGP 4X/8X, max 4GB PC1066 dual channel RDRAM, 400/533 MHz FSB, Pentium 4 and Celeron support only. LGA775: This is the third third of Pentium 4's, and also the Core 2 series. Some LGA775 boards did not support Core 2's, vice versa. We also have DDR2 RAM now, and PCIe instead of AGP for most things. Not much change in motherboard form factor. Pentium 4 chipsets (specific CPU support will be specified under the chipset listing): Intel: 845GV 845GE 848P 865P 865PE 865G 865GV 875P E7221 E7230 VIA: PT800 PM800 PT880 PM880 PT880 Pro PT880 Ultra PT890 PT894 Pro PT900 P4M800 Pro P4M880 P4M890 P4M900 SiS: SiS 649 SiS 649FX SiS 649DX SiS 655 SiS 656 SiS 656FX SiS 661FX SiS 661GX Core 2 chipsets (supports P4 unless otherwise specified): SiS 662 SiS 671 SiS 671FX SiS 671DX SiS 672 - PCIe x16 1.0, full LGA775 support (minus Core 2 Quad) LGA1156: The first round of Intel's Core series. We're now on DDR3. Not much change in motherboard form factor, though Micro-ATX boards were slightly more common. We're only on PCIe now. Core count went from 4 to 6 cores (if you get a Xeon, Core i was still quad-core), some with hyperthreading, some without. Chipsets (note that information was hard to come by and this is one of my weakest platforms for correct info): H55 - Technically the worst chipset for LGA1156, but still supports overclocking and you can find decent boards. Supports only 6 chipset PCIe 2.0 lanes, and max 12 USB ports instead of 14 for all the others, but if you can find a board with decent VRMs for a good price (and you need an LGA1156 board), go for it! P55 - Despite typically being a lower chipset, it's the best chipset you can get for LGA1156! Supports overclocking, up to 6 SATA ports, 8 chipset PCIe 2.0 lanes, and a built-in GPU. Does not support IDE or extra security features, though. H57 - It's H55 but with max 2 more USB 2.0 parts and 2 more chipset PCIe 2.0 lanes. Q57 - Same features as P55 but with 2 differences - does not support overclocking (at least from what I can tell) and supports extra security features. Seems more workstation-optimized. LGA1155: 2nd and 3rd gen Core for Intel, so Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge. Still on DDR3. 2nd gen chipsets: H61 - Bottom of the barrel. Basically only good for office machines. H65 - A slight step up from H61, has 2 extra chipset PCIe 2.0 lanes. H67 - More USB ports and SATA ports. B65 - Supports PCI, along with H65 and H67 features. Q65 - One more SATA port than B65. Otherwise the same feature set. P67 - Allows for CPU and RAM overclocking. Q67 - H67 but with PCI support and extra security features. Z67 - Allows for CPU and RAM overclocking. 3rd gen chipsets: B75 - Bottom of the barrel. Basically only good for office machines. Q75 - Has more USB ports, supports RAID, but doesn't support IRST (Intel Rapid Storage Technology) Q77 - Q75 but with IRST. C216 - Enterprise only. Otherwise, exactly the same as Q77. H77 - B75 but with RAID support and without PCI support. Z75 - You can OC CPU and RAM. Z77 - Same as Z75 but with Smart Response Technology. LGA1150: 4th and the basically nonexistent 5th gen chips. Still on DDR3. Not much change this generation in motherboards. 4th gen chipsets: H81 - Bottom of the barrel. Basically useless except for office machines. C222 - Enterprise only. Supports Broadwell with a BIOS flash. B85 - H81 but with more SATA and USB ports and 32GB max RAM instead of 16. C224 - Enterprise only. Supports Broadwell with a BIOS flash. Q85 - B85 but with 2 more USB 2.0 ports. Q87 - Q85 but with only SATA III ports and 2 more USB 3.0 ports, replacing 2 USB 2.0 ports. C226 - Enterprise only. Supports Broadwell with a BIOS flash. H87 - Z87 without RAM OCing ability. Z87 - CPU and RAM OC'ing. More chipset PCIe lanes than the rest, and one Z87 board supports VT-d. 5th gen chipsets: H97 - Z97 but with less PCIe lanes and no RAM OC'ing ability. Supports CPU OC'ing. Some motherboards support NVMe boot - it is dependent on manufacturer. Z97 - Z87 but with native Broadwell support. Some motherboards support NVMe boot - it is dependent on manufacturer. It's worth noting that there were only 2 consumer 5th gen Intel CPUs, the Core i7-5775C and the Core i5-5675C. Neither were very good. LGA1151v1: 6th and 7th gen CPUs. Some motherboard support DDR4 now, though it's quite expensive and doesn't provide much performance increase for the price. 6th gen chipsets: H110 - Bleh. Don't get it if you don't have to. B150 - H110 but with max 32GB DDR3L support and max 64GB DDR4. It also supports 8 PCIe 3.0 chipset lanes instead of 6 PCIe 2.0 chipset lanes. Which still isn't many. Q150 - B150 but with 2 more USB 3.0 ports and 2 more SATA ports. Also has more security features. H170 - Q150 but without the security features and with RAID support and 8 more chipset PCIe 3.0 lanes. C236 - Enterprise only. Has the features of H170 + the security features of Q150 + 4 more chipset PCIe 3.0 lanes. Q170 - C236 but for regular people. Z170 - Q170 but without the security features and with CPU and RAM overclocking. 7th gen chipsets: B250 - The worst you can get. Not much else to say. Intel decided not to make H210 for some reason. Maybe because NZXT had an H210 case? Q250 - B250 but with 2 more USB 3.0 ports and 2 more chipset PCIe 3.0 lanes. H270 - Q250 but with RAID support and 6 more chipset PCIe 3.0 lanes, making a total of 20. Q270 - Z270 but without CPU and RAM overclocking and with extra security features. Z270 - CPU and RAM overclocking. Same features as Q270 minus the security features. LGA1151v2: 8th and 9th gen CPUs. Intel was really mean here. Same socket as 6th and 7th gen CPUs, but no compatibility between the two sockets. 100 and 200-series chipsets don't work with 8th and 9th gen CPUs, and 6th and 7th gen CPUs don't work with 300-series chipsets without lots of modding and time. 8th gen chipsets: H310 - Supports integrated WiFi 5, but only 6 chipset PCIe 3.0 chipset lanes, max 2 RAM slots, no RAID, no Optane support, etc. Avoid at all costs. B360 - H310 but with twice the chipset PCIe lanes, 2 more SATA ports, 6 more USB 3.0 ports, and 2 more RAM slots. H370 - Q370 - A good chipset if you can find it. Max 64GB RAM C246 - Enterprise only. Q370 but with Optane support with Xeon E CPUs. Z370 - Q370 but with CPU and RAM overclocking. 9th gen chipsets: B365 - H370 but with native 9th gen support, 4 10 Gbps USB 3.0 ports, and integrated WiFi 5. Z390 - Z370 but with native 9th gen support, integrated WiFi 5 and up to 6 5 Gbps USB 3.0 ports. LGA1200: 10th and 11th gen CPUs. Intel's current mainstream platform. 11th gen is kind of a joke (the 11900K has 2 less cores than the 10900K) and avoid the 11th gen Core i5's and Core i7's at all costs. Some 400-series chipsets don't support 11th gen CPUs for some reason, so make sure to check! 10th gen chipsets: Features of all: H410 - Bleeargh. Only 2 RAM slots, 10th gen only CPUs, no WiFI, Optane, RAID, and max 4 SATA ports and 5 Gbps USB 3.0 ports. I like to pretend this one doesn't exist. H470 - Much better than H410. 2 more RAM slots, 11th gen CPU support, 14 more chipset PCIe lanes (3.0 if 10th gen CPU, and 4.0 if 11th gen CPU), 2 more SATA ports, 4 more USB 2.0 ports, 8 more USB 3.0 ports (4x 4 Gbps, 4x 10 Gbps), and integrated WiFi 6 via the Intel AX201 chipset. B460 - Surprisingly worse than H470. No 11th gen CPU support, 4 less chipset PCIe lanes, no 10 Gbps USB 3.0 ports, 2 less USB 2.0 ports, and no integrated WiFi 6. Q470 - Z490 but without CPU and RAM overclocking and with extra security features. Z490 - Top-of-the-line for 10th gen. CPU and RAM overclocking, supports integrated WiFi 6 via the Intel AX201 chipset, RAID support, Optane support, the works. Some motherboard support PCIe 4.0. If you can't get Z590 you can't go wrong here! W480 - For LGA1200 Xeon W CPUs only. Supports 2 more SATA ports and 2 more 10 Gbps USB 3.0 ports than Z490, and has extra security features. 11th gen chipsets: Features of all: If using an 11th gen CPU, the chipset has an 8x DMI link to the CPU instead of a 4x. Also, some motherboards have a PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slot wired directly to the CPU socket, but these are only active if an 11th gen CPU is installed. If a 10th gen CPU is installed, they lie dormant and are useless. H510 - H410 but with 11th gen CPU support and integrated WiFi 6 via the Intel AX201 chipset. Again, avoid. H570 - Very compelling for the price. Supports RAM overclocking, has 4 RAM slots, 6 SATA ports instead of 4, and has 12 chipset PCIe lanes (3.0 if 10th gen CPU, and 4.0 if 11th gen CPU). B560 - It's H570 but with RAID 0/1/5/10 support, 8 more chipset PCIe lanes, and 2 more SATA ports. Nothing else. Z590 - Not much different from Z490, just native 11th gen CPU support and mandatory PCIe 4.0 support. W580 - Z590 with 2 more 10 Gbps ports and only LGA1200 Xeon W CPU support. Also has the extra security features. Intel's prosumer platform motherboard/chipset guide. We start at Socket 8. Socket 8: Socket 8 is only for Pentium Pros and Pentium II Overdrive CPUs - no 486, no K6, etc. It's rectangular in shape, and has an interesting layout - half is PGA (pins in a square format), and half is SPGA (pins in an X format). It was succeeded by Slot 2. Chipsets: Intel: 450KX - 60/66 MHz FSB, Pentium Pro only, SMP support, 1GB max RAM, PCI 2.0 450GX - 450KX but with 8GB max RAM and up to 4 CPUs for SMP. 440FX - 60/66 MHz FSB, Pentium Pro and Pentium II, 1GB max RAM, ECC support, PCI 2.1 VIA: Apollo P6 - 60/66 MHz FSB, Pentium Pro, SMP support, 1GB max RAM support, ECC, PCI 2.1 Apollo Pro - AGP 2X, 66/100 MHz FSB, Pentium Pro and Pentium II, PC66/100 ECC SDRAM, PCI 2.1 Apollo Pro+ - Exact same features as Apollo Pro+. Apollo Pro II - Exact same features as Apollo Pro. Slot 2: The successor to Socket 8. Supports most Pentium II Xeons (400-450 MHz) and some Pentium III Xeons (500-1000 MHz). Tualatin Pentium IIIs, the third, final, and fastest generation of Pentium IIIs, were sometimes packaged and sold for Socket 370 as Pentium IIIs and sometimes packaged and sold for Slot 2 as Pentium III Xeons. It was succeeded both by Socket 370 and Socket 603. Socket 603: Socket 603 was for Xeon processors only. It Chipset: 860 - AGP 4X, 400 MT/s FSB, max 4GB ECC PC600/800 RDRAM LGA 771: LGA 771 is LGA 775 but server-oriented. It's possible to use LGA 771 CPU's in LGA 775 sockets, but you have to block off some pins on the 771 CPU and then modify your 775 socket so the 771 CPU goes in the right way. Here's a guide. Anyway, all LGA 771 boards that I've seen have SATA, and as it's a server platform, boards were typically EATX or larger. You could get up to 8 cores with 2 4-core Xeons, and 32GB of RAM with 8GB DDR2 ECC modules. Linus did a 2-part video series on it: Reveal hidden contents I wasn't able to find any info on chipsets for LGA 771, but here's a few fun facts: 1. There's only 1 single-core CPU for LGA 771 - the Xeon L3014. It was OEM only. 2. There's also a Core 2 CPU for LGA 771 - the Core 2 Extreme QX9775. 4C/4T, 3.2 GHz, 1600 MT/s FSB, 12MB of L2 cache, and a 150W TDP. LGA 1366: LGA 1366 is Intel's first Extreme platform. It has only one consumer chipset - X58 - but it has 6 server chipsets - 3400, 3420, 3450, 5500, 5520, and 7500. There's not too much to talk about here, so we'll move on to LGA 1356 and LGA 2011. LGA 1356: Intel, being Intel, took something simple and made it weird. Instead of one consumer socket (LGA 1155) and one Extreme socket (LGA 2011) they decided to throw a third one in the mix (LGA 1356). LGA 1356 was mostly forgotten about as it didn't support too many interesting things, plus there's not much information about it online, but it exists, so here's what I know: 1. It had tri-channel DDR3 support compared to quad-channel on LGA2011 2. It only supports Xeon E5-24xx CPU's And that's it. Can ya see why people didn't care too much about it? LGA 2011: Finally, an interesting socket, though in true Intel fashion, they found a way to screw it up. We have 3 versions of the socket - LGA 2011-0, LGA 2011-1 and LGA 2011-3. We'll start with LGA 2011-0. LGA 2011-0: This version of LGA 2011 supports Sandy Bridge E/EP and Ivy Bridge E/EP. It is the original LGA 2011 socket. Chipsets: X79 - The main chipset for LGA 2011-0. It's the only LGA 2011-0 chipset to support overclocking, has 4 RAM channels, RAID 0/1/5/10 support, PCI support, etc. If you're doing an LGA 2011-0 build, get a decent X79 board. C602 - Enterprise only. Doesn't support overclocking, has 4 SCU SATA ports (not sure what those are), but otherwise has the same feature set as X79 with 2 other differences - it uses the Enterprise Edition of IRST (Intel Rapid Storage Technology) and it has Intel vPro. C602J - C602 minus the 4 SCU SATA ports. C604 - C602 except the 4 SCU SATA ports are SAS capable as well. C606 - C604 but with 8 SCU SATA/SAS ports instead of 4. C608 - C606 but a 12W TDP instead of a 8W TDP. Other than that, they have the same feature set. I don't know why it exists. Maybe to fool businesses into spending more? "C608 is larger than C606, so we get C608!" LGA 2011-1: A slightly weird socket that doesn't do too much. Supports only Ivy Bridge-EX and Haswell-EX. And that's all I know. LGA 2011-3: The second true version of LGA 2011. It supports Haswell-E and Haswell-EP CPUs. Chipsets: X99 - The chipset for LGA 2011-3. It's on DDR4 now instead of DDR3, but the main features are the same from X79. Supports overclocking, has quad-channel RAM, has RAID 0/1/5/10 support, etc. Unlike LGA 2011-0, it has Smart Response Technology. I do not know what this does. It only supports Haswell-E CPUs, not Haswell-EP CPUs. C612 - Enterprise only. Same feature set as X99 minus overclocking but only supports Haswell-EP, not Haswell-E. LGA 2066: The current Extreme platform for Intel. It's been going since 2017. I imagine we'll see a new Extreme socket with Alder Lake, bringing DDR5 support. Chipsets: X299 - The new Extreme chipset. From X99, it brings M.2 support, SATA Express, and VT-d, but other than that, it's just the next Extreme platform. C422 - Enterprise only, only works with "workstation processors". Intel doesn't have too much on this, so I can't tell you a whole lot. Alright, we have reached the end of Intel's Extreme platform. Next, we'll be doing Super Socket 7 to AM4. And welcome to AMD! Here, we start at Super Socket 7, AMD's twist of Socket 7, and finish up with AM4 and Zen 3. Super Socket 7: Super Socket 7 is Socket 7 with a small difference - it supports a 100 MHz FSB, instead of a 66 MHz FSB, giving it AGP support. AMD made this move for one reason - it was the only socket that they still had legal rights to. Intel cut off development for Socket 7 in favor of Slot 1 in hopes that AMD would be stuck on an outdated platform, but with Super Socket 7 AMD was able to keep a foothold near the top while they worked on Slot A. However, the third party chipsets made by VIA and SiS were lower quality and often had problems with AGP support, and AMD had no 100 MHz-capable first-party chipsets, giving AMD a reputation of having buggy, incompatible motherboards. Super Socket 7 is fully backwards-compatible with Socket 7 and Socket 5 CPUs, though not all Super Socket 7 motherboards have the required voltages for Socket 5 CPUs. You cannot use a Super Socket 7 CPU in a Socket 7 motherboard though. Chipsets: VIA: Apollo MVP3 - AGP 2X, 768MB max PC66/100 SDRAM, ECC support, PCI 2.1. Apollo MVP4 - 768MB max PC66/100 SDRAM, ECC support, PCI 2., Trident Blade3D iGPU. SiS: SiS 530 - PC100/133 VC/SDRAM support, 1536MB max RAM, PCI 2.2 support, SiS 6306 iGPU. SiS 540 - Same features as SiS 530 except with ECC support and a SiS 300 iGPU instead of a SiS 6306 iGPU. Slot A: Slot A was AMD's competitor to the Slot 1 Pentium II's and Pentium III's. It used the same slot as Intel, but it was rotated 180 degrees, preventing you from putting it in a Slot 1 board and frying your motherboard and/or CPU. Much like Intel's Slot 1 boards, these motherboards were typically ATX, with IDE and floppy controllers, 1 AGP slot, 0-2 ISA slots, and PCI slots everywhere else. We had 2 generations of CPUs on this slot - the Athlon Classic and the Athlon Thunderbird. The Athlon Classic was AMD's first "trademarkable" CPU. Originally, AMD took Intel's naming scheme (486 DX-33, 486 DX2-66, 486 DX4-100) and stuck "Am" at the beginning of it, creating the "Am486 DX2-80" among others. Intel then got mad and tried to trademark "486", but they were denied. In response, they created the Pentium, which was trademarkable. AMD created the Athlon (also trademarkable) as a result. The Athlon Classic was AMD's Katmai Pentium III. They had 512KB of external L2 SRAM cache, like the Katmai P3's, but they also required less voltage - 1.6-1.8V, instead of 2-2.5V. After the Classics, AMD created the Athlon Thunderbird, or Athlon T-bird. Similar to Pentium III's, Athlon T-birds could either go into a socket (Socket A) or a slot (Slot A). These chips were "cherished by many for their overclockability", and while they did have a locked multiplier, it was very easy to bridge some contacts on the CPU's substrate to unlock it. This was known as the "pencil trick". These were AMD's Coppermine Pentium III's. They only had 256KB of L2 cache, but it was on-die, giving it an extra speed boost. These did take more voltage to run than the Coppermine P3's - 1.7-1.75V for the T-birds, and 1.6-1.65V for the Coppermines. Chipsets: AMD-750 - AGP 2X (some drivers limited it to AGP 1X due to problems, this was fixed on later boards), 100 MT/s FSB, or Front Side Bus, and SDR support. Socket A/Socket 462: Socket A supported from Athlon T-birds to the Athlon XP/MP 3200+, along with Durons and Semprons - AMD's budget processors. Keep in mind that then, the Athlon was the powerful one, not the crappy one. AMD managed to make this socket similar to AM4, in that it was able to support many ranges of clockspeeds and FSB speeds (similar to CPU generations today, I believe). However, clock, timing, BIOS and voltage differences restrict compatibility between older chipsets and later processors. CPU clockspeeds for this socket ranged from 600 MHz (Duron) to 2333 MHz (Athlon XP 3200+). Chipsets: AMD: AMD-750 - AGP 2X (some drivers limited it to AGP 1X due to problems, this was fixed on later boards), 100 MT/s FSB, and SDR support. AMD-760 - AGP 4X, DDR support, and 133 MT/s FSB. NVidia: nForce 2 - AGP 8X, DDR support, 166 MT/s FSB nForce 2 400 - AGP 8X nForce 2 Ultra 400 It's worth noting that all nForce 2 chipsets had a fixed PCI/AGP bus, meaning that overclocking the CPU by raising the FSB didn't impact the PCI and AGP clocks, greatly increasing system stability. Socket 754: Somehow AMD and Intel managed to make a socket that got killed off very quickly around the same time. Intel had Socket 423, and AMD had Socket 754 (though AMD didn't have Pentium 4's, they had Athlon 64's instead). Socket 754 was the first socket to support Athlon 64's, which brought about 64-bit computing (up to 16.8 exabytes of max RAM compared to 4GB for 32-bit). However, it got killed off in favor of Socket 939. Chipsets: AMD: NVidia: nForce 3 250 nForce 3 250Gb nForce 4 nForce 4 Ultra nForce 4 SLI nForce 4 SLI x16 nForce 400 - has a GeForce 6100 built in, nForce 405 - has a GeForce 6100 built in, nForce 410 - has a GeForce 6150 built in, nForce 430 - has a GeForce 6150 built in, Socket 939: Socket 939 was the successor to Socket 754, and AMD's Socket 478. It's the second socket to support AMD64, and supported between the single-core Athlon 64s and the dual-core Opterons. The best CPU for Socket 939 is the AMD Opteron 190. 2.8 GHz clockspeed and 2MB L2 cache (1MB per core). The fastest CPU was the Opteron 156, which was only single-core but ran at 3 GHz. Chipsets: AMD: NVidia: nForce 3 250Gb nForce 3 Ultra nForce 4 nForce 4 Ultra nForce 4 SLI nForce 4 SLI x16 nForce 400 - has a GeForce 6100 built in, nForce 405 - has a GeForce 6100 built in, nForce 410 - has a GeForce 6150 built in, nForce 430 - has a GeForce 6150 built in, Socket AM2: Socket AM2 is very similar to Socket 939, except that it supports DDR2 instead of DDR, and the CPUs for the socket are based on new architectures. The names remain the same, though - Athlon 64, Athlon 64 X2, Athlon 64 FX, Opteron, and Sempron. AM2+ Phenoms do work on AM2 boards with BIOS updates as well. Chipsets get really confusing. There's a lot, and there's the same confusion around LGA775, Pentium 4's, and Core 2's, except with Athlon 64's (and their X2 and FX variants) and Phenoms: AMD: AMD 480X AMD 570X AMD 580X AMD 690G AMD 690V AMD M690T AMD M690E AMD 740 AMD 760G AMD 770 AMD 780E AMD 780G/780V AMD 785E AMD 785G AMD 790GX AMD 790X AMD 790FX NVidia: nForce 4 nForce 4 Ultra nForce 4 SLI nForce 4 SLI x16 nForce 400 nForce 405 nForce 410 nForce 430 nForce 500 nForce 500 Ultra nForce 500 SLI nForce 510 nForce 520 LE nForce 550 nForce 560 nForce 560 SLI nForce 570 LT SLI nForce 570 Ultra nForce 570 SLI nForce 590 SLI nForce 590 SLI MC nForce 630a SiS: SiS77 Sis756 SiS761GX SiS771 VIA: VIA K8T890 VIA K8M890 VIA K8T900 Socket AM2+: AM2+ brought the Phenoms, the beginning of AMD's downward spiral. Most, if not all, AM2 boards worked with Phenom processors with a BIOS update (similar to how Intel's 2-generation cycle goes).