Legit Reviews

Could someone who knows more than I do about Intel processors clarify a couple of things for me? I'm looking into buying a barebones laptop, and I'm not sure if the model I'm considering will support the newer Intel processors. Specifically, I'm wondering about the sockets and chipsets used by the new Sandy Bridge mobile processors. The laptop I'm looking at, (http://www.msiwhitebook.com/product_spe ... S-1656-ID1) uses the HM55 chipset, and has a 989 Socket. (The 989 socket is made by a company called Molex, and as they say on their site, the sockets "are designed for Intel's Nehalem micro-architecture" (http://www.molex.com/molex/products/fam ... troduction))

So, question 1:
On Intel's page about the Core i7-2820QM, it states that it supports the FCBGA1224 and FCPGA988 sockets. (http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=52227) I've serached online, but haven't been able to find much information on the FCPGA988 socket. Is this compatible with PGA988?

And question 2:
On this wikipedia page, https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... e_chipsets, it would appear that every chipset listed (including HM55) supports every Core i3/i5/i7 Mobile processor, even the newer Sandy Bridge. Of course, I'd rather not base a purchase like this solely off of information I read on wikipedia. Could someone either confirm or clarify what I seem to be reading?

Thanks for any insight.

No the FCPGA988 socket is not compatible with the PGA988 socket. The FCPGA988 socket is the second generation i3,i5,i7 processor socket. You'll notice that all of the cpu's branded for the FCPGA988 socket have four integers in their title names and the PGA988's have three.

It might be useful for you to know that sometimes an FCPGA988 cpu will sometimes be compatible with a socket branded with PPGA988 compatibility. FC stands for flip chip and PP stands for plastic pin. I'm not sure yet if the opposite is also true. (PPGA988 chip in a FCPGA988 socket)