Girish Mahajan (Editor)

Socket AM4

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Type
  
PGA-ZIF

Contacts
  
1331

Chip form factors
  
PGA

Predecessor
  
AM3+, FM2+

Socket AM4

Processors
  
Bristol Ridge Summit Ridge Raven Ridge

AM4 is a socket from AMD for CPUs based on the Zen and Excavator architectures. It has 1331 pin count and was the first from AMD to support DDR4-compatible memory as well as achieve unified compatibility between high-end CPUs (previously using Socket AM3+) and AMD's lower-end APUs (on various other sockets). As of June 2015, AMD products roadmaps point to AM4 instead of the previously expected FM3 socket.

Contents

Features

  • Supports PCIe 3.0, up to 24 lanes
  • Supports up to 4 modules of DDR4, up to speeds of 3200 MHz
  • Cooler Support

    The AM4 socket has different dimensions than previous AMD sockets, making some previous generation coolers incompatible. However, some cooler manufacturers are reported to be offering brackets allowing previously manufactured coolers to work with AM4, while other coolers will be redesigned. Alternatively, some motherboard makers are including both AM3 and AM4 cooler mounting holes, allowing previous generation coolers to be used.

    Chipsets

    The AM4 socket is paired with 5 new chipsets. While the processors announced for this socket have been designed as systems on a chip (SoC), with the traditional northbridge and southbridge on board the processor, the motherboard chipset will increase the number of PCI Express lanes and other connectivity options. These connectivity options include: NVMe, SATA Express, and USB 3.1 Gen 2. The new chipsets come in X370, B350, A320, X300, A/B300 configurations.

    Chipsets designed with ASMedia

    References

    Socket AM4 Wikipedia