Intel lga 1366: its history, models and uses in 2019 ✅✅

The Intel LGA 1366 or socket B was the start of a successful era for Intel. We tell you what this high-performance socket was like.

After a breakthrough start to the 21st century by Intel with its LGA 755, 771 or 478 sockets, the next step had to be taken with socket B. The initial idea was to supply the LGA 775 in the range of servers, such as the Xeon or the Core i7. Today, we enter a history full of technical data that makes you dizzy to teach you the preambles of what we enjoy today. Let's start!

Index of contents

November and December 2008, Gainestown and Nehalem

The start of socket B was carried out by two processors: Intel Xeon and Intel Core i7. First, the Core i7s came out on November 17, 2008, a 45nm manufactured processor that ranged from 2.66 GHz to 3.2 GHz. In addition, it incorporated 4 cores, 8 threads, 8 mb L3 cache and DDR3 compatibility up to 1, 600 MHz Triple Channel.

In this sense, the Core i7 returned Hyper-Threading to the scene, as offered by Turbo Boost, a technology that automatically boosted the frequency of each core to an additional 133 MHz. At this time, overclocking was already playing, which materialized with this i7, capable of reaching up to 4 GHz.

A month later, Intel released the Xeon 5500 series, also called Gainestown . It had very similar specifications to the i7, but the MHz of the RAM only reached 1333. As for features, we also saw QuickPath and Hyper-threading.

Both options were aimed at the professional or business sector, since many servers would arm power. This socket required an external chipset called the I / O Hub, but its two great novelties were the triple-channel DDR3 SDRAM and the QPI ( Quick Path Interconnect ) that transferred two bytes per cycle at 4.8 or 6.4 GT / s, giving a 9.6 or 12.8 gigabytes per second bandwidth.

Gainestown was Xeon's biggest performance upgrade in many years.

March 2009, Bloomfield and Jasper Forest

Bloomfield was based on the Nehalem architecture and mounted the LGA 1366 socket. Intel released 3 types of processors under this family:

• Core i7, aimed at high-performance desktops or enthusiasts.
  • i7-930 = 2.8 GHz i7-940 = 2.93 GHz i7-950 = 3.07 GHz. i7-960 = 3.2 GHz
  Core i7 Extreme, focused on getting the most out of gaming.
  • i7-975 Extreme Edition = 3.33 GHz.
  Intel Xeon, for servers.
  • Dual Core:
    • Xeon W3503 = 2.4 GHz. Xeon W3505 = 2.53 GHz.
    Quad Core:
    • W3520 = 2.67 GHz. W3540 = 2.8 GHz. W3570 = 3.2 GHz.

Although it is true that some of the named processors came out later, all processors built at 45nm, supported SSE, Smart Cache, EPT, ECC and SpeedStep, among other technologies. They would eventually equip 731 million transistors. What's more, the 965 was overclocked and managed to go up to 4.2 GHz. Bloomfield was a continuation of what was already Gainestown on Xeon and Nehalem on Core i7.

February 11 and March 16, 2010, Westmere / Westmere-EP, Gulftown and Jasper Forest

A year later, Intel released a new line of processors dedicated to extreme desktop performance and servers. The three families Xeon, Core i7 and Core i7 Extreme Edition were present again, giving a performance above what we saw previously. That said, throughout this year and 2011, new processors kept coming out.

The American company released Jasper Forest for Xeon and Celeron, being a series dedicated to low voltage and low consumption. They would take out 3 processors finished at 45nm:

• Xeon LC3518. It was a single core processor operating at a frequency of 1.73 GHz and had a TDP of 23 W. It had a small price of $ 192. Xeon LC3528. It was a dual core that drew 1.73 GHz and 4 wires with 1866 MHz turbo. Its TDP was 35 W. It rose to $ 302. Xeon EC3539. This quad core with 4 threads had a frequency of 2.13 GHz without turbo. Its TDP was 65 W. It cost the same as his little brother. Celeron P1053. It would be a single-core processor with a 1.33 GHz frequency and 2 threads. In addition, it had 2MB of level 3 cache, supported DDR3 800 MHz and its TDP was 30W. It was priced at $ 70.

A month later, we would be facing the Westmere architecture, characterized by processors with 6 cores, 12 threads and a 32 nm termination. We refer to the Xeon 36xx and 56xx series, such as the i7 990X, 980X, 980 and 970. We were entering a billion transistors and the QPI was replaced by the FSB ( Front-Side Bus ).

It is true that we also find Xeon processors with 4 cores and 2 cores, such as 8 and 4 threads. At the same time that the LGA 1366 housed veritable titans as processors, we saw Clarkdale or Lynnfield and their LGA 1156 targeting standard desktop consumers.

At that time, having a processor with 6 cores, 12 threads and a frequency between 3.20 GHz and 3.56 GHz was a real blast. In fact, Intel canceled the i7-995X, which would bring 3.6 GHz of base frequency, which would have been cannon fodder for overclockers .

2011, the last steps of LGA 1366

Before saying goodbye as a socket, Westmere - EP would come out for Xeon, although i7 from the Gulftown family would still come out. This year, we are witnessing the release of the latest LGA 1366 compatible processors. These will go to the high-performance desktop and server market.

In the case of the Core i7, they would release two new processors:

• Running at 3.33 GHz, i7-980 had 6 cores, 12 threads, and a turbo that took it to 3.60 GHz. It supported, at most, a DDR3 speed of 1066 MHz and its TDP was 130 W. It was $ 583. i7-990, with a 3.46 GHz clock, had 6 cores, 12 threads and a turbo that took it to 3.73 GHz. It supported a maximum speed of 1066 MHz and its TDP was 130W. Its price, $ 999.

By contrast, the Intel Xeon would release the latest processors, the 5600 series. Some examples are these:

• Xeon X5698. It was a dual core processor with a frequency of 4.4 GHz and a TDP 13 W. Xeon X5687. With four cores running at 3.6 GHz, it incorporated 8 threads and its turbo took it to 3.86 GHz and a TDP of 130 W. Its starting price was $ 1, 663. Xeon X5690. Each of its 6 cores ran at 3.47 GHz, but had 12 threads, like a turbo that dropped it to 3.73 GH z. Same TDP and same price: $ 1663.

In January 2011, the LGA 2011 socket (socket R) came out to replace the LGA 1366. It would gain its fame under the name of Sandy Bridge. This same year, we also saw the cancellation of the LGA 1156 (socket H), which was the one that worked alongside the 1366 for normal personal computers. In his case, it was replaced by LGA 1155 (socket H2).

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Finally, it was in 2012 when the LGA 1366 stopped getting support, like manufacturing. The truth is that the LGA 2011 had a greater popularity, thanks to the evolution to the 10 or 8 cores, as to the 16 threads. Operating at 4 GHz was not something that was a problem, it was quite common.

What do you think of the history of the LGA 1366? Did you have any Xeon or i7 with this socket?