▷ Lga 771: the history of a server platform? ?

The LGA 771, or socket J, is an interface that was famous at the time, as it is today as well. We tell you its story and why it still sounds.

It is one of the best sockets that Intel brought to the world for the server sector and that would give life to the Xeon, like the Core 2 Extreme. We are sure that in Santa Clara they were not aware of the importance that this LGA 711 would have in the future. Despite being such a specific range, it received numerous families of processors. With this LGA, Xeon became more famous than expected.

May 23, 2006 Dempsey

Servers in 2006

The beginnings of socket J are dated with the output of Dempsey, an exclusive family of Intel Xeon Dual Core that was based on the NetBurst architecture . Although the Xeon range had been on the market for a while, we saw them for the first time in an LGA 771.

Back then, they were built at 65nm and were like an Intel Pentium Extreme Edition, but one that supported SMP to operate on dual processor systems. With Dempsey we got the first Xeon that could compete with the AMD Opteron, but they still had to improve.

This family supported MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3 or Hyper-Threading, among other technologies. The vast majority were released on May 23, 2006 and featured a medium-voltage unit - the Xeon MV 5063.

The frequencies of these processors ranged from 3.73 GHz on the Xeon 5080 to 2.5 GHz on the 5020.

June 26, 2006 Woodcrest

Woodcrest processor

In just over a month, Intel would bring out Woodcrest, another family of Xeon processors that would go to servers or workstations. It was the first processor with Intel Core microarchitecture to go on the market. The company's argument was that it increased performance by 80%, reducing consumption by 20% compared to Pentium Ds. Efficiency had become an important aspect.

So, on June 26, 2006, Intel released seven Xeon; one would be low voltage (LV 5133). But the Woodcrest family would get bigger because 4 more processors would be released, although they were low-voltage. The launches took place in September and December of the same year.

While the Dempsey's had a minimum TDP of 95W, the Woocrest managed to drop to 35W. In addition, we began to see the EIST or SpeedStep technology , which makes it possible to automatically change the processor frequency to adapt to the demands, reducing consumption and heat. It could be adjusted manually and appeared on Windows XP and Linux.

At Woodcrest the Xeon's frequencies ranged from 1.6 GHz to 3 GHz. Lastly, we had 4MB of cache and two cores.

November 14, 2006 and March 2007, Clovertown

Clovertown processor

Things get very interesting with the arrival of the 5300 series "Clovertown". It went from dual-core to quad-core processors. We are in a somewhat messy context because when Clovertown came out Woodcrest was still there . In fact, the 5300 series came out on November 14 and the last Woodcrest did so on December 4.

The changes were noticeable because we went from 2 cores and 4 MB of cache to 4 cores and 8 MB of cache. The specifications were doubled, although the efficiency so championed by Intel was lost with the X5365: it had a TDP of 150 W.

We are not going to kill Intel because, in 2007, it released a new Xeon consignment focused on low voltage, with TDPs of 50W and 40W, except for the aforementioned X5365. We leave you a small table below to illustrate.

Name	Cores	Frequency	Cache	TDP	Socket	Starting price	Departure date
Xeon E5310	4	1.6 GHz	8 MB	80 W	LGA 771	€ 455	11/14/06
Xeon E5320	4	1.87 GHz	8 MB	80 W	LGA 771	€ 690	11/14/06
Xeon E5330	4	2.13 GHz	8 MB	80 W	LGA 771	N / A	N / A
Xeon E5335	4	2 GHz	8 MB	80 W	LGA 771	€ 690	11/14/06
Xeon E5340	4	2.4 GHz	8 MB	80 W	LGA 771	N / A	N / A
Xeon E5345	4	2.33 GHz	8 MB	80 W	LGA 771	€ 851	11/14/06
Xeon E5350, X5350	4	2.67 GHz	8 MB	120 W	LGA 771	N / A	N / A
Xeon X5355	4	2.67 GHz	8 MB	120 W	LGA 771	€ 1, 172	11/14/06
Xeon X5365	4	3 GHz	8 MB	150 W	LGA 771	€ 1, 350	3/12/07
Xeon L5310	4	1.6 GHz	8 MB	50 W	LGA 771	€ 455	3/12/07
Xeon L5318	4	1.6 GHz	8 MB	40 W	LGA 771	N / A	8/13/07
Xeon L5320	4	1.87 GHz	8 MB	50 W	LGA 771	€ 519	3/12/07
Xeon L5335	4	2 GHz	8 MB	50 W	LGA 771	€ 380	8/13/07

November 11, 2007-2008: Harpertown, Wolfdale-DP, and Wolfdale-CL

Wolfdale processor for LGA 775

In this case, Intel decided to release three series of processors at the same time, since on November 11, 2007 Wolfdale-DP, Wolfdale-CL and Harpertown processors were launched for LGA 771. The differences were found between both series and the we show below.

Name	Cores	Cache	TDP	Starting price	Departure date
Harpertown	4	8 MB	40 W - 150 W	€ 209 - € 1, 493	Nov 07 '- Sept 08'
Wolfdale-DP	two	6MB	20 W - 80 W	€ 177 - € 1172	Nov 07 '- Sept 08'
Wolfdale-CL	1 - 2	3 MB - 6 MB	30 W - 60 W	N / A	Feb 08 '- Sept 08'

As we will see later, Harpertown and Clovertown are processors that are bought second hand to make MOD.

Harpertown

Enthusiastic PC with Xeon E5440 Harpertown

The new 5400 series would arrive , called Harpertown. It was based on the Yorkfield Xeon , which meant a 45nm processor process. Efficiency was the way to go, but Intel provided solutions with higher consumption, reaching 150 W. We continued with the 4 cores and the 8 MB of cache.

Even so, the most notable advance was the increase in the Font- B us- S ide from 1, 333 MT / s to 1, 600 MT / s, which was of great interest to companies. These processors would follow the Penryn architecture and the low voltage quad core and quad core ranges would be maintained.

The 5400 series output is concentrated between November 11, 2007 and September 8, 2008. The vast majority came out in 2007, but subsequent outputs focused on low voltage. For this reason, we made special mention of the Xeon L5430, which had 2.67 GH z and 50 W of TDP.

On the other hand, the Xeon X5492 was one of the most expensive, but it gave brutal performance. It came out in the last batch of Harpertown.

Name	Cores	Frequency	Cache	TDP	Socket	Starting price	Departure date
Xeon E5405	4	2 GHz	8 MB	80 W	LGA 771	€ 209	11/11/07
Xeon E5410	4	2.33 GHz	8 MB	80 W	LGA 771	€ 256	11/11/07
Xeon E5420	4	2.5 GHz	8 MB	80 W	LGA 771	€ 316	11/11/07
Xeon E5430	4	2.67 GHz	8 MB	80 W	LGA 771	€ 455	11/11/07
Xeon E5440	4	2.83 GHz	8 MB	80 W	LGA 771	€ 690	11/11/07
Xeon E5450	4	3 GHz	8 MB	80 W	LGA 771	€ 915	11/11/07
Xeon X5450	4	3 GHz	8 MB	120 W	LGA 771	€ 851	11/11/07
Xeon X5460	4	3.17 GHz	8 MB	120 W	LGA 771	€ 1, 172	11/11/07
Xeon E5462	4	2.8 GHz	8 MB	80 W	LGA 771	€ 797	11/11/07
Xeon X5470	4	3.33 GHz	8 MB	120 W	LGA 771	€ 1, 386	9/8/08
Xeon E5472	4	3 GHz	8 MB	80 W	LGA 771	€ 1022	11/11/07
Xeon X5472	4	3 GHz	8 MB	120 W	LGA 771	€ 958	11/11/07
Xeon X5482	4	3.2 GHz	8 MB	150 W	LGA 771	€ 1, 279	11/11/07
Xeon X5492	4	3.4 GHz	8 MB	150 W	LGA 771	€ 1, 493	9/8/08
Xeon L5408	4	2.13 GHz	8 MB	40 W	LGA 771	N / A	2/27/08
Xeon L5410	4	2.33 GHz	8 MB	50 W	LGA 771	€ 320	3/25/08
Xeon L5420	4	2.5 GHz	8 MB	50 W	LGA 771	€ 380	3/25/08
Xeon L5430	4	2.67 GHz	8 MB	50 W	LGA 771	€ 562	9/8/08

Wolfdale-DP and Wolfdale-CL

They should not be confused with the Xeon Wolfdale, since they were aimed at the LGA 775 socket. Ordering them chronologically, on November 11, 2007 three Xeon Wolfdale-DP were released: the X5272 (high-end), the X5260 (mid-range) and the E5205 (low-end). All processors were 45nm and had 2 cores.

On February 27, 2008 another run of processors came out. This time, there were several Wolfdale-DP processors and one Wolfdale-CL: the L3014. This one only had a core running 2.4 GHz, 3 MB cache and a 30 W TDP. On the other hand, 4 Wolfdale-DPs landed: 2 low-voltage and 2 mid-range processors.

While in Yorkfield XE the compatible socket was the LGA 775, in March 2008 we saw a processor considered as “ rare avis “: the Core 2 Extreme QX9775. It was the last quad core that would come out for LGA 771, but it had certain new Yorkfield technologies, such as the unlocked clock, I / O acceleration, among others.

We would have to wait until September 8, 2008 to see the end of LGA 771, as it was succeeded by LGA 1366 and the Nehalem family . On this date, the following processors were released:

• Wolfdale-CL: Xeon E3112. Wolfdale-DP: Xeon X5270, Xeon L5215, and Xeon L5248.

The end of LGA 771?

With the entry of LGA 1366, the LGA 771 and LGA 775 became obsolete and extinct. They were active for 2 years on many enthusiastic teams and on high-performance servers. Normally, the sockets are forgotten because they do not receive support from Intel and it is bringing out new families of processors.

However, a group of enthusiastic ch i decided to take advantage of the Socket J's Xeon to convert them to LGA 775 through a kind of MOD. It was about putting a Xeon on a board focused on Intel's Core 2 Quad, would it be possible?

WE RECOMMEND YOU What is L1, L2 and L3 cache and how does it work?

MOD LGA 771 to LGA 775

Xeon with 775 adapter

To put us a little in context, the LGA 775 was a socket that Intel pulled out along with the LGA 771. The difference was that the LGA 775 was aimed at personal computers and enthusiastic users. For this reason, the aforementioned group wanted to take advantage of Xeon chips from socket J

How would they do it?

Let's do it!

It would be necessary to do an artisan work soldering certain parts of the processor, something that was complicated for the rest of the mortals. Later, everything was solved with a simple adapter that is put into the LGA 771 Xeon processor.

The process does not end here: you have to remove the two side tabs of socket 775 (where we are going to install the processor) so that our Xeon fits. You will have to cut them with a knife or cutter and you can use tweezers to remove them.

Before starting

In summary, we can choose the complicated route (crafts) or the simple route, the one we like the most. In AliExpress you can buy "tuned" processors for this MOD. So we buy and install.

On the other hand, we tell you what you will need:

• Compatible LGA 775 motherboard and latest BIOS version installed. Xeon LGA 771 processor compatible with motherboard. Cutter and tweezers. We will only need them to cut the tabs of the LGA 755 socket on the motherboard.Optional: adapter, if not provided by the chip.

CPU and motherboard compatibility

The Xeon processors that interest us are the Clovertown and Harpertown because they are the most compatible with this MOD. With all this, we have to buy a motherboard with a chipset compatible with our processor.

What chipsets are supported?

Chipset	5000 series	Series 3000	45nm	65nm
P45, P43, P35, P31, P965 G45, G43, G41, G35, G33, G31 nForce 790i, 780i, 740i, 630i GeForce 9400, 9300	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Q45, Q43, Q35, Q33 X48, X38	Do not	Yes	Yes	Yes
nForce 680i and 650i	Yes	Yes	?	Yes

Mention that the low voltage processors work perfectly and have been tested in this MOD, so there is no problem. But, we would like to make two notes that must be taken into account:

• Beware of motherboards made by Intel! There are many that don't work with this MOD. Nvidia nForce 680i and 650i chipsets do n't work with 45nm processors. On the other hand, some motherboards with these chipsets have worked with 45nm Xeon, but we do not recommend it because we run the risk of it not working.

How do I know if the BIOS supports my CPU?

In the modders' experience, they say that if the motherboard supports a specific CPU, it may support a specific Xeon. Based on this we have made the following table.

Processor supported by BIOS and motherboard	Xeon Compatible	Maximum FSB speed	MAX TDP
Core 2 Duo E6850	Xeon dual core 65nm	1333	65 W
Core 2 Duo E8600	45nm dual core xeon	1333	65 W
Core 2 Quad Q6700	Xeon quad core 65nm	1066	95 W
Core 2 Quad Q9550S	Xeon quad core 45nm	1333	65 W
Core 2 Quad Q9650	Xeon quad core 45nm	1333	95 W

Processor

One of the strengths of this mod is the prices of the processors, which we can buy on AliExpress or eBay. The most enthusiastic will go for the most powerful Xeon, such as the X5492 or the X5470. With this table you will get an idea of ​​how prices fluctuate.

Name	Cores	Frequency	Node	Cache	TDP	FSB	Price
Xeon X5492	4	3.4 GHz	45nm	8 MB	150 W	1600	€ 65 approx
Xeon X5482	4	3.2	45nm	8 MB	150 W	1600	€ 34 approx
Xeon E5472	4	3.00	45nm	8 MB	80 W	1600	€ 11 approx

What about TDP and FSB compatibility?

As for the TDP, you can consult the tables that we have put in Clovertown and Harpertown. Pay attention to the TDP that your motherboard supports. If you don't know, don't buy a Xeon that exceeds 95W.

Finishing this section, the motherboards that are most compatible are the Asrock, EVGA, Gigabyte, XFX and Zotac. In case yours is not one of these brands, check your specific model.

We recommend reading our guide on the best processors.

Now you know how to make the LGA MOD 771 to 775. So, if you had a Xeon left in a drawer, it's time to get it out!

Did you like the story of LGA 771? What memories does it bring you?