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I'm planning on building another Highend Desktop - or dual CPU server (not sure which right now) but I heard that some of Intels chipsets might be dropped soon. Which ones? Which ones are supposed to last longer?

I was able to find LGA 775, 1156, and 1366 (single CPU) and LGA 1366, 771, and 603/604 (dual CPU)

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There is no such thing as a "future proof" Intel socket. Intel changes their sockets all the time. The Sandy Bridge products should be hitting the shelves in Q1 of 2011. There is an article on the new sockets here. Wikipedia already has a list of what to expect here.

If you can stand waiting for a few months to get a new computer, I would wait for Sandy Bridge to come out. You can either go with the latest, or buy last generation on a discount.

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  • The extra AES sounds awesome - perhaps I'll wait a couple months for these.
    – Xeoncross
    Commented Jan 3, 2011 at 19:48
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    Sandy Bridge products are hitting NEXT WEEK, at least LGA1155 (this is the replacement for LGA1156). LGA2011 will be Q4, that's the LGA1366 replacement, which is higher-end stuff. That said, the top Sandy Bridge chip (the i7 2600K) is just as fast as the $1000 i7 980X for anything that isn't heavily multithreaded, so go Sandy Bridge.
    – Shinrai
    Commented Jan 3, 2011 at 19:56
  • Well, LGA775 lasted a relatively long time, ending with processors much more powerful than the original Pentium 4s.
    – paradroid
    Commented Jan 4, 2011 at 2:07
  • @paradroid LGA775 was released in mid 2006 and was replaced in late 2009 with LGA1156 (3 years). LGA1156 is late 2009 to early 2011 (1 year). Socket 478 was around from late 2001 to early 2006 (4 years). Socket 370 was late 1999 to late 2001 (2 years). It's in the middle of the pack of lifespan and had a decent increase in power.
    – Doltknuckle
    Commented Jan 5, 2011 at 16:58
  • @Doltknuckle: LGA775 actually came out in early 2004, with the Prescott P4. I bought an Asus P5W DH Deluxe LGA775 motherboard as soon as the C2D Conroe came out in mid-2006, when it was already quite an old board, as I wanted an Intel X series chipset, for overclockability and ECC RAM support later on when I wanted to use it in a server.
    – paradroid
    Commented Jan 5, 2011 at 18:55
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From years of doing this I can tell you that, unless you're planning on upgrading it within the first year of having it, there's NOTHING you can do to future-proof yourself against technology changes.

In 18 months everything will be new again, and by the time you want to upgrade the system (probably much longer than 18 months from now) the parts you need will either be not-available anymore, hard to get, and/or will started to have gone back up in cost due to rarity.

Just buy the newest technologies available as it should carry support/availability for the longest time from 'now'.

Since you listed socket types as you barometer for newest technology, then you can check out Wikipedia's entry for Intel Sockets, and they list them all in a chart, in chronological order.

HTH.

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  • Very true point, however, if one of these chipsets is going down in the next couple months then I sure don't want to pick it. I want something that I know will be around for at least another year with driver updates or whatever.
    – Xeoncross
    Commented Jan 3, 2011 at 19:35
  • It is true that new technologies are always coming out, but LGA 775 has been around for a long time. Nothing wrong with trying to plan for the future :)
    – ubiquibacon
    Commented Jan 3, 2011 at 19:36
  • Nothing you've listed there is a 'chip-set', they are socket types. I updated my answer with some more info that may help. :)
    – Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007
    Commented Jan 3, 2011 at 19:39
  • By the time they stop updating drivers, most of the problems have been fixed. The bigger concern is that your software requires an instruction set that your processor doesn't have. Even that is almost a non-issue nowadays. The only real reason you'll have to upgrade in the future is that you want a performance boost.
    – Doltknuckle
    Commented Jan 5, 2011 at 18:47
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LGA 775 is nearing the end of its life as is LGA 771. So at the time of this writing it is a toss up between 1156 and 1366. Unless you need the on board graphics of an 1156 processor (which is unlikely if you are building a server or high end desktop) the 1366 is your best bet because the graphics section of an 1156 processor would basically wasted die space.

As others have pointed out Intel is releasing new sockets very soon (the LGA 2011 will probably be of most interest to you). Might be a good idea to wait a bit before you purchase given this information.

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  • Thanks, one of my PC's is a C2Q LGA 775 so I'll stay away from any more. I'll look at the new LGA 1155 or 1366 from now on.
    – Xeoncross
    Commented Jan 3, 2011 at 20:32

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