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The socket G34 developed by AMD® was released March 2010 and intended for servers and high-end computers. Unlike most other central processing unit (CPU) sockets, the socket G34 is asymmetric or rectangular in shape, and both the CPU and the socket have a different number of contacts. This socket has four random access memory (RAM) channels, and the front side bus (FSB) reaches speeds up to 1.6 gigahertz (GHz). As a server connector, the G34 supports CPUs with from eight to 16 cores, or processing units, for multiprocessing power.
Socket G34 is a land grid array (LGA) type of socket. Sockets traditionally used pinholes, but the LGA arrangement is an advancement over that technology. This type of socket uses flat electrical contacts, as opposed to the pins, and the CPU rests over the flat contacts.
Most sockets and CPUs share the same number of contacts. Socket G34 has 1,974 contacts, while the CPU itself has 1,944 contacts. With this arrangement, many other CPUs can fit into the G34 socket, but they will not electronically interface with it because of the contact arrangements. Unlike most sockets and CPUs, the G34 series uses an asymmetrical build, or a rectangular socket and CPU, to provide the high amount of contacts for the size of the socket.
Socket G34 is intended for servers, so it has to interface with CPUs that contain a high amount of cores, or internal processors. Cores, in terms of CPUs, refer to several processors within the main processor unit that are able to process different functions or equations at the same time. Depending on what CPU the user places into the G34 socket, the CPU can contain a minimum of eight and a maximum of 16 cores. Each core has 512 kilobytes (KB) of RAM for the Level 2 (L2) cache, and 12 megabytes (MB) of RAM for the Level 3 (L3) cache.
FSB speed refers to how quickly socket G34 can access the multiple cores and perform functions. The minimum speed is 800 megahertz (MHz) and the maximum is 1.6 GHz. This speed is fairly slow compared to similar sockets, but the multiple core functioning power makes up for this. Four RAM channels, or RAM chips, are able to fit into the G34 dies, which allows the user to access a large amount of RAM. There are only two RAM sockets, but two RAM chips can fit into each socket.
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