AMD's Socket AM6 Rumored For 2100 Pins And A Cool Detail

Intel's first socketed microprocessors came in a dual in-line package (DIP) with 40 connectors. The i486 used a variety of sockets, but the most popular had 237 contacts. AMD's "Socket A" for the legendary Athlon CPUs had 462 contacts. Modern CPUs need a whole lot more connectivity, which is why Socket AM5 has a whopping 1,718 all-too-fragile pins in that little CPU socket. As many as that is, though, Socket AM6 will be increasing it once more—to "about 2,100" pins.

That tidbit comes from Italian tech site Bits 'n Chips, which reports that its own sources have shared critical details on AMD's Socket AM6: that it will be very similar to Socket AM5, but with a higher pin count, DDR6 memory support, and PCIe 6.0 support. This includes the physical dimensions, which means that the pin density will have to increase to accommodate the higher pin count. Don't drop the CPU on the socket, folks.


This also implies that Socket AM6 will carry forward the AMD heatsink standard. AMD has been using the same heatsink retention mechanism going all the way back to Socket AM2—the original Phenom chips—although heatsinks from all the way back to Socket 940 can be mounted with minor modifications. That's right: you can still use a 22-year-old heatsink on your modern Ryzen processor, with a little effort.

It's interesting that AMD is continuing with the same basic dimensions for the CPU socket. The company's Socket AM5 processors have so far been significantly more difficult to cool than strictly necessary due to the extremely thick integrated heatspreader (IHS) that is required to reach the same height as previous-generation chips. Delidding Socket AM5 CPUs has led to temperature drops of as much as 20°C, so there's definitely some thermal performance being lost due to the unusually-thick IHS.

The Italian site goes on to say that Socket AM6 will debut along with Zen 7-based processors sometime in 2028, which lines up with earlier leaks and is entirely plausible. Of course, as plausible as Bits 'n Chips' remarks are, it's also entirely possible this entire rumor is completely fabricated, as it's equally unsubstantiated.


There's also the curious fact that the images in Bits 'n Chips' post seem to be of AMD's Socket SP5 for mainstream and high-end EPYC CPUs, not Socket AM5 or AM6. Those images came from a US patent, #20250149428, which is an odd document published in May of this year that describes the SP5 socket and its retention mechanism. It certainly doesn't seem to have any bearing on Socket AM6, anyway.

Before we can even think about Socket AM6 and Zen 7, we've got next-generation Zen 6 CPUs to look forward to on the current Socket AM5 platform. Supposedly they're beating 6GHz and reaching for 7GHz with those parts.