Difference Between Socket Processors & Pinned Processors

This is a socket (pinned) processor.

A pinned processor is a socket processor, but a socket processor is not necessarily a pinned processor. Both terms are usually used to describe socket processors with pins. The socket refers to the computer's motherboard. The common socket processor is pinned, which allows it to fit in to a socket.

Pins and Sockets

This is a close-up of a processor's pins.

The pins on the processor and the socket on the motherboard are used to connect to each other. The different pins transfer data and electricity to and from the processor.

Surface Mount

The term "surface mount" refers to processors that use a "Ball Grid Array" to connect the processor to the motherboard. Instead of pins, the processor has small metal spheres that connect it to the motherboard. This is another type of "socket processor," but it is not a "pinned" processor. Surface mount processors are soldered to the motherboard while other processors can be easily removed.

Slot Processors

This is a slot processor.

Certain computers from the mid-1990s to early 2000s used "slot processors" instead of socket processors. The slot processors were placed on a card that would connect to a slot on the motherboard. It is similar in installation to card-based peripherals like video cards and network cards.

References

• PCHardwareLinks: About Processor Socket Types
• The CPU Shack: CPU Socket ID Guide
• CPU-World: About AMD Slot PRocessors
• Fonerbooks: About Surface Mount CPUs
• Silicon Far East: About Ball Grid Arrays