INTEL Pentium MMX Socket 7

Socket 7 is a physical and electrical specification for an x86-style CPU socket on a personal computer motherboard. It was released June 1995.[1] The socket supersedes the earlier Socket 5, and accepts P5 Pentium microprocessors manufactured by Intel, as well as compatibles made by Cyrix/IBM, AMD, IDT and others.[2] Socket 7 was the only socket that supported a wide range of CPUs from different manufacturers and a wide range of speeds. Differences between Socket 5 and Socket 7 are that Socket 7 has an extra pin and is designed to provide dual split rail voltage, as opposed to Socket 5's single voltage. (However, not all motherboard manufacturers supported the dual voltage on their boards initially.) Socket 7 is backwards compatible; a Socket 5 CPU can be placed in a Socket 7 motherboard.