14 DAY TRIAL // We've known since the beginning that current-generation and previous-generation Intel central processing units are not compatible with the LGA 2011-3 socket, even if they are LGA 2011 CPUs.
Now, though, it appears that not all LGA 2011-3 sockets are actually LGA 2011 sockets. That's what certain people have found at any rate.
Specifically, the LGA 2011-3 found on some ASUS motherboards is more along the lines of an LGA 2017, or is it LGA 2071? Either way, there are more pins than there were supposed to be.
The ASUS OC Socket is still compatible with LGA 2011-3 CPUs, but it allows you to bypass any FIVR (Fully Integrated Voltage Regulator) limits Intel installed in the processors.
This means you can more stably overclock the CPU to greater frequencies and for a lower voltage allocation. And it looks like this tech will belong to ASUS alone (they've even filed a patent for it).
ASUS probably ruined some Haswell-E CPUs and/or sockets while figuring out where to put the new pins. Intel hasn't been very forthcoming about how the pinouts work, you see, refusing to say where the voltage lines are and such.
You might be tempted to say that 6 pins can't possibly be such a big deal. But when it comes to hardcore overclocking, any slight advantage is a “big deal.”
It all sounds as though the FIVR might not have been such a great idea on Intel's part, and the company seems to agree. Skylake CPUs (bound for 2015 and based on 14nm technology) will drop it.
It adds extra efficiency to processors, but maybe the company reached the conclusion that efficiency would always be sidelined in favor of extreme performance. This is, after all, the high-end overclocking market.
But back to the ASUS LGA 2011 OC Socket. According to Overclockers.ru, motherboards built around it claim a 60% improvement in CPU performance and 12.5% improvement (3000Mhz) for DDR4 RAM.
Pretty bold claims, especially since ASUS' 6 new pins may very well be just the six sections where the excess contacts are, implying that there could be more or less. It's hard to tell.
Since Intel's Haswell-E CPUs are up for sale, along with several X99 chipset-based motherboards from every Intel OEM, you can be certain that we'll be hearing about overclocking test runs soon.
It will be interesting to see if ASUS manages to win the interest of professional overclockers over EVGA, a company that made it a routine to sponsor OC teams. Gigabyte and ASRock should join the unofficial competition soon as well.