Hey. What the Hell is the difference. Say I purchase a sweet, sweet AMD CPU which is say, Socket A. This means I am presuming that only certain motherboards can take it. Am I correct in this assumption? If so, what are the differences in the sockets and why is it not possible to mix'n'match. I know this is a dumb question, but I know next to nothing about my box's hardware. I'm more of a programmer-type-person-guy-apple-eating-thingie-dude-guy-thing. Thanks in advance for any info.

'Flameth not, for I shall irritate thy nostrils.' so it speaks in the Book of B4D0M3N

Socket 7 = old style pentium, cyrix, and amd cpus.

Super 7 = Socket 7, but newer? same as socket 7 (I think). socket/super 7 maxed out at 550mhz, nothing faster than that was made. The cache was stored on the motherbooard, not the cpu, it was slower.

Socket A = new AMD CPUs. Cache is on the cpu itself.

I think the motherboards are basically divided in half. Between all mobo manufacturers and designs probably about half are made for intel cpus and half made for amd (these arents facts, just assumptions. actual ratios most likely depends on which cpus are doing better. but its gotta be pretty close.) You will have no problem finding a Socket A motherboard.