Socket AM2 Forward Compatible With AM3 CPUs

AMD has revealed that Socket AM2 will accept both the current AM2 and the next-generation desktop AM3 CPUs. The most recent AMD roadmap is also very clear to state AM3 "supports either DDR2 SDRAM or DDR3 SDRAM, but not on the same motherboard". This means that AM3 CPUs will have DDR2 and DDR3 integrated memory controller allowing them to run either on a Socket AM2 board with DDR2 memory or on a future Socket AM3 motherboard with DDR3 memory and HyperTransport 3.0. HT-3 allows 5.2 Giga-transfers per second, while current AM2 motherboards top out at 2.0 Giga-transfers per second. There is no word about the pin configuration on the future AM3 CPUs but it has to be 940 in order to fit the current AM2 Socket. AMD has not announced when Socket AM3 will be released, although since it would be the first HT-3 "ready" socket design, it seems likely that K8L and AM3 for the desktop will launch simultaneously.