Socket 478

Socket 478, also known as mPGA478 or mPGA478B, is a 478-contact CPU socket used for Intel's Pentium 4 and Celeron series CPUs. Socket 478 was launched in August 2001 in advance of the Northwood core to compete with AMD's 462-pin Socket A and their Athlon XP processors. Socket 478 was intended to be the replacement for Socket 423, a Willamette-based processor socket which was on the market for only a short time. This was the last Intel desktop socket to use a pin grid array (PGA) interface. All later Intel desktop sockets use a land grid array (LGA) interface. Socket 478 marked the beginning of Intel 64 and NX bit with support on some later processors. Intel discontinued Socket 478 in favor of LGA 775 with the launch of the 64-bit version of its 90 nm "Prescott"-based Pentium 4 HT and Celeron D in 2004.