AMD made a lot of noise at CES 2022, announcing both the Ryzen 6000 and Ryzen 7000 CPUs, with the former serving as laptop parts that will soon go on sale. However, it's the Ryzen 7000 lineup that we're excited about as it's the proper desktop successor to Zen 3.

While AMD didn't talk a lot about the latter, one of the few things they let loose during the event was that they would have a new socket—AM5. So, what's it all about? And how does it compare to AM4? Let's find out.

AMD Switches to an LGA Design for Zen 4

AMD AM5 Socket
Image Credit: AMD

The first and perhaps most noticeable change is that the AM5 socket will use a land grid array (LGA) instead of PGA, just like Intel. Now, let's briefly look at the differences between PGA and LGA.

PGA, or pin grid array, is probably one of the oldest packaging techniques for desktop CPUs. In a PGA CPU, we have a square or rectangular package with thousands of tiny pins on the underside. These CPUs go into a socket with the same amount of holes and get held down by a retention arm before mounting a cooling method.

This is all great until you start considering the disadvantages of this design. The underside pins are exceptionally delicate, and if you're not gentle enough with your CPU, you might end up breaking those pins accidentally—and depending on the pins you knocked down, it could either be okay, slightly malfunctioning, to straight-up dead. Not ideal.

LGA, however, takes a different approach to things. LGA, or land grid array, doesn't have any pins on the CPU package. Instead, the CPU has contact pads. The pins still exist, but now they're located in the CPU socket rather than on the CPU package. There's still a possibility that you might break things, but it's harder to break a pin on the motherboard than it is to break a pin on a CPU.

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Intel switched to an LGA design with the LGA 775 socket in 2004. Yet AMD has stuck through all these years with PGA-based designs, from AM2 to AM4. The company did flirt with LGA designs sometimes, as the socket for Threadripper and Epyc chips has been an LGA design for years.

But AM5 finally sees AMD adopt LGA on mainstream desktop chips. AM5 has 1718 contacts on the underside of the CPU, compared to AM4's 1331 pins. Given that both sockets are roughly the same physical size, this goes to show LGA's massive improvements in contact density and, of course, durability.

The contact density part is essential, as AMD says it needed to accommodate more contacts on the same package to support DDR5 memory and PCI Express 5.0. It also cites signal integrity improvements.

AM4 CPU Coolers Will Work With AM5

A close image of a gaming PC

See how we just mentioned in the last section that both AM4 and AM5 chips are roughly the same physical size? This isn't just a coincidence. Keeping the CPU cooler compatibility intact was one of the priorities of AMD's engineers when designing the AM5 socket. As a result, AM4 coolers will work just fine in your future AM5 system, without the need for buying extra adapter brackets.

This is important for several reasons. Intel, who famously switches sockets every two or three generations, has issues keeping socket compatibility intact. We noticed this problem recently during the transition from LGA 1200 (Comet Lake/Rocket Lake) to LGA 1700 (Alder Lake). Users who wanted to re-use their old coolers had to get a new bracket, and those who couldn't do that were forced to get themselves new coolers. Not ideal.

This won't be the case with AM5, at least according to AMD. Even though it uses a different packaging system entirely, AMD was able to keep the same mounting method, holes, and bracket compatibility from AM4 into AM5. This means that if you have an AM4 system right now and you're thinking about an AM5 upgrade, all you need to do is swap out the motherboard and the CPU—your cooler will work flawlessly.

Of course, you'll need to consider other things, like thermal density and power requirements, if you're thinking about keeping your current cooler a few years from now. As long as AMD's AM5 chips have the same TDP, you should be good, but do keep it in mind, especially if you're looking into buying a higher-performance chip like a Ryzen 9.

AMD launched the AM4 socket in 2016, and it's closing in on six years at the time of writing. So, you can expect AMD to support AM5 for a good chunk of time as well, meaning your cooler will live a long, healthy life even when moving systems.

Should You Hop on AM5 Now?

Ryzen 7000 Announcement AMD Keynote
Image Credit: AMD

Whether your setup warrants an update to Ryzen 7000 and AM5 comes down more to the chips themselves than the socket. However, a new socket means that you can't use your current X570 or B550 motherboard to upgrade to AMD's next-generation desktop CPUs. Of course, you'll save money by not changing coolers, but you'll surely need to get yourself a new motherboard when buying a new chip.

Related: Why PC Hardware Prices Are Set to Rise Again in 2022

That said, if you're on a Ryzen 5000 system, it might not be worth it. Sure, Ryzen 7000 will pack a lot of exciting stuff, but buying a new motherboard is an expense you can probably leave for later, especially if you have a costly one.

If you're on an older Ryzen 3000/2000 system, though, it could be worth a go. The same motherboard dilemma applies, but at this point, Ryzen 7000 will be a massive enough upgrade for your system that it might be worth considering.

A Socket Change With No Growing Pains

AM5 not only packs an LGA array, but it also manages to pull off such a significant change in a relatively painless way, even managing to keep old coolers working. Now that you know the difference, we hope you've made up your mind about upgrading to AMD's new platform.