Intel Broadwell CPUs To Use BGA Package – Get Ready For The SOC Revolution

We’ve been hearing for many months that Intel is planning on transitioning from the current LGA package to the BGA package. We could start seeing this trend with the upcoming Intel Haswell processors in 2013 as some companies will be launching SOC (System-On-Chip) motherboard designs that have the CPU, GPU and the northbridge chipset (PCH) all on a single die that is soldered to the board. Sites in Asia are reporting that Intel Broadwell processors will be using just the BGA package, which means that the era of socketed motherboards might be coming to an end this decade. What will this mean for enthusiasts and motherboard makers? The BGA package attaches the processor permanently on to the mainboard, so this will more than likely greatly reduce the number of motherboard models to pick from and maybe even the processors. Intel Haswell processors are due for a Q2 2013 launch and Intel Broadwell 14nm processors are due out a year later in 2014. This means we have well over two years for this to happen if it is true and a ton can happen in that amount of time! Who knows what will happen, but all of our sources say that this is the direction that PCs are headed.