Intel Pentium M 760 socket: Socket 479

What the Pentium M 760 is

The Pentium M 760 reached 2.0 GHz in the January 2005 Sonoma launch, marking the round number point of the Dothan 533 MT/s stack. Its one Dothan core holds that speed as both base and sustained rate because the family has no turbo feature. The 2 MB L2 cache attached to the core helped compilation jobs and photo edits of the era keep data on chip longer than Banias parts allowed. Fabrication used the 90 nm node with 144 million transistors on an 87 mm2 die, numbers TechPowerUp repeats for every member from the 730 through the 780.

A locked 15x multiplier times a 133 MHz base clock yields the 2.0 GHz mark across the 533 MT/s front side bus. Board firmware owns bus timing and power states, with SpeedStep trimming voltage and clock during idle and restoring them under load. The instruction set spans MMX, SSE and SSE2 with the NX bit for execute protection, without 64 bit extensions, which fits the 32 bit Windows and Linux builds shipped on Sonoma notebooks.

Within the launch set the 760 stood above the 730, 740 and 750 while staying below the 770 flagship of that month. Cache capacity, bus rate and the 27 W envelope do not change across those models, so buyers paid for clock steps alone. Intel distributed the 760 in the socketed Micro-FCPGA form treated here alongside a soldered Micro-FCBGA twin for socket free designs. A surviving notebook with this chip carries upper mid range speed of its generation with single core heat output.

Socket and motherboard compatibility

Installation uses a lever locked ZIF socket drilled with 479 holes to the mPGA479M pattern. The package settles under its own weight, then the lever slides the contacts into grip for reliable connection through heat cycles. One position is depopulated, leaving 478 live contacts, which is one reason Socket 478 desktop boards reject this mobile family. Readers can confirm the count and the mPGA478C designation on the Socket 479 page.

Sonoma designs around 915 series mobile chipsets are the proper carriers for the 760. Those chipsets clock the 533 MT/s link the chip requires and wire DDR2 channels next to it. The prior 855 series targeted 400 MT/s Banias links and cannot host a 533 MT/s Dothan part correctly, regardless of mechanical fit. For background on why socket name, chipset family and firmware must align, the Socket vs chipset: what decides whether a CPU works guide gives the full sequence.

The BIOS must carry the exact sSpec stepping for the installed sample. For the 760 that string is SL7SQ, printed on the package and mirrored in vendor support tables. Boards missing that line may stop at POST or clock the chip down. A Micro-FCBGA twin with the same silicon solders flat to the board and never uses the lever socket, so used socketed stock never mixes with it. In 2006 the Socket M successor shifted a pin location for Core processors, breaking electrical compatibility in both directions.

Memory, PCIe and cooling

The 760 platform treats memory as a board chipset resource in DDR2 form. No controller lives on the processor die, so each notebook model dictates slot totals, density limits and validated DDR2 400 or DDR2 533 operation. Filling the documented slots with approved modules gives the 533 MT/s front side bus its best chance during L2 misses. Capacities and speed ceilings therefore come from the system manual rather than from the processor rating.

Graphics and expansion also live behind the chipset. With no PCI Express lanes on the CPU, the 533 MT/s front side bus forwards requests to the chipset, which drives display output and slots. Sonoma boards shipped either with chipset graphics or with a discrete mobile graphics device soldered beside the chipset, and both need vendor supplied drivers. Display capability thus follows the board choice more than the processor choice.

Thermal control relies on vendor heat pipe gear built for 27 W. A machined plate contacts the bare silicon, pipes spread the load to fin stacks at the exhaust, and embedded fan curves track that power class. Servicing the joint means removing old paste without scratching the die, applying a thin fresh film and torquing the plate evenly. Restoring airflow through cleaned fins usually quiets machines whose fans had crept to high speed at idle.

Upgrade paths

Same socket movement stays open to 760 owners when firmware entries exist. Below it sit the 730 at 1.6 GHz, the 740 at 1.73 GHz and the 750 at 1.86 GHz as lower cost spares, while above it the 770 at 2.13 GHz and the 780 at 2.26 GHz extend the locked multiplier ladder. Every one of those options keeps 2 MB of L2, the 533 MT/s bus and the 27 W rating, so the installed cooler remains sufficient. The deciding check is the maker table of sSpec codes for the board.

Leaving the Pentium M line means leaving Socket 479. Core Duo operation depends on Socket M with its changed pin and 945 series logic, which calls for another notebook or mainboard. The Socket vs chipset: what decides whether a CPU works guide walks through chipset and BIOS confirmation for both staying and moving. In many aging systems a larger memory fit and a solid state drive improve responsiveness beyond what one multiplier step can add.