LGA 1200 socket: CPUs, chipsets and cooler fit

The split inside the 400 series

Boards with the same socket do not all accept the same processors, and the 400 series shows it. Z490, H470, Q470 and W480 boards can run 11th Gen Rocket Lake processors after a BIOS update. B460 and H410 boards cannot, whatever the BIOS says, because those chipsets do not support the newer generation.

If you plan to buy a board and upgrade to Rocket Lake later, choose a 500 series board, or a Z490, H470, Q470 or W480 board with a confirmed BIOS release. The table above spells out the same rule per chipset.

Cooler compatibility

LGA 1200 keeps the 75 mm square mounting pattern, so coolers made for LGA 1156, 1155, 1150, 1151 and 1200 generally share brackets. A cooler that fits one of those sockets will normally fit this one, which makes reusing an older Intel cooler easy.

The same cooler will not fit LGA 1700 without a new bracket, because that socket moved to a 78 mm pattern. Keep that in mind if you plan to move to a newer platform later and want to carry the cooler over.

Memory and PCIe

All LGA 1200 boards use DDR4. The Intel Core i7-10700K has an official limit of DDR4-2933, and Rocket Lake raised the official speeds for its higher end models. Overclocked memory profiles can run faster on Z-series boards.

Comet Lake provides 16 PCIe 3.0 lanes from the processor. Rocket Lake moved to PCIe 4.0 with an x16 link plus an extra x4 link for an SSD, but only when the board is wired for it, so check the board specifications if PCIe 4.0 storage matters to you.

Buying or reusing LGA 1200 parts

Intel has since released two newer desktop sockets, and there is no upgrade path beyond Rocket Lake. For a new build it is hard to justify unless the parts are already on hand. For an existing system, the Core i7 and Core i9 chips of the 10th Gen are still capable, and Intel Core i7-10700K is one of the common ones. The upgrade from the 10th Gen to the 11th Gen needs a compatible board, as explained above.