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One of the most important thing to me for a CPU is a good mix between speed and heat. For example five years ago I bought a Core 2 Duo 6300 (max TDP 65W): I put a big heatsink on the CPU, no fans (I do hate moving parts and noise) and it worked like a charm and very silently for five years (and it still work but five years later I wouldn't mind a faster CPU and a faster memory controller and more memory).
I consider a max TDP of 130W unacceptable (like some high-end Core i7 have), for several reasons.
So I was wondering: can I build a desktop and put a Core i7 CPU meant to be used in laptop in it? For example I was thinking about the Core i7 740QM (max TDP 45W [!]).
Are these compatible with desktop Core i7 motherboards? (for example on NewEgg it says that the "CPU socket type" for the Core i7 740QM is PGA988, I've not too sure about what this is)
1The socket number refers to the shape of the CPU pin layout. You can be pretty sure that if two socket numbers are different, they are not compatible. Quite often the number in the socket name denotes the number of pins on the CPU. – Jay_Booney – 2011-01-09T19:23:05.423
And PGA most likely stands for Programmable Gate Array.
– oKtosiTe – 2011-01-09T21:18:41.2172@oKto: In the context of packages it stands for Pin Grid Array – Nick T – 2011-01-10T02:39:30.067
@Nick T: Indeed. I stand corrected. – oKtosiTe – 2011-01-10T16:35:09.840
PGA stands for Pin Grid Array – Keltari – 2013-01-23T01:32:33.840