LGA 1156, also known as Socket H or H1, is an Intel desktop CPU socket. LGA stands for land grid array. Its incompatible successor is LGA 1155.
LGA 1156, along with LGA 1366, were designed to replace LGA 775. Whereas LGA 775 processors connect to a northbridge using the Front Side Bus, LGA 1156 processors integrate the features traditionally located on a northbridge within the processor itself. The LGA 1156 socket allows the following connections to be made from the processor to the rest of the system:
- PCI-Express 2.0 ×16 for communication with a graphics card. Some processors allow this connection to be divided into two ×8 lanes to connect two graphics cards. Some motherboard manufacturers use Nvidia's NF200 chip to allow even more graphics cards to be used.
- DMI for communication with the Platform Controller Hub (PCH). This consists of a PCI-Express 2.0 ×4 connection.
- FDI for communication with the PCH. This consists of two DisplayPort connections.
- Two memory channels for communication with DDR3 SDRAM. The clock speed of the memory that is supported will depend on the processor.
LGA 1156 socket and processors were discontinued sometime in 2012, and superseded by the LGA 1155 socket. LGA 1366 was discontinued at the same time.
