What's a CD socket in a motherboard?

06
2014-04
  • Oriol

    In my motherboard I have a socket which says "CD".

    It looks like a 4 pin fan socket, more or less.

    Is it a fan socket, or what is it used for?

    I have tried googleing it but I only find results about Compact Discs.

    My motherboard is an Asus M2N MX SE

    enter image description here

    • Answers
  • Vladimir Oselsky

    Optical drive audio in connector (4-pin CD) These connectors allow you to receive stereo audio input from sound source such as CD-Rom, TV tuner or MPEG card

    that is according to page 1-28 of the manual for your motherboard that I downloaded from the link you gave.

  • Hennes

    In ye early days CDROMs were not only capable of reading data CDs, but also of playing audio CDs. To listen to the music from an audio CD you either plugged in a headphone on the connecor on the front of the CDROM, or you connected the drives audio out to your soundcards.

    In your case this 'soundcard' is in the motherboard.

    Example image oif an old CDROM (The orange part at the bottom is where you would connect the cable leading to the sound card, or in your case to the motherboard).

    enter image description here


    • Related Question

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  • Jonas Gorauskas

    I have my eyes on the AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz at NewEgg. I want to build me an 8 core machine. Is there any motherboards out there that will take 2 of these AMD beasts? The best thing I can find so far is this, which has only one socket... Thanks in advance for any tips.


    • Related Answers
  • nik

    This is a workstation we are discussing?
    Do look up questions like CPU Cores: The more the better? and the likes before you make your call.

    Also, take a look at the Related questions on this page, right column...

    Regarding your comment on Nehalem, I have not done an analysis against present AMD platforms,
    But you could do that based on my references at
    Does the Intel i7 offer real improvement over it’s predecessors?

    I have a feeling it has an advantage over present generation AMD.
    But, that is just a feeling, not an analysis.
    It would become a very heated and subjective discussion if raised here.

  • hyperslug

    IIRC, AM2/AM3 processors are not designed to operate in multiple sockets, so you won't see one. You might have to go with Opterons for 2-cpu's.

  • Chris Thompson

    If you want to use multiple AMD processors, you need an Opteron that supports Socket F.

  • Troggy

    For dual processor setups (dual socket compatible):

    • AMD: need to use the Opteron line of processors.
    • Intel: need to use the Xeon line of processors.

    All the normal desktop processors are intended for single socket setups. Also, the links nik gave you should give you some insight into building such a setup and the pros/cons.