LGA 1151 vs LGA 1156 Sockets

A CPU socket is a physical component that allows a processor to connect to a motherboard. A socket provides power and data transfer between the CPU and the motherboard. There are many different types of sockets designed by both Intel and AMD, and LGA 1151 and LGA 1156 are one of them.

LGA 151 socket is far better than LGA 1156 for many reasons. LGA 1151-based motherboards support more RAM (up to 64 GB), more SATA ports, and more supported chipsets. LGA 1151-based motherboards are more latest, as the release date of the H4 socket is August 2017, which is almost eight years after the launch of LGA 1156 (in 2009).

Comparison Table

	LGA 1151	LGA 1156
Company	Intel	Intel
Supported CPU	Intel Skylake, Intel Kaby Lake, and Intel Coffee Lake	Intel Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, as well as Xeon 300 series microprocessors
Launch Date	August 2017	Sept 2009
Other Name	Socket H4	Socket H1
Supported Memory	DDR4 or DDR3 (maximum 64 GB)	DDR3 (Maximum 8 GB) (DD4 not supported)|
Total revisions	2	1
Supported CPU	9th Gen, 8th Gen, 7th Gen, 6th Generation Intel® Desktop Processors	Used by the first generation of Intel Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, as well as Xeon 300 series microprocessors
Is it discontinued	Yes	Yes
Predecessor	LGA 1150	LGA 775 (high-end desktops and low-end servers) LGA 771 (low- and mid-end servers)
Successor	LGA 1200	LGA 1155
Maximum USB 2.0 ports in chipsets	10	14
Maximum SATA 2.0/3.0 ports	8	6
Supported Chipsets	H110, B150, Q150, H170,C236, Q170, Z170, B250,Q250,H270, Q270,Z270	H55, P55, H57, Q57
Processor Dimension	37.5mm x 37.5mm	37.5 × 37.5 mm

Chipset Comparison

Both LGA 1151 and 1156 have different chipsets. Before we move further, we need to understand a chipset.

A chipset is a communication hub and traffic control center on a motherboard. You can call it the backbone of your motherboard. The chipset determines your motherboard compatibility with the CPU, graphics cards, and storage devices. The chipset also determines your computer’s expansion capabilities and features like over-cloaking.

LGA 1151 supports H110, B150, Q150, H170,C236, Q170, Z170, B250,Q250,H270, Q270, and Z270 chipsets.

LGA 1156 only supports H55, P55, H57, and Q57 chipsets.

USB ports comparison

A motherboard with LGA 1151 socket can have a maximum of 10 USB ports with C236, Q170, and Z170 chipsets.

A motherboard with LGA 1156 socket can have a maximum of 8 USB ports with P55, H57, and Q57 chipsets.

Availability and Support

LGA 1151 and 1156 are discontinued, and no support is available after their successors have arrived.

Memory support

LGA 1151 supports DD3 and DDR4 memory, but LGA 1156 supports only DDR3 memory. LGA 1156-based motherboards do not support DDR4 memory.

In the h110 chipset of LGA 1151, you can install a maximum of 32GB DDR4 RAM and 16 GB RAM in each slot. While in all other chipsets of LGA 1151, you can have up to 64 GB of RAM.

LGA 1156-based motherboards can only have 8 GB of RAM in the form of DDR3 RAM.

Successor improvement

The successor of LGA 1151 is LGA 1200 socket, which has 49 more pins compared to LGA 1156, which improves the power delivery to the CPU and other motherboard equipment.

The successor of LGA 1156 is LGA 1155, and both of them have different designs, so a CPU that fits LGA 1156 cannot fit LGA 1155.

Price Comparison

The LGA 1156-based motherboards are way cheaper as compared to LGA 1151-based motherboards. The average price of LGA 1156-based motherboard is almost 50 to 70 dollars. While the average price of LGA 1151-based motherboard is between 100 to 200 dollars.

SATA ports Comparison

SATA ports allow for faster data transfer speeds than traditional IDE ports. This is because SATA ports use a serial connection as opposed to the parallel connection used by IDE ports.

SATA ports also provide power to devices connected, whereas IDE ports do not. This is important for devices such as hard drives, which need the power to function.

LGA 1151 based motherboards usually support up to 8 SATA ports, while LGA 1156 based motherboards usually have 5 SATA ports.

LGA 1151 motherboards

GIGABYTE Z390 UD (LGA 1151 (300 Series)) Motherboard

It supports 9th and 8th Gen Intel Core Processors, and its chipset type is Intel Z390. It has 4 DIMMs and NVME PCIe Gen3 x4 22110 M.2 Connector. Click here for more details.

MACHINIST B250C Intel LGA 1151 Mining Machine Motherboard
It is Mining Motherboard with 12 GPU Slots to USB 3.0 Slots (Intel 6th/7th Gen, PCIe 3.0, MSATA, DDR4, 12+2 USB 3.0). It is suitable for mining BTC/ETH/ZEC/ETC. It supports Skylake and Xeon processors. Click here for more details.

Asus H110I-PLUS LGA 1151 socket Motherboard
It is a Mini ITX motherboard from ASUS and has H110 chipset. It supports up to 32 GB DDR4 RAM and 2133 MHz memory speed. For more details, click here.

LGA 1156 Motherboards

Wendry H55M-USB LGA1156 Computer Motherboard
This motherboard works with DDR3 1333/1066MHz memory. It Supports Xeon and Core i3, i5, and i7 Series processors. Other supported interfaces are USB 2.0, M.2, HMDI, VGA, PCI-E, and M-SATA. For more details, click here.