Socket 423

Socket 423 was a CPU socket used for the first Pentium 4 processors, based on the Willamette core. The socket was short-lived, as it became apparent that its electrical design proved inadequate for raising clock speed beyond 2.0 GHz. Intel produced chips using this socket for less than a year, from November 2000 to August 2001. It was replaced by Socket 478.

The "PowerLeap PL-P4/N" is a device developed in the form of a socket adapter allowing the use of socket 478 processors on the socket 423.

Along with the socket these CPUs use (and therefore the motherboards), there is another short lived and odd piece of hardware: the RAM. The type of RAM used on some of these motherboards is RDRAM. This type of RAM is now very expensive, ranging from $US54 for 128MB to $US214 for 512MB. These sticks of RAM also must be installed in pairs, similar to SIMMs in older classic Pentium systems.