AMD's upcoming Socket M2 desktop CPU interconnect has surfaced on the internet, revealed in all its 940-pin glory on MSI's K9N Platinum motherboard. You can view the snaps here (http://gathering.tweakers.net/forum/list_messages/1108517).

The board clearly sports an Nvidia chipset, so there's no doubt it's going to support the new interconnect when it debuts - in Q2, if rumours, leaks and pointers on AMD's own website are to be believed.

The pin-out is a 31 x 31 array with 21 holes blocked at the corners and other portions of the grid, making a confirmation count of M2's pins a doddle. Yes, it is indeed a 940-pin connector.

The pictures come courtesy of Dutch-language site Tweakers.net, which was first to the web (http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2005/11/08/amd_socket_f_spied/) with shots of AMD's other future interconnect, Socket F, in November 2005.

M2 will be accompanied by updated AMD processors with an on-board memory controller that supports DDR 2 SDRAM. It's expected to be accompanied by Socket F, for the company's Opteron 2xx and 8xx server processor lines, and Socket S1 for notebook systems. ®

Related stories

• We're not merging, say MSI and Gigabyte (29 March 2006)

  http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/03/29/msi_gigabyte_merger_denial/

• Nvidia lets mobo makers show nForce 500 chipsets (8 March 2006)

  http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/03/08/nvidia_nforce_500/

• ECS touts eco-friendly, Viiv-benign mobo (1 March 2006)

  http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/03/01/ecs_unveils_viiv_mobo/

• Nvidia said to ship GeForce 7600 'late March' (16 February 2006)

  http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/02/16/nvidia_geforce_7600_launch/

• AMD slashes Opteron prices by over 50% (15 February 2006)

  http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/02/15/amd_price_cuts/

• SiS confirms Socket AM2 chipsets to ship Q2 (10 February 2006)

  http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/02/10/sis_socket_am2_chipsets/

• AMD to ship 65nm Athlon 64 and FX CPUs 'H1 07' (9 February 2006)

  http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/02/09/amd_roadmap_65nm_desktop/

• Nvidia touts multi-monitor notebook graphics chip (8 February 2006)

  http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/02/08/nvidia_ships_quadro_nvs_110m/

• CeBIT to demo AMD Socket M2-equipped mobos (8 February 2006)

  http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/02/08/amd_socket_m2_cebit_demo/

• IBM launches chipset on unlicensed waveband (7 February 2006)

  http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/02/07/ibm_wireless_chip/

• 'All' AMD CPUs to support virtualisation mid-2006 (7 February 2006)

  http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/02/07/amd_pacifica_support/

• AMD quad-cores to use DDR 2-oriented Socket F interconnect (27 January 2006)

  http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/01/27/amd_quad-core_socket_f/

• Nvidia expands nForce 4 Intel line-up (17 January 2006)

  http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/01/17/nvidia_grows_nforce_intel/

• AMD ships dual-core gaming CPU (10 January 2006)

  http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/01/10/amd_ships_fx-60/

• AMD unwraps notebook reference platform (15 December 2005)

  http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2005/12/15/amd_yamato_centrino/

• AMD clears fog from roadmap (16 November 2005)

  http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2005/11/16/amd_roadmap_revealed/

• AMD's Opteron-oriented Socket F surfaces on web (8 November 2005)

  http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2005/11/08/amd_socket_f_spied/