AMD's 940-pin, DDR 2 SDRAM-supporting Socket M2 (also known as Socket AM2) will be presented to the public at the CeBIT show next month.

So claim unnamed industry sources cited by DigiTimes. The sources also suggest motherboard makers will receive sample socket by the end of this month, allowing them to demonstrate their wares at CeBIT in March, but it's clear from pictures leaked out last week that some manufacturers already have product.

MSI, for example, has a K9N Premium mobo in the pipeline. It's equipped with an M2 socket and Nvidia system logic. This week, Anandtech published further shots of the socket infrastructure and noted that it will require a new heatsink and fan design.

AMD is expected to update its CPUs to add DDR 2 support in Q2. The chips will also feature 'Pacifica', the company's answer to Intel's Virtualisation Technology. This week, AMD said "all" its CPUs will gain Pacifica support in mid-2006. ®