Socket 3 was one of the series of CPU Socket

CPU socket

A CPU socket or CPU slot is a mechanical component that provides mechanical and electrical connections between a microprocessor and a printed circuit board . This allows the CPU to be replaced without soldering....

s into which various x86 microprocessor

Microprocessor

A microprocessor incorporates the functions of a computer's central processing unit on a single integrated circuit, or at most a few integrated circuits. It is a multipurpose, programmable device that accepts digital data as input, processes it according to instructions stored in its memory, and...

s were inserted. It was sometimes found alongside a secondary socket designed for a math coprocessor

Coprocessor

A coprocessor is a computer processor used to supplement the functions of the primary processor . Operations performed by the coprocessor may be floating point arithmetic, graphics, signal processing, string processing, or encryption. By offloading processor-intensive tasks from the main processor,...

 chip, in this case the 487. Socket 3 resulted from Intel's creation of lower voltage microprocessors. An upgrade to Socket 2

Socket 2

Socket 2 was one of the series of CPU sockets into which various x86 microprocessors were inserted. It was an updated Socket 1 with added support for Pentium OverDrive processors....

, it rearranged the pin layout and omitted one pin so that 3.3 V processors could not be plugged into older 5 V only sockets.

Socket 3 was a 237-pin low insertion force

Low insertion force

thumb|300px|right|LIF-connector of a 1.8" [[hard disk drive]]Low-insertion-force sockets are integrated circuit sockets that are designed so the force required to insert or remove a package is low....

 (LIF) or zero insertion force (ZIF) 19×19 pin grid array

Pin grid array

A pin grid array, often abbreviated PGA, is a type of integrated circuit packaging. In a PGA, the package is square or roughly square, and the pins are arranged in a regular array on the underside of the package...

 (PGA) socket suitable for the 3.3 V and 5 V, 25–50 MHz Intel 486 SX, 486 DX, 486 DX2, 486 DX4, 486 OverDrive and Pentium OverDrive

Pentium OverDrive

The Pentium OverDrive was a microprocessor marketing brand name used by Intel, to cover a variety of consumer upgrade products sold in the mid 1990s. It was originally released for 486 motherboards, and later some Pentium sockets...

 processors as well as AMD Am486

Am486

The Am486 is a 80486-class family of computer processors that was produced by AMD in the 1990s. Intel beat AMD to market by nearly four years, but AMD priced its 40 MHz 486 at or below Intel's price for a 33 MHz chip, offering about 20% better performance for the same price.While...

 and Am5x86 processors.