Intel Finally Kills PC

[rustypup]

The most direct effect is that of Broadwell, the 14nm successor to next year’s Haswell CPU, will essentially shut out the enthusiast. Motherboards will still be available, but the CPUs that come with them will be soldered down. In addition to being a inventory management nightmare, OEMs won’t buy CPUs any more, the few remaining mobo vendors and ODMs will. As a side effect, it also cuts the enthusiast out of the picture for good, but more on that later.

console-tard complacency has finally won, it would appear...

*slow sarcastic clap*

[StarBound]

Does this have merit? I mean this is like going back to the original motherboard/chipset times.

[GreyWolf]

What about the other chip manufacturer?

[rustypup]

the other chip manufacturer?

10/10 but in all seriousness now, this is internet-serious!

<other chip manufacturer indeed...>

[StarBound]

Some ppl still swear by them. Budget you can't beat them but you have to look at which budget

This thread should merge with the AvI thread if it goes down this path.

[GreyWolf]

the other chip manufacturer?

10/10 but in all seriousness now, this is internet-serious!

<other chip manufacturer indeed...>

I am serious. If AMD keeps on doing what its doing, and Intel does what you say it will do, won't the OEMs just say FU to Chipzilla in favour of the upstart from the north? Is the performance difference so large and does Intel have so much influence, that everyone will just bow down and lube up?

[StarBound]

AMD is suffering. Intel is so far ahead tech wise that you can either go console or pick up the soap with intel backing you.

Will this affect you buying intel products? I am not so sure. But whats the cost or price? If something blows on the board you need a complete replacement. If your cpu blows its a complete replacement. Overclocking will damage everything. With cpu soldered does that mean we get a single cooler? And if it goes?

Too many questions. I think they can pull it off without damaging their market too much. But I think they will loose the enthusiasts OR enthusiasts will find a way to rip the board and cpu apart.

[naughty]

Why would anyone think that this is going to kill off the interest from enthusiasts? It may refocus it into a different direction but enthusiasts will always find something to be enthusiastic about.

guys now buying the motherboard with the chip soldered on may look for more creative ways of cooling the chip and mobo as well as maybe modifying the bios to allow for the bios options that may make entry level chips overclock to the same speeds as higher rated ones - theres always going to be some way to allow for these enthusiasts to have fun even if it goes against the grain of the manufacturing companies policies

making PC's less modular MAY even land up being a good move in terms of creating a situation where you have less drivers and fewer things that can create incompatibilities and create more stable PC's within the framework of the function of the PC ie according to the type of work it has to do ie the guy who wants the PC just for e-mail and occasionally burning a CD will buy different parts from the guy who wants a gaming monster that will make mincemeat of his gaming console and im sure he will still be happy as long as he can change/upgrade his graphics cards

so i dunno - maybe its going to kill a bit of the enthusiast demand but actual overclocking enthusiasts who are hardcore are actually few and far between so they account for a very small percentage of the actual PC market ie for one enthusiast who buys one high end PC im sure there are many companies who buy multiple entry level PC's for their employees to use for general e-mailing and faxing as well as using for general office work as well as accounting

[rustypup]

speaking as someone who enjoys the idea of being able to plug in a newer, faster, CPU and enjoying immediate performance improvements, complicated-pictogram "may even land up being a good move"...

it's a terrible move in every respect... nothing good can come from this...

[StarBound]

I don't know. I like the idea of replacing my hardware in one go but it means you will be sticking to your system for longer. None of these 6 monthly booster upgrades. But then bragging rights goes a bit down the crapper..

Banana 1: "Hey, I got the intel B1!"
Banana 2: "Hey, I also got the intel B1!"
*awkward silence*

[hamin_aus]

speaking as someone who enjoys the idea of being able to plug in a newer, faster, CPU and enjoying immediate performance improvements

Are you implying that in this day and age a faster CPU alone gives you an "immediate" (IE noticeable) performance improvement

[GreyWolf]

guys now buying the motherboard with the chip soldered on may look for more creative ways of cooling the chip and mobo

Here is an idea, tire manufacturers need to start bonding their tyres to wheels, and selling it as one unit. Don;t worry I am sure you can come up with creative ways to modify that too..

making PC's less modular MAY even land up being a good move in terms of creating a situation where you have less drivers and fewer things that can create incompatibilities and create more stable PC's

I don't know about you, but I have NEVER been in a situation where my processor caused a driver conflict. I don't think I have ever actually installed a driver for my processor. ever.

so i dunno - maybe its going to kill a bit of the enthusiast demand but actual overclocking enthusiasts who are hardcore are actually few and far between so they account for a very small percentage of the actual PC market

This I agree with.

[naughty]

speaking as someone who enjoys the idea of being able to plug in a newer, faster, CPU and enjoying immediate performance improvements, complicated-pictogram "may even land up being a good move"...

it's a terrible move in every respect... nothing good can come from this...

i used to also think that but to be honest each time i wanted a bigger better CPU it did not work in the board that i already have ie i needed to change the board because the one i had lacked some feature or the new chip fitted in a different socket or something - so these guys are just doing all the legwork for you and telling you "here - have the bigger CPU that you want but it comes with a mobo which its going to definitely work in "by default"

save you having to decide which mobo you want and maybe even it could land up being a cheaper deal because its all in one unit now - so it isnt two boxes so the value of it has to change

nothing good can come from this...

oh i dont know - having standardized stuff which means fewer potential parts which means fewer drivers which means less bloatware in the operating system which means generally more stable and possibly generally improved performance is a good aim in my books and if this helps it to go in that direction it might still be a good thing

I don't know about you, but I have NEVER been in a situation where my processor caused a driver conflict. I don't think I have ever actually installed a driver for my processor. ever.

ah come sir look at it the other way around - have you never had an instance where one motherboard has better drivers than another for the same CPU

i recently had an original intel mobo which was a dream in terms of driver installation and stability - everything just worked as it was supposed to but it couldnt work with a newer socket 1155 third gen chip so i had to change to an asus mobo which on paper had way better features but doesnt have anywhere near the same stability and ease of use as the intel mobo - the driver install was very user unfriendly and everything on the asus mobo is only geared for overclocking whilst the other features couldnt work until you did lots of work to make them function as the designers intended

Here is an idea, tire manufacturers need to start bonding their tyres to wheels, and selling it as one unit. Don;t worry I am sure you can come up with creative ways to modify that too..

if the price of the combination now became the same as what a tyre only now costs then is that a bad idea? - i would welcome it cos i dont need to decide on having fancy looking "rims" on my car which look good but allow the tyre to just die each time i hit a pothole (true story when i had my Polo GTI)

[D3PART3D]

Intel can't get power consumption to where they want it without taking control of more than just the CPU. They've learned that from Apple, and it's the reason Haswell is credited with having 20x lower platform power consumption.

[GreyWolf]

[
i used to also think that but to be honest each time i wanted a bigger better CPU it did not work in the board that i already have ie i needed to change the board because the one i had lacked some feature or the new chip fitted in a different socket or something - so these guys are just doing all the legwork for you and telling you "here - have the bigger CPU that you want but it comes with a mobo which its going to definitely work in "by default"

This is a very strong argument, and coincides with my experiences. The problem is that Intel never stick to the same socket for very long, so by the time I feel the CPU needs replacing, so does the MoBo.

However, this situation exists solely because Intel keep changing the damn socket! In effect they have created the situation that justifies their next move.

AMD on the other hand at least tries to be backward compatible.

[StarBound]

What about software side? Will software devs/publishers lock your games or programs or OS to your single use motherboard/cpu?

[D3PART3D]

They didn't plan this. They were scared into it. ARM is scary, man!

[Stuart]

They didn't plan this. They were scared into it. ARM is scary, man!

So you're saying they were strong-ARMed into it?

[Hman]

...if the price of the combination now became the same as what a tyre only now costs...

Come now, you know this won't happen. Prices will still be the same, instead of paying a+b for a mobo and cpu, you will pay c = a+b for a combination.

I also agree that intel caused their own problems by changing sockets with every new chip.

[StarBound]

Well intel has that tick-tock road plan of theirs. AMD takes too long to revise their socket or their technology. While backwards compatible they can be comparable to consoles using the same form factor for maybe slightly longer than needed. But then they are compatible for 1 generation beyond that, something intel is not and for the past 3 generations running they just reduced the pins by 1 and 5 respectively.

[naughty]

They didn't plan this. They were scared into it. ARM is scary, man!

So you're saying they were strong-ARMed into it?

ROFLMAO

...if the price of the combination now became the same as what a tyre only now costs...

Come now, you know this won't happen. Prices will still be the same, instead of paying a+b for a mobo and cpu, you will pay c = a+b for a combination.

I also agree that intel caused their own problems by changing sockets with every new chip.

oh come now sir - i remember not too long ago that i was paying R12500 for an amd 4800 dual core and R3500 for a decent mobo to go with it BUT now i can get a 3770k plus a decent mobo as a combo for under R5000 so in a couple of years from now i can see us getting a cpu equivalent of a 3770k (ie top of the range at the time) with a relevant mobo for around R3k or maybe even less ..... thats the direction things are going nowadays

[StarBound]

Well if you think about it you can buy a R1k FM1 or FM2 board and a R1.3k AMD APU you will get a decent gaming experience with power consumption less than a cpu and dedicated gfx card. Intel gfx just suck.

[KALSTER]

To me it looks like the inevitable consequences of the eventual convergence of mobile and desktop computing. Things change.

[StarBound]

Yeah in a sad light you look at it like this, how many people now uses tablets instead of a PC? That is the problem. Tablet = 100% market, Gaming = 40% of the PC market maybe, but 10% of the entire gaming market is PC while xbox and ps3 takes the other 90%.

I won't mind my computer in a tablet form but then I still want surround sound, 120hz, mouse and keyboard. I can do without my huge case as long as I have all the power packed into it. Will it be like exiting the market? Don't know, Intel is still superior to AMD in a lot of ways.

Or is this intel preparing to go server only and have everyone just use cloud devices?

[KALSTER]

Well, once cloud computing takes off properly, you won't need all the fastest hardware onboard.

@ Rusty:

In a few year's time you'll have a tall cylinder that you carry around. You pull out your curved OLED screen from it, after you've unwrapped your keyboard from around it and popped off your mouse from one end. Then you can access all of your HD games, movies, applications and music from your high speed Cloud account. You could theoretically build something like that right now of course.