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intel now offering DLC for CPU's :rolleyes:

arknor

arknor

arknor

Caporegime
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http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/18/intel-wants-to-charge-50-to-unlock-stuff-your-cpu-can-already-d/
Hold onto your hyperthreaded horses, because this is liable to whip up an angry mob -- Intel's asking customers to pay extra if they want the full power of their store-bought silicon. An eagle-eyed Engadget reader was surfing the Best Buy shelves when he noticed this $50 card -- and sure enough, Intel websites confirm -- that lets you download software to unlock extra threads and cache on the new Pentium G6951 processor. Hardware.info got their hands on an early sample of the chip and discovered it's actually a full 1MB of L3 cache that's enabled plus HyperThreading support, which translates to a modest but noticeable upgrade.

This isn't exactly an unprecedented move, as chip companies routinely sell hardware-locked chips all the time in a process known as binning, but there they have a simpler excuse -- binned chips are typically sold with cores or cache locked because that part of their silicon turned out defective after printing. This new idea is more akin to video games that let you "download" extra weapons and features, when those features were on the disc all along. Still, it's an intriguing business model, and before you unleash your rage in comments, you should know that Intel's just testing it out on this low-end processor in a few select markets for now.
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what a joke....
 
I don't see the problem with it tbh, at worst it allows someone to upgrade the CPU from dual to quad core (at least that's my understanding) for £30 without the hassle of physically swapping out a CPU, at best they'll be able to do it for free once someone works out how to do it.
 
So that oddly named dual core was not a defected Core i3. It was a fully working Core i3 with hyperthreading and 1/4 of the cache disabled.
 
It will be cracked, and the only people interested in getting a free upgrade are the likes of us, unless it is a massive speed boost for the money. Some L3 cache and HT... Pffft! Everyone else just doesn't care about components. I was asked to buy a laptop for a friend of a friend, the main required spec was "pink" :rolleyes:
 
Another reason for me to be wary of Intel...great.

Now if only AMD would pull their fingers out and make some competitive CPUs again, maybe this wouldn't happen...
 
What exactly is the problem with this. For years both Intel and AMD have been locking out part of their hardware. It's cheaper to make 1 part, and then disable parts of it for an entry level model, than to actually make 2 different parts.

Hyperthreading for example was actually part of Pentium IV from the very first chip, but it was disabled until Northwood. It would have been nice for all the older P4 owners to be able to just run a little software update and get some new features, so long as the price is right.

What if you could "upgrade" your standard i7 to a multi unlocked version at a fair price, I bet a lot of people would like that.

Think about it.. you want the latest fastest chip, but cant afford it now.. but the budget part, and then when you have the spare money, just upgrade/unlock it.

As long as the price is right, go for it!
 
Hello Corasik :)

Corasik said:
What exactly is the problem with this. For years both Intel and AMD have been locking out part of their hardware
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I think for some people it will be the fact that you can unlock the "extras" for free on an AMD® processor if you have the right motherboard and a bit of know-how? . . .

Some people may "perceive" that Intel® are perhaps bolting-down-the-hatches and charging a premium $$$ to take advantage of some of the loopholes us OverClockers/Tweakers have been exploiting for years . . .

Taken to the extreme you can almost imagine them releasing processors that can't be OverClocked/Tweaked at all? . . . or perhaps charging a premium $$$ for chips which can! :p
 
They are going to do that, as i am sure you know. Sandy Bridge will see to that.

I am guessing most people here wont mind though, as long as the premium aint too high like the EE processors.
 
I see two flaws in this. Either it's a minor, one off thing, which can probably be done by the Asus engineers in hardware. Or it's more complicated, and requires you to run their software continually for it to work.

If it's the latter, it's either open source in which case their business model fails for the same reasons neatly covered above. Or it's closed source, which means as someone who mostly uses linux, I wont buy it.

This cannot be good news. Hopefully it's AMD taking publicity shots at Intel rather than something that's actually going to happen.

PanMaster said:
If software could manipulate the inner-workings of a CPU isn't there a risk of damage
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Software based overclocking does this. After a fashion anyway :(
 
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