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intel now offering DLC for CPU's :rolleyes:

Any sane person would just spend the 50 extra bucks towards an i3 for the extra cache and ht support out of the box. Rather than on some software that possibly need to be run in the background constantly. Those who run these chips will just have the software hacked so i have to agree. I don't see how it's going to work.

I like the idea of paying to have the multiple unlocked though. Can possibly even see them do away with the extreme edition if this works out.
 
Ideally, if they want to do something like this, they should do a build your own chip. Obviously this wont happen as on lower end chips they would lose a lot of money, but they should do:

You start with a full die running at a set frequency (2.66GHz, 2.93GHz etc), but with everything turned off. This die costing about £30 or so, with small premiums for higher frequencies. Then you could add say:
£20 per core
£10 per extra feature such as virtualisation/hyperthreading/unlocked multi/more PCIe lanes etc.


crude way of explaining it, but see what im getting at? You pick and pay for the performance you need.

Sadly again, great (in my mind...) for the customer, but is never going to happen due to too much money being lost in the low end as they would be selling a high end chip with everything turned off for peanuts
 
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If you pay for this extra performance gained through software, does it permenantly alter the chip? If not then this is a great way for intel to cut down on people selling their chips second hand. If not then I don't see the point.

I'd also love a designyourownchip system :D
Pick'n'mix Intel, nice.
 
this is highly confusing... i'm struggling to understand which camp has been financially had here. either it's the people who bought slower chips who paid too much, or people who bought faster chips who paid too little. ugh? that doesn't make sense...

must find some wine.
 
Orcish-Horde said:
Which raises the point, why don't they sell the fully activated chip to start with?
Click to expand...

They will. For 4 times the price.

I do not see a problem tbh. Its worth a try. They sell a full chip with features disabled for a modest sum. They are not crippling it, just means that one chip fits all. In 4 years time when you need a quad (or octo etc.), instead of trying to source a long obsolete chip, you just pay some monies to get the extra oomph you need.
 
I've thought about this a bit more, and am probably changing my stance on it. If it's possible to upgrade the processor in a few years without moving hardware around or buying a new chip it's a good option to have.

I remain concerned about the implementation, but it's easily possible that Intel can see a way to do this that I can't imagine. Wait and see I suppose.
 
It sounds a great idea for a lot of people as a hassle free upgrade. I think a lot of people, especially with how that article is written, have missed the point.
 
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may i interject?

i think it's a bad idea.

several reasons have been specified, including the possibly having to run software in the background, this would be tenuous at best - a crash or the application failing or being 'terminated' - or indeed being turned on under conditions that are less than ideal (during a heat wave perhaps) could destroy the chip and there may not be an aftermarket cooler to save the day since only certain non-enthusiast users will be opting for this.



then there's the fact that cheats, cracks, hacks and a smartly placed soldering iron WILL inevitably bypass this to bits.


so intel: game over.
 
its a bad idea because if it catches on its obvious they will limit chips and costing to unlock them would cost more than the actual chip should in the first place but the actual chip its suposed to be wont be for sale anymore.

take cpu cripple it , charge 50$ to unlock but cpu costs full price anyway.

profit 50$
 
well i think its a good idea really, its only like taking your hot hatch to a garage for an ecu remap, for a bit more bhp, people do that in their thousands, so why not this,

imagine you want that shiny new i7 right now but your 50 quid short, do you wait till next week hoping you dont spend any of the cash youve saved, or do you go this route buy now and when you have the extra 50 quid get the extra performance, so many people are impatient, it might just take off.
 
[Philosophical Off Topic]

Hey nalla :)

nalla said:
people do that in their thousands, so why not this
Click to expand...

The fact that people do anything "in their thousands" doesn't mean anything apart from that people are doing something "in their thousands" . . .

This doesn't have any bearing on whether or not what these people are doing is right or wrong or indeed if any of them are actually "thinking" about what they are doing is right or wrong or just doing something because everyone else is doing it! :D

Many husbands beat their wives "in their thousands" . . . Many criminals steal money from old people "in their thousands" . . . Many people get depressed and leap from tall buildings "in their thousands" . . . because so many people do something "in their thousands" does this in anyway make it right? :confused:

Logical Fallacy - Argumentum ad numerum
 
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Hello reygjabla :)

reygjabla said:
Can the software unlock the . . . .
Click to expand...

In theory the Intel® Corporation could release a sealed Black Box that contained a complete state-of-the-art system that would have features "crippled" according to a economic concept known as price-point . . .

The same box could sell for £150 all the way up to £3000, all with the same exact hardware contained within and features "unlocked" as you go . . . This could be DualCore to QuadCore . . . QuadCore to HexCore . . . 2GB Memory to 4GB Memory . . . 512MB GPU to 1GB GPU . . . 500GB HDD to 2TB HDD etc etc . . .

This would enable them to Streamline their whole production process which could save them "billions" $$$$ and just churn out Black Box after Black Box . . . . The punter would pay a goodly sum to unlock each feature, possibly a discount could be had for unlocking a bundle of features or perhaps buying an uncrippled Black Box up front but I'm sure this concept would be more beneficial to the corporations® profit than the punters value for money . . .

If Intel® faces no competition from another company then I see no good reason why they won't push on with this concept . . . innovation would slow right down and they would probably only release a new version (Black Box II etc) every four to five years . . .

Thinking about it a bit more I suppose they would still probably have three different versions as I'm not sure if the business model would be viable with each Black Box containing an excessive amount of "crippled" top end hardware but even just three versions would be quite a small number of items compared to the plethora of products they have currently in their range . . .

  1. Black Box Starter
  2. Black Box Enthusiast
  3. Black Box eXtreme
intelblackbox.jpg

The Shape Of Things To Come
 
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reygjabla said:
Can the software unlock the quad to hex? that would be great. Bloomfield to Gulftown for £50, I'd definitely buy it whether it's right or wrong. :D
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It cannot unlock what is not already there.

It's basically an i3 with no hyperthreading and 1mb less cache. Those features are on the chip, but aren't enabled. The upgrade card enables them.

soz4captainobvious.
 
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