would intel sell more cpus if they stopped changing sockets?

[Duke]

It is partly due to tech reasons (as mentioned) and also to keep retailers and motherboard manufacturers happy, i.e. selling new kit.

 

[ThomasTheTankEngine]

1) Competition is not about making the extreme end of a competitors product more popular which is the least profitable because it will always be the least sold of a product line.

Yes the AM3 chips needed to compete with i5/i7 750/870/930 chips.

You don't need to be the fastest on the block you need to have the fastest at the most popular price point & that's all, if all other factors are equal which they never are so there is no guaranty that everyone will still buy it but most likely will.

If AMD had produced a chip powerful enough to compete with the 750/870/930's, I'm sure they would have been able to release an "FX" version with a higher clock speed, unlocked multipliers and a ridiculous price tag. Like you said, these kind of chips aren't profitable at all, but they do promote the brandname.

If AMD had chips that competed with intels last generation, I'm sure they'd all end up a fair bit cheaper, as they'd both be competing to get the most powerful chip in the £150-200 bracket.

 

[sithlord]

Come 18 months down the road I can see Intel phasing out the current Sandybridge sockets with a new design with LESS pins. Then the cycle begins again..

 

[Final8y]

If AMD had produced a chip powerful enough to compete with the 750/870/930's, I'm sure they would have been able to release an "FX" version with a higher clock speed, unlocked multipliers and a ridiculous price tag. Like you said, these kind of chips aren't profitable at all, but they do promote the brandname.

If AMD had chips that competed with intels last generation, I'm sure they'd all end up a fair bit cheaper, as they'd both be competing to get the most powerful chip in the £150-200 bracket.

Yes we would all have cheaper chips.