Intel is releasing new processors crippled by default

http://www.howtogeek.com/news/intel-releasing-upgradable-processors-crippled-by-default/1298/


Well, I guess Intell wants to drive pc users to the competition with this idea.

Anyone want to place bets on how long it's on the market before it's hacked?

yeah good point, some one will find a way around that lol. there is other processors out there other than intell, so they will be missing out while old intel buyers will be turning to amd turon and such that dont have a "catch" to buying them.

MC's link sourced to cnet who sourced to engadget, so it looks like this is early in the commenting.

I haven't found any indication yet, that hacking the chip is feasible, at all.

The precedent is the 496SX chip according to cnet. Wiki indicates the 'hack' offered:

Wiki wrote:Some systems allowed the user to upgrade the i486SX to a CPU with a FPU. The FPU upgrade device was shipped as the i487, which was a full blown i486DX chip with an extra pin. The i487 was installed in an upgrade socket and the extra pin was either a power or ground pin that indicated that the i487 was installed. That signal was used to disable the i486SX when the i487 was installed. Although i486SX devices were not used at all when the i487 was installed, they were hard to remove because the i486SX was installed in non-ZIF sockets or in a plastic package that was surface mounted on the motherboard.

As one who had that chip I never bothered with the upgrade i487 option. But I agree with the articles sentiment that this is a bit different. At this time similar things are being done related to overclocking - which I also don't do. Anyone here running an overclocked system ?

Engadget:

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.

I'm not a game player, either; anyone this type of gamer ?

My first bit of curiosity is the breakdown of the $50 program as to how the funds flow. Intel's perspective is to make it a low price threshold for the customer. I'm not sure how the retail sector will regard it. Is it/will it be worth whatever the program requirements are to the retailer ?

In this economy, (BTW, did you here the recession is over ?), retailers may be hurting enough to try anything. I suspect the customer market will segment, further, like the overclockers market: you don't and go elsewhere, or you do, and the money is a drip in the bucket of your budget.

RBM wrote:MC's link sourced to cnet who sourced to engadget, so it looks like this is early in the commenting.

I haven't found any indication yet, that hacking the chip is feasible, at all.

The precedent is the 496SX chip according to cnet. Wiki indicates the 'hack' offered:

Wiki wrote:Some systems allowed the user to upgrade the i486SX to a CPU with a FPU. The FPU upgrade device was shipped as the i487, which was a full blown i486DX chip with an extra pin. The i487 was installed in an upgrade socket and the extra pin was either a power or ground pin that indicated that the i487 was installed. That signal was used to disable the i486SX when the i487 was installed. Although i486SX devices were not used at all when the i487 was installed, they were hard to remove because the i486SX was installed in non-ZIF sockets or in a plastic package that was surface mounted on the motherboard.

As one who had that chip I never bothered with the upgrade i487 option. But I agree with the articles sentiment that this is a bit different. At this time similar things are being done related to overclocking - which I also don't do. Anyone here running an overclocked system ?

Engadget:

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.

I'm not a game player, either; anyone this type of gamer ?

My first bit of curiosity is the breakdown of the $50 program as to how the funds flow. Intel's perspective is to make it a low price threshold for the customer. I'm not sure how the retail sector will regard it. Is it/will it be worth whatever the program requirements are to the retailer ?

In this economy, (BTW, did you here the recession is over ?), retailers may be hurting enough to try anything. I suspect the customer market will segment, further, like the overclockers market: you don't and go elsewhere, or you do, and the money is a drip in the bucket of your budget.

If it is early, they might yet abandon the idea if word gets around too widely. There have been other products in the past that were changed or abandoned because of consumer outrage before it came to market. Maybe this is what the reporters have in mind. From what this article says, you'd need to buy the upgrade just to get the basics to run the computer so it is not really optional at all.

What is overclocking?

This reminds me of the Apple IIgs my family owned. The processor had variable speeds so that it could run Apple IIc and IIe software correctly. Running the older software on the IIgs at full processing speed was like playing a 33 1/3 LP record at 78 rpm; the graphics and the sound would move too fast.

MC wrote:What is overclocking

Tuning the various components to go faster than the rated speed. A car analogy works well, say jetting your carb ports to get more gas, which then requires timing adjustments - as I recall, not ever being a 'motorhead'. :-)

In computers it can be a simple as making the CPU run at a faster speed. From that point there are lots of other settings that interrelate that can be adjusted to get the system faster from input to output; similar to Nucky's Apple story.

RBM wrote:

MC wrote:What is overclocking

Tuning the various components to go faster than the rated speed. A car analogy works well, say jetting your carb ports to get more gas, which then requires timing adjustments - as I recall, not ever being a 'motorhead'. :-)

In computers it can be a simple as making the CPU run at a faster speed. From that point there are lots of other settings that interrelate that can be adjusted to get the system faster from input to output; similar to Nucky's Apple story.

RBM, you might find the following link of great interest as well:

Silence_is_Golden

These folks really are "thinking outside the cube(i.e., a 3-D 'box')"!

Thanks WD7, that gave me a bit of a chuckle :-)

The CPU on the system I am presently using is a T-bird and this box's previous board was the KT-7(Raid), LOL ! I just noticed the piece is timestamped in 2002 which is also about the last time I heard SiSoft Sandra mentioned - which I also used a bit.

I noticed they were using a 300 Watt power supply whereas I used a 150 watt PS.

Overall, I'd say the author needed to put an article in his que that was different and this is different. For someone who was new to computers, it would be a good exercise, though.