Intel is reportedly going to kill the CPU socket

[yowanvista]

Intel kills off the desktop, PCs go with it. What will we do if we can't upgrade our rigs?

Broadwell will not come in an LGA package, so no removable CPU. 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.

http://semiaccurate....pcs-go-with-it/

[myxomatosis]

What a stupid idea... They should solder the memory too if they want to push the non-sense to the limit.

I can't wait to have to replace my motherboard AND my CPU because of a motherboard problem.

[+LogicalApex MVC]

I can't believe this is actually going to happen. The enthusiast market is very lucrative to Intel. Average consumers aren't buying K processors or Black edition CPUs.

If this actually did come around I can see AMD getting a lot of marketshare pretty quickly.

[Jose_49]

AMD is our last hope...

*fuq*

[Chris123NT]

You have got to be kidding me. If this really does happen I can definitely see AMD making a comeback, in a big big way.

[LaP]

If this is true i'm glad AMD is still around.

What a stupid idea... They should solder the memory too if they want to push the non-sense to the limit.

I can't wait to have to replace my motherboard AND my CPU because of a motherboard problem.

Why not the GPU too? It would make sense. Everything soldered to the MB without any PCI-E slot.

[mattmatik]

What a shame. Maybe AMD can fill the void?

[threetonesun]

Since they nearly destroyed that nascent market with Nehalem, and have since progressively removed any features the enthusiast cares about while jacking the cost to buy them back to untenable levels, enthusiasts have become an endangered species.

Right, that i5 k series I bought for $150 was sooo expensive and locked down. :rolleyes:

I also a) don't believe this, as I don't think Intel can meet motherboard demand for that market, and b) don't really see it as a big deal if it's true. Intel has been socket crazy lately anyway, and except for overclocking the crap out of it, I've never seen a CPU die.

[Chris123NT]

If this is true i'm glad AMD is still around.

Why not the GPU too? It would make sense. Everything soldered to the MB without any PCI-E slot.

GPU will be done via this too seeing as the mainstream CPU's currently have onboard graphics on them.

AFAIK this will not effect the top end CPU's, the successor to socket 2011 and such.

My guess is they want mainstream (current socket 1155 people) to move to SoC hardware, which is where this comes in. They know people with top end hardware based on socket 1366 and socket 2011 would NEVER move to SoC. Granted 1155 machines are damn powerful, but 2011 is really in another category when it comes to applications that require more cores etc...

[ncoday]

Seriously people?? You believe a news site called "SemiAccurate"??

I would believe it if it were being covered by a reputable site such as Toms Hardware or similar.

[Davo]

This doesn't surprise me. Now that desktop PC sales are slowing, it's in their best interest to pump out mobo/chip solutions for OEMs who do massive business sales (Dell in particular).

[Spartan Erik]

Face it guys, us enthusiasts don't make up the majority of the market. I figure this decision will mostly affect OEM machines, I still imagine custom builds will be possible, but they might cost a bit more

[Manarift]

I do not think they will fuse the cpu onto the motherboard too many red flags would kick up and so many business will be lost if that happens and along with jobs.

[MindTrickz]

When I read the title before coming into this thread I thought that Intel were going to introduce some sort of universal socket for all their future CPU's and was quite happy about that. Not only was i disapointed that this wasn't the case; I now find out that in the future I have buy a new MOBO for if I want a new CPU.

Double downer.

[enroh]

AMD is our last hope...

*fuq*

...no there is another...

[DrJohnSmitherson]

Guess those guys over there at AMD with their backhoe or shovel processors (i kid) will be our last hope!

[Crimson Rain]

Who cares.

As long as people can buy something that works better and faster.

[redvamp128]

Hrrm-- Why not just go back with the SLOT concept-- You know that way there is still room for people to upgrade them....

[Rippleman]

can you upgrade your phones processor? no, you buy a whole new phone. Disposable after 3 years or so...

[kjordan2001]

can you upgrade your phones processor? no, you buy a whole new phone. Disposable after 3 years or so...

That's what makes the desktop so powerful right now and why it won't go away for several years (or ever maybe). To a lesser extent you can upgrade a laptop too, but that's only up to the max memory and max CPU that the motherboard that it comes with will support.

[BitterPlutonium]

I really dont think this is gonna happen to all future CPUs offered by intel any time soon. The enthusiast market is too important for intel to drop. Something like this may happen in the low end/mid range market..but surely not across the entire spectrum.

[+Mirumir Subscriber¹]

As a side effect, it also cuts the enthusiast out of the picture for good, but more on that later.

It's inevitable and I've seen it coming ever since learning about the size of PCs in the not so distant future.

It's a side effect of progress and miniaturization if I may which isn't a side effect at all since we'll get faster and lighter PCs.

Those who are stuck in the old days can continue to tinker with their old full tower, full of noise and dust rigs, while the rest of us will enjoy more power in a much smaller form factor.

However, being an enthusiast myself, I understand the negative sentiments here. And as a marketer, I can say with certainty that this decision has been driven purely by profits to make the customers upgrade their stuff faster = more profits for the corporate world.

[Phouchg]

Ok then. While Semi-accurate spurts a lot of (anti-Intel) drivel (and going back to socket with Skylake absolutely makes no sense), exploitation of consumer stupidity truly knows no bounds. If that will prove to be remotely true, I'll probably be saving towards some many-socket server of the last generation, so that I can delay the glorious future for at least 10 years.

[(Account no longer active)]

Seriously, how many people actually upgrade their CPUs? 1 x 10^-12 %?

I am still happy with my Core 2. If that was soldered on, what difference would it make? None at all in my case.

Processors have got to a point where even low end models are powerful enough for what I do (and even for some serious gaming, of course when combined with a good GPU).

[ekw]

Well its crossing the point where all of the pins/balls are becoming a bigger factor as bottlenecks for performance. It seems like the next step for intel to cut out the adaptability to squeeze more performance.

I don't see how people possibly upgrade their CPUs these days. I want to think not many people upgrade their CPUs as sockets keep changing and upgrades within a certain socket line is quite minimal in day to day performance.

Having intel swallow up the mobo industry just makes things cheaper and more reliable in the end anyway.