• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

SemiA: Intel to move to stop selling processors separately, only proc+mobo combos

With the rumours of Apple eventually moving to all ARM down the line as well, this news will certainly make for a radically different PC market in a few years time. Seems like that old Oracle dudes dream of thin terminals and software as a service from years back will eventually come to pass. We'll have "apps" IAP out the wazoo & nice walled garden stores.

It'll be the Internet after that way down the line. These are the dark times my friends.
 
Bu-bu-but neogaf told me that the desktop is not dying!

I think it will die for the majority of "computer users". ie those that had a desktop for the facebooks, farmvilles, email, and their pirated movies/music. For the enthusiast, or hobbyist it won't. Which will be fine with me, it'll be nice to be special again. :D
 
The rumor is a miss translation, what was said is that desktops will skip Boardwell, not that Intel is no longer making socketed CPUs.
(at least what someone on techreport said).
 
But, PC gaming was just gearing up for that big comeback.



What a complete overreaction. Because yes, nobody will offer an alternative. Nobody. It'll just be Microsoft and Intel shoving spikes down our urethra's.

Although I'm not surprised why you'd think this was given your username.

wow, hold up there, now it's personal!
 
On the other hand, would suddenly being the only game in town for enthusiasts wanting to mix-and-match CPUs and motherboards be a boon for them?

It's unlikely unless their processors' performance miraculously catches up to Intel's. Though they were the favorite manufacturer among enthusiasts for a few years, they lost a big chunk of their advantage in 2006 when Conroe came out and have only been falling farther behind with each iteration.
 
welcome to the future, where microsoft and intel completely dominate and rape everyone.

You're blaming the wrong people. Blame the fact that most of the world wants simple, lightweight computing and that desktop computing has been trending sharply downward for a few years now, with the downward slope getting sharper by the quarter.

PC gaming's biggest enemy is the changing of the times. Gonna have to hope there will be enough people left buying desktops and heavy gaming laptops in the next 5-10 years.
 
Well, it really depends on the performance\price of the new boards. If AMD is the only choice for enthusiasts and gamers, then PC gaming is dead.
 
You're blaming the wrong people. Blame the fact that most of the world wants simple, lightweight computing and that desktop computing has been trending sharply downward for a few years now, with the downward slope getting sharper by the quarter.

PC gaming's biggest enemy is the changing of the times. Gonna have to hope there will be enough people left buying desktops and heavy gaming laptops in the next 5-10 years.
People have been saying desktops are dying for over a decade now...they are still around and doing ok.
 
This article says:

-- Intel will not provide new products for Desktop and non-BGA laptop segments in Broadwell era
-- Instead, they will provide higher clocked Haswell for those segments in 2014
-- Broadwell is "more than tick", and it will include some technologies that were previously planned for Skylake
-- This is because Intel needs to be more competitive in the tablet market, and this may mean the end of Tick-Tock strategy
-- It mentions nothing about Skylake and later or if they will be LGA or not for the desktop

Is what "BestJinjo" in the xbit article comment section said.
 
I hope this will lead to cheaper bundle prices and less costumer confusion. The last time this (kinda) happened was when Nvidia killed the PhysX card. The average gaming PC should still be safe but the overclocking market will get way more expensive if manufactures do shitty "bundles".
 
You're blaming the wrong people. Blame the fact that most of the world wants simple, lightweight computing and that desktop computing has been trending sharply downward for a few years now, with the downward slope getting sharper by the quarter.

PC gaming's biggest enemy is the changing of the times. Gonna have to hope there will be enough people left buying desktops and heavy gaming laptops in the next 5-10 years.

Its times like that you get that terrible thought in your mind the masses just don't know what is good for them, and have to bite your tongue so as not to come across as hitlerstalin.

To which they reply, get a xbox yah fuckin nerd fer yeh vidya games. And then they go back to American Idol 32981
 
I don't get it, didn't bother reading the entire thing but how would this kill PC gaming? If the CPU on boards can't be replaced so what, you could still use your own GPU right? Besides I usually always have to buy a new board every time I upgrade my CPU because they've changed the socket since.

CPU hardly matters these days, a stock i7 920 still runs everything on max with ease.

No doubt a move like this would royally suck for overclockers and enthusiasts in general but saying it'd kill PC gaming (and the desktop for that matter) sounds like pure hyperbole. It'd have a minimal impact at best.
 
If this comes true, it'll be a sad day for all of us. We already have zero freedom with laptops, now we might have this problem with PCs, f this.
 
I don't get it, didn't bother reading the entire thing but how would this kill PC gaming? If the CPU on boards can't be replaced so what, you could still use your own GPU right?

CPU hardly matters these days, a stock i7 920 still runs everything on max with ease.

No doubt a move like this would royally suck for overclockers and enthusiasts in general but saying it'd kill PC gaming (and the desktop for that matter) sounds like pure hyperbole. It'd have a minimal impact at best.

in all honesty other than a faulty mobo, Ive only ever gotten a cpu/mobo once, and then rode it out several years till the next new hotness (or new new hotness) has released. Would suck for those that change out their cpus on a semi annual basis I guess tho.
 
People have been saying desktops are dying for over a decade now...they are still around and doing ok.

But they are dying now. The stats are pretty conclusive. I'm not saying they're going to die off, just that desktop computers are clearly on a downward slope, and it seems to be getting worse.
 
I think it will die for the majority of "computer users". ie those that had a desktop for the facebooks, farmvilles, email, and their pirated movies/music. For the enthusiast, or hobbyist it won't. Which will be fine with me, it'll be nice to be special again. :D
Back to the 80s and early-to-mid 90s, I guess. Problem is that unless there's significant volumes being sold, parts will go back up to that era's price levels, too. Bye bye 2000 and onward for their super-cheap market for PC parts. Being special has its problems. Hopefully, China and other markets will take up the slack for falling interest in desktop as everyone moves to focused mobile devices (phones/tablets/laptops/*books).
 
It all depends on whether overclocking is still possible.

If it is, this would just be an evolution of the platform, considering that sockets change so often, upgrading a CPU while keeping an old motherboard is almost never worth it. I built a PC not long ago, and about the only thing I could see was different between the different MBs on offer was overclockability and variety of ports/slots. People will be able to just switch to ads-on cards for those.
 
I don't get it, didn't bother reading the entire thing but how would this kill PC gaming? If the CPU on boards can't be replaced so what, you could still use your own GPU right?

CPU hardly matters these days, a stock i7 920 still runs everything on max with ease.

No doubt a move like this would royally suck for overclockers and enthusiasts in general but saying it'd kill PC gaming (and the desktop for that matter) sounds like pure hyperbole. It'd have a minimal impact at best.
This won't kill pc gaming in anyway. Some people just overreacting. This is just a rumor too
 
Its cheaper to just buy the parts for a processor and build it yourself.
Seriously though this is kind of shit - Steam Box to da rescue?
 
Its cheaper to just buy the parts for a processor and build it yourself.
Seriously though this is kind of shit - Steam Box to da rescue?

Ironically, BGA desktop setups like this would be ideal for a Steam Box, since they'd save money and probably have smaller form factors.

PS desktop gamers the gamer approved laptop thread is that way ----->

FROM MY COLD, DEAD HANDS... Or whenever we have good external GPU solutions that aren't MacGyver'd together.
 
Consoles to become the master race confirmed!


But seriously the writing has been on the wall for awhile though. AMD/Nvidia/Intel have started focusing on SoC and will continue down that path. Intel chips have been focusing on GPU power and efficiency since the second gen I5 series. AMD has its APU. These companies are trying to make smaller and smaller products that will compete with the ARM crowd and will eventually stop trying to make super powerful chips like the Intel extreme editions and Dual GPU videocards. Granted these chips will be powerful enough for the masses but consoles will be the ones that provide the best IQ. Sucks that PC gaming will lose out on one if its advantages but no way it will die out.
 
Top Bottom