Intel Might Change the Game
Intel may be trying to kill off PC’s by launching BGA chips where, word has it, Intel won’t be releasing separate CPU chips in the future.
According to a report on SemiAccurate, the new Intel PC chip being called Broadwell will apparently not be coming in an LGA package that all chips come in now. This means that the chip itself will not be removable from the motherboard.
The Broadwell chip is supposed to be the 14nm successor to next year’s Haswell CPU chip and will essentially just shut out any competition. The CPU will be soldered down to the motherboard and what’s worst about all this is that apparently Intel didn’t tell all the parties involved.
Intel Core i7The way things go these days is that gamers who are looking to custom build their PC’s from scratch are able to select from a wide variety of motherboards including the likes of Asus, Gigabyte, MSI and Intel, to name a few. From there, gamers buy a CPU with a matching socket that will fit into the motherboard and be left satisfied with their quality choices. What this soldering does is shut out any outside companies from creating different motherboards as the CPU's will not be sold separately and instead be soldered down to Intel boards only.
SemiAccurate has been told that a number of OEM’s have confirmed to have been briefed that the Broadwell will be BGA only. What does all of this mean for PC gamers? Well, it’s not a good sign. It probably means you will need to buy yourself an Intel motherboard with the CPU soldered into it rather than buy a different brand and have the CPU socketed in. It means that fan-favourites like ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI and others will be motherboards of the past as Intel stretches its devilish claws out and creates a monopoly over motherboard costs and choices.
To read more details on what is going on with the new Broadwell chips, you can head over to the SemiAccurate website.
| Article Comments | |||||||||
| Oh hell no. Also a sad thing for overclockers I'm sure. | ||||||||
| Hopefully AMD wont do such a thing... well hope.. another thing is the prices on that stuff is going to be crazy.. I say all those motherboard manufacturers should sue Intel for unfair competition. | ||||||||
| AMD already make such boards. Although they still offer removable ones of-course. Intel are not big motherboard makers and will won't have the facilities to take over from every OEM to manufacture the boards for all Intel PC's. I hope it will be like graphics cards, where AMD and Nvidia give OEM's the specs and they can add all their little "ultra-durable capacitors" and custom coolers etc. Intel should hopefully still let OEM's manufacture the boards with the CPU, like they manufacture graphics cards with the GPU chips. That will allow for custom boards still. Not as much choice of customisation, but still possible. Problem is, it will be almost impossible to make a removable chip with such small transistors, as there will be too many pins, making it very fragile for a monkey human to touch and insert. I can see their predicament. 14nm = +-14 atoms. We humans just don't have such fine motor control  Upgrading will suck, having to get a whole new board and chip each time. Overclocking will be better as you can improve contact to the board and refine the manufacturing process without having to deal with sockets etc. | ||||||||
| The thing I worry about is, how much you going to pay for such Intel-boards. If the pricing is reasonable it will be fine then. | ||||||||
| Surely Intel would let Asus, Gigabyte etc just solder the cpu's onto their boards ? and not sell any boards with a LGA socket Oo | ||||||||
| This could be seen as the same deal that AMD and Nvidia have been doing. They provide a reference design and the third party companies can then make their own versions of it. | ||||||||
| I'll stick with my AMD CPU  | ||||||||
| This was inevitable I guess... and few people upgrade their CPU without upgrading mobo too. However...It's annoying because a CPU will never die, but motherboards vrek after 6 or so years. | ||||||||
| Quote: infy:This could be seen as the same deal that AMD and Nvidia have been doing. They provide a reference design and the third party companies can then make their own versions of it. That is the best explanation for intel to increase their sales with the 3rd part manufactures and for them to also make more money. it will cut costs down on boards and cpu and they will now be more mass produced and then sold at a higher market value becuase the consumer thinks they getting more for the buck. trending sales of mobos and cpu are on the down they need to reinvent the wheel here basically to introduce new tech to the market. almost like disposable cpu and mobo kits  | ||||||||
| Eish...... | ||||||||
| And this is why I'm an AMD fan EFF YOU INTEL! | ||||||||
| That's going to suck! Someone needs to perform a mutiny at Intel and take control of the ship before it's too late  | ||||||||
|  Let me guess,next we will be building our own computers? | ||||||||
| I don't get peoples problem. AMD have been doing it for a while, and nothing is stopping OEMs from continuing to make boards. | ||||||||
| Quote by TINman: This was inevitable I guess... and few people upgrade their CPU without upgrading mobo too. However...It's annoying because a CPU will never die, but motherboards vrek after 6 or so years. +1 | ||||||||
| I personally dont like AMD but if Intel does this then ill swap over. I love going and building my own custom rig, spending the most for the CPU ect... AMD I have had problems with their cpus in the past, but the socket based system which has been around since at least the 386 (I dont count the Motorola chips before that - im talking about the larger more complex cpus) and its a formula which works. I still have old 386 mobos which still work. The length my mobo lasts is not the problem since I change my system every 4 to 7 years | ||||||||
