Rumour : Intel to stop socketed CPUs, any credence to this?

This would be a stupid move since the enthusiast market is so huge. If they were to do it on OEM parts, it wouldn't be a problem but I'm crossing my fingers that this doesn't happen, easily exchanging parts for something new is one of the best parts about computer building.

I don't agree that the enthusiast market is 'huge', high profit margins, yes for sure. HUGE? Not so much.

the enthusiast market will be catered for, its the non high end that they are soldering. that will push the price up on the higher end stuff though, think SB-E = socketed, SB = soldered. not a good time IMO. think of the stock keeping, each mobo stored with each possible cpu, which leads me to think that these will be soft locked cpu's, i.e. you buy a mobo and specify how fast you want the chip and unlock it to that level. they are already partly there on laptops, it might allow you to buy bottom, and then buy more power when you need it, simpler than a cpu upgrade and better for budgeting, blowing $50 on a weekend to go from base chip to midrange is better than that 50 being on the chip at system build time.

sorry bit rambly.

I can't see this happening. I can't see Dell/HP etc wanting to resolder CPUs every time one of their crap motherboards flakes out, and I can't see them wanting to absorb the cost of chucking them!

I call bullshit.

I want total control over my build. If this is true I'm upgrading at Haswell then when that becomes obsolete I'll be switching to AMD.

I reckon it'll be a single physical stock unit for the processor and then you can pay to upgrade to faster or unlocked. With a soldered joint they may OC better. I can't really see why they'd bother though.

I agree with mi1ez, I don't think motherboard manufacturers and OEMs would be too happy about this.

I also think this won't sit with vendors. Especially mobo venders, too much dead stock in one package.

While I haven't heard anything officially on this I would be shocked if we were to stop doing sockets. Also it doesn't make sense to do this on a die shrink. I might see it something like this with a new micro-architecture but on a die shrink generally doesn't have major changes to it.

Glad to hear it... Hope you are right...

Just to play Devil's Advocate...

He may truly not know the truth behind the rumor. Not every Intel employee will know the long term strategic goals of Intel's senior managing directors. Or he does know the truth and he is simply just leading the cattle to the slaughter.

Just saying...

Anyway, we will all know soon enough if there is any truth to the rumors. Therefore, whatever the outcome is, just deal with it because there is really nothing you can do about it... other than switch over to AMD if it is true.

I don't think it would matter much. There are really only a few categories of processor performance. Having 10 versions of an i5 all $5 apart is kind of pointless when most of us just want the highest end one anyway.

And how often do you really upgrade CPUs reusing the same board from 3 years ago? I don't. Usually I want newer I/O ports or there's a new socket anyhow.

It would be a big change, and a pain for the MB makers, but overall not going to end up with drastically different results or builds.

I agree, If they were to do that it would the start of the computer market turning into a glorified console running windows..., you catch my drift anyway. You cant upgrade a playstation!

If Intel is doing the soldering than that will kill all the motherboard manufacturers. Also If something breaks, let's say just the motherboard you have to replace the board AND the CPU. So instead of spending 200+ dollars on a new board you have to spend 500 because you have to pay for the board and the CPU. Lastly it is bad for the OEM's. If their crappy motherboard dies they have to either unsolder, re-place, and re-solder each and every CPU or trash the board. I doubt they will want to do that considering it will cost them alot of money. Not to mention they would have to stock motherboards for each and every CPU. Again this is risky and cost money. The same goes for online strores like New Egg and Tiger Direct. The point is this whole idea is stupid and bad for everyone; it's bad for the end user, it's bad for the OEM's and it's bad for the industry as a whole.

That wouldn't make sense though, since that would completely eliminate the possibility of binning CPUs, so either a lot of CPUs would need to be thrown out, or every CPU would need to meet the spec of the highest part.

unless they very conservatively bin them, its not the greatest idea in the world.

I agree but who knows. We kept saying Microft wouldn't be that stupid with Windows 8 but they went through with it anyway. They pretty much said screw you to us users and now we are stuck with a crappy OS. Is Intel stupid enough to go through with this anyway despite how bad it is for the industry; maybe but I have a feeling it won't last just like the SEC slot CPU's of the Pentium II and III days.