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Looking Forward to Intel's Grantsdale and Alderwood

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the pci-express-and-onboard-wireless dept.

VL writes "Over the next several days, you'll be hearing a lot about Intel's significant upgrade to the Pentium 4 platform. Soon enough, that brand new Canterwood board you have will be yesterday's news as two new words will be on the lips of all enthusiasts... Grantsdale and Alderwood."

3 of 168 comments (clear)

  1. If history shows... by NineNine · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If history shows anything, it's that people who aren't gamers just don't really care too much about upgrading any more. Intel is going to have to raise its prices as sales due to upgrades slow dramatically. I'm still running mostly Pentium 2's in my business... I think. I don't even know or care. For what we do here, just about any computer that was made in the last 10 years is just fine. When it's time to get a new machine, we always just buy the cheapest oen we can find.

  2. I'm talking about the home users/gamers, here. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    95% of the population has no use for legacy ports any more. In the future if people really, truly need legacy ports (i.e. no alternatives exist) they'll be willing to pay extra.

    As for the USB keyboard/mouse issue. I'm able to boot into and use Open Firmware using my Bluetooth keyboard on my Mac. Maybe it's time to modernize.

  3. Re:too bad by awkScooby · · Score: 4, Insightful
    It's BTX form factor, so throw out the case too. It's not as bad as you are making it out to be. The same argument could have been made before the switch from ISA to PCI. You couldn't do the things you can today if that change had not occured.

    When VESA came out, I had to get rid of my ISA video card. When PCI came out I had to get rid of my VESA card. When AGP came out I had to get rid of my PCI card. When PCI-E comes out I have to get rid of my AGP card. So? Why is the PCI-E move any worse than the move to AGP?

    Don't get me started on the different types of memory which I've had over the years. But, I wouldn't sit around arguing that I was screwed over by the move to DDR, for example.

    PCI-E paves the way for much higher network bandwidth, more bandwidth for graphics cards, etc. PCI-E will scale to at least 10 GigE, if not beyond. Some of this means more in the server room than on the desktop, but it's nice to see the bar significantly raised across the board.

    I recall reading somewhere that some motherboards would probably ship with AGP slots as well (AGP->PCI-E bridge?). Legacy PCI slots will also be available on many/most boards. You don't have to buy the board which supports DDR2, so you should be able to use your existing DDR memory. So, you need a new motherboard, CPU and case and can then grow into the rest of the new technology which is offered on the board.

    I doubt you'll hold the same opinion several years from now. I think you'll look back and see that this was a good move, just as moving to PCI was a good thing, moving to AGP was a good thing...