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Intel to Drop Low-end Chipsets

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the cheapskates-take-note dept.

SimilarityEngine writes "Intel is planning to terminate production of its 910GL, 915GL and 915PL chipsets by the end of August, as part of a shift in focus towards higher-spec products, possibly with support for new FSB architectures, multi-core processors and a host of other much-requested features relating to virtualisation and security."

12 of 191 comments (clear)

  1. Trusted computing? by Lehk228 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    anyone know if the remaining chipsets will contain the Trusted Computing chips?

    --
    Snowden and Manning are heroes.
  2. hmm.. by aztracker1 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Well, this could be their response to lackluster sales of their new CPUs with dual cores... Though they could simply be using their shear force to move things forward to the next battlefield...

    Though, I'm more of an AMD fan myself, in some ways this is good news.. moving forward on dual core, and pentium M based processors.

    --
    Michael J. Ryan - tracker1.info
  3. Re:When for a general purpose mainboard and chipse by aztracker1 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Also with things like the memory controller going into the cpu (athlon-64) for performance, things that further separate the cpu from the motherboard, won't have a decent upgrade path, in addition to memory architectures changing nearly as rapidly as cpu architectures, you are just as well off upgrading mb+cpu+ram at the same time, replacing subsets of those, only when one or the other fails, and upgrading the three when upgrading your system.

    Doesn't make sense to upgrade your cpu to the new Uber-Pro5 when you are stuck with crappy DOA-533 ram, and the older PCIxtreme-2048 bus for your video.

    --
    Michael J. Ryan - tracker1.info
  4. They're killing the x86 architecture? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Interesting

    Actually, I wish they would do that. I'd love to see what we could get out of CPUs that didn't have to be backwards compatible with an overgrown calculator chip.

  5. Reminds me of GM/Ford/Chrysler by putko · · Score: 5, Interesting

    In the 90s the American carmakers got out of the low-marign car business, and moved with all their gusto to the high margin trucks and SUVs.

    This was a disaster, and only now are the chickens coming home to roost. Already Chrysler is history, and we are all just wondering whether Ford or GM will be next to go. And now the Germans, Japanese and Koreans compete with them in the high end -- there is nowhere else to go. I guess cars like the Maybach are even higher margin, but the Americans can't economically build it (nor something like a Lamborghini).

    So Intel better be makign some new, super-breakthrough stuff, that the other guys just don't have at all -- or the current high-margin business will become medium and then low-margin; at which point VIA will eat them alive.

    Japanese companies understand that you need to keep on making stuff, even low margin stuff, if only to stop the other folks from entering your citatdel and killing you one day. A bit like Cisco making cheapo stuff (Linksys) to keep the wolves at bay. You've got to get through Linksys before you can attack Cisco.

    --
    http://www.thebricktestament.com/the_law/when_to_s tone_your_children/dt21_18a.html
    1. Re:Reminds me of GM/Ford/Chrysler by timeOday · · Score: 2, Interesting
      It's not just the price; European cars have real quality problems. When VW and Porsche lose out to Kia, something is wrong. And Hyundai beat Mercedes Benz.

      Now I have heard the excuse that customers of fine automobiles are simply more finicky, so the direct comparison is unfair. But look who's at #1 - Lexus.

  6. Re:Now when you say "security" by Tackhead · · Score: 4, Interesting
    > Do you mean "security for the end user" or "security for Microsoft, to keep the end user from doing things which Microsoft does not want them to"?

    The latter. You are not the customer, and neither Intel nor AMD are the vendors.

    Microsoft is the vendor. Intel and AMD are the customers. The guy who actually sits behind the keyboard is the product.

  7. Could be a good thing, by ratatask · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This might turn out good, as it hopefully will allow the "high" end chips to be manufactured and sold in bigger quantities.
    Which ought to lead to cheaper prices.
    More bang for the buck for /us/.

  8. FSB licensing vs. in-house production. by epiphyte(3) · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Just because they aren't making low-end chipsets doesn't mean they won't be getting chipset revenue from the low end. As even the cheaper processors move to multi-core, shared L3, multi-CPU capable, etc, the complexities of producing an unlicensed chipset will become more and more prohibitive. Assuming AMD can be squeezed out (Intel seems to be making good progress there), then if you want to make a chipset for any kind of low-end PC, then you'll need an FSB license from Intel. They'll likely make more money out of the licensing than they would from the tedious business of designing/making/marketing/selling/supporting the chips themselves.

  9. Re:Now when you say "security" by Em+Adespoton · · Score: 3, Interesting
    I'm sorry, but I bought a lot of games in the 90's that are now unplayable. Why? Because the copy protection scheme made it "impossible" to make a backup of the game, so when the media died, the game was gone. This despite the fact that they insisted that they sold me a license, not a copy of the game. I still own the license, but I can no longer play the game.

    The problem with the new DRM schemes is not that they currently stop me from using what I purchased, but that I have no say in how long I continue to have that right. If you buy a product with DRM, you're really renting the product, with the length of rental being variable, based on the lifetime of the rest of your equipment, or the desire of the DRM management company to let you have the product, whichever ends first.

  10. Re:Its all about the Benjies by mpapet · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It does seem sensible, -today-.

    For tomorrow, are they abandoning the price point?

    If they are abandoning the price point because it's not rich enough for them, I think they've planted the seeds for yet another american powerhouse company to fail in 20 years or less.

    Unfettered and unwatched competition in the low-end will clobber them one day soon. I don't care how many uptainiums and Pentium M's they've got and how big their lead may be.

    A different way of saying it is that Intel needs to know how to make low-cost chips and effectively compete in these low margin high-volume segments. To be lean-and-mean like their competitors in this space is mandatory. Plus, the volume helps their more expensive product remain profitable.

    --
    http://www.maxineudall.com/2010/02/should-economists-be-sued-for-malpractice.html
  11. Sounds like... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    ...you might have a good potential class action suit there. Your claim certainly seems reasonable, If they gave you a license, you should still be allowed to play the game. Perhaps run it by an IP lawyer, I have no idea if there's precedent or not.

    I say any time you can legally stick it right back at the entertainment monopolists it's worthwhile to do so. I can't believe people put up with this stuff, including expensive software with zero warranties. Freebies with no warranties are understandable, paying hundreds of dollars and up for software though is a different story. Once cash changes hands there needs to be a warranty involved, IMO. Every other consumer product out there has a warranty.