Intel exits the desktop motherboard business

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2025...rd-business-to-focus-on-new-form-factors.html

 

Well, IMO they never did well in this area.

 

*Yawn* who cares, I don't know anyone who bought Intel motherboards anyway.

 

Between having some other mobo manufacturer exiting the market because of Intel gaining his market share and Intel leaving the market, i prefer the latter.

Intel never impressed in the motherboard sector. Has failed to shine in the high performance sector and failed to shine in the budget sector too. It was always running "amongst the others". They did a smart thing leaving. Stick to what you do better, chipset manufacturing.

 

What is interesting is this news on the new intel chip

Anybody know how this might perform say compared to i7?

 

Here is a link related to my own question

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haswell_(microarchitecture)

 

Here's another;
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/ne..._desktop_haswell_cpu’s_slated_q2_2013_release

 

Maybe a smart thing entering, too.

And this user comment also underscores your point:

 

Also from the article:

 

Haswell integrated graphics are equivalent to Nvidia 650M GT.
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/ne...ted_graphics_vs_geforce_gt_650m_video_updated

 

It's a moot point since the discrete graphics industry also keeps this possibility in mind and will probably have something notably better by the time this comes out.

Not to mention, we don't even know the specs of the GT 650M here. DDR3? DDR5? clock speeds? Number of cores?

 

It is an excellent point! I don't know the specs either. Nor do I really care anymore. But the gameplay and imagery looked real nice and it is something I would game on if I was into gaming.

I kind of stopped watching all the specmanship and one-up games that technology companies play against each other. The industry is at the point where they release graphics chips on a seemingly weekly basis. Meh..

I also don't mind soldered-down CPU's. Typically when a system is upgraded for speed, one has to replace many other sub-systems to match the CPU. Best do it all at once. What with computers being disposable items and everything it isn't a big deal these days.

 

Intel's upcoming Haswell platform could spell the end of some motherboard manufacturers

 

They will find a way to tweak those parameters. Just look at ASRock's "No-K OC" function as an example.

 

I don't mind it either, since the best buy for a CPU is typically in the mid- to high-end-range, where a worthwhile upgrade from that requires a new socket. What I would not want soldered on would be RAM, since there are different timings available and of course the amount needed can vary considerably.

My problem with their boards was that I like to overclock (or at least have the option to do so at some point), and since it's something that Intel doesn't really condone, their boards don't have the settings to accommodate that. They probably didn't do well with enthusiasts for that reason. I would otherwise have gladly purchased their MBs, as my impression was that their boards were pretty stable overall. I was actually considering them with my next build since I don't overclock much anymore.

 

The problem with soldered down CPUs is that they would likely match CPU to motherboard in a way that forces number of features together with high end CPUs. If you have mismatched needs you likely would have very few boards to choose from or be stuck paying for features you don't need just to get the CPU you want. This is the whole reason the "build it yourself/custom build" market started up to begin with. CPU sockets are about personally matching CPU to desired MOBO features, not future CPU upgrades.