AMD to Adopt DDR2 Next Year 243
Hack Jandy writes "According to Anandtech, AMD has already developed a new processor lineup for Athlon 64 processors with DDR2. The article states that internal AMD roadmaps indicate the processors should debut early next year and will require a new 1207 pin socket."
Aarrrrgh.... (Score:4, Insightful)
Oh well, it's not like motherboards are the most expensive part of a computer.
Socket A (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Aarrrrgh.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Personally, I never buy a motherboard with future CPU upgrades in mind. It's just not worth it, upgrading your CPU within the same general architecture rarely gives you much real-world performance.
The real performance boosts come from radical architectural changes - new memory subsystems, new processer types, new interconnect, etc. - and for any of those, you're going to need a new motherboard, period.
steve
Of course they changed the socket... again... (Score:3, Insightful)
I am an Apple kind of guy.
When I switched a couple of years ago, the thing I was most upset about was the inability to upgrade my system myself.
I was afraid that with Macs I would be locked in the hardware and would have to upgrade the whole machine when I needed an upgrade. Well that's true: if you want to upgrade the CPU on your Mac you have to change your machine (Ok you could maybe buy some "overdrive" for your Mac).
Well on x86 it's the same thing!
Theoritically you could swap out your processor for a faster one, but the average production life of a CPU socket is LESS than the average time you use a CPU before thinking about upgrading it.
So on x86 when you think about upgrading that 2 year old CPU to something new, well the pin layout has changed and you need to buy a new motherboard, with new type of Ram, and now new components (SATA, PCI-X etc...)
Although you could change all these components idividually, you must admit just changing the whole machine is often a better deal.
I highly suspect intel has a built-in incentive to do so as they produce chipsets for the motherboards, and most of the chips in the new parts involved when "upgrading".
Upgrading no longer exists, it should be called "changing-my-machine".
It doesn't matter that they change the socket. (Score:5, Insightful)
Anyone complaining about "yet another socket" apparently hasn't understood this.
Re:Of course they changed the socket... again... (Score:3, Insightful)
it is possible to design compatible, long lasting technologies - but that would reduce profits. there is no long term thinking for consumer goods - of course, that's bad for environment, but who cares if only short term profit is ok ?
i've been thinking about a new computer - but when i try to select some fundamental parts to build around, i start to doubt. what disks shoulod i choose ? sata ? how long will this standard last ? what type of memory ? what motherboard factor ? what type of extension cards (ethernet, videi, sound etc) ?
for me also a big problem is interoperability - previously it was easy to test components by swapping them - change video, network, psu and check that mb again. also getting some system on feet fast was a lot easier because almost all parts were identical.
now there's a problem of finding the correct keyboard (because when i find an at, i need ps/2 and vice versa), finding correct ram is almost impossible - soon video and other cards will be incompatible with existing sets.
what about dvd* ? how long will which standard last (as can be seen, soon there will be another...) ? which of them will be the best bet for backwards compatibility ?
i plan to buy a new computer after a couple of months, but i am heavily puzzled wether that is a good idea (i'm already sure that's a bad investment
Re:Socket 1207 (Score:5, Insightful)
My wallet hurtz... But I've discovered I don't need it, since after almost twenty years of gaming I've quitted and I use my Athlon XP system mostly as DVB PVR, video player, some video editing and dvd burning. What I ask for is better OS, not hardware.
BTW since all most of the controllers are on CPU, I expect motherboard prices will decrease since there is not much to remain on them. In extreme, why spend money on the processor pins and the socket itself? Why not solder the CPU to motherboard, like in the old times of some 386 boards? With adequate hole in mobo, we can cool the CPU from both sides.
Re:Of course they changed the socket... again... (Score:3, Insightful)
Apple products and Apple users arguments:
Re:Is DDR2 worth waiting for? (Score:4, Insightful)
what a troll (Score:1, Insightful)
* You're comparing the Newton to "today's standards" when it is no longer made, rarely used, and is 12 years old.
* Cooperative multitasking was was all the mac had at the time, so marketing had to come up with something. Of course it was crap.
* Apple didn't have a choice but to fast track OS X. See above problem. Who cares?
* G4 Cube was a canceled project and therefore an admitted failure.
* The Mini serves one purpose, and that is to allow people to try out the Mac computing experience for only $500. It is not a "serious" computer for anything.
* Linux is not UNIX either. Nobody seems to care.
* It's not Apple's fault that Motorola and IBM allowed PPC to fall by the wayside.
* You opinion is that professional is another term for "ugly." This isn't really a point. Windows and GNOME have the same clutter problem.
* Is it flip-flopping or staying as competitive as possible by choosing the best available technology? I see you're already biased.
You must not experience too many honest mac users that will tell you things like:
* Safari is a leaky-ass web browser
* Dashboard is just some fancyness to push a very advanced set of programmer APIs to the masses.
* The Opteron kicks the shit out of the G5
* Apple should have gone with the Opteron (but we'll consider forgiving them if they add the chips to the lineup when the supply issues are abated)
* The iPod Shuffle is for cheapskates who want iTunes and the Music Store and it needs a display in the next revision. Nobody really cares about FM, otherwise they wouldn't tote their own music around.
Sorry you've had the zealots lie to you. Most of us believe that Apple offers the best tradeoffs, despite any flaws, real or "perceived." You should try hanging out with less asinine Apple users.