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Intel wants to charge 50 bucks to unlock preexisting features on your processor

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captiosus:
http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/18/intel-wants-to-charge-50-to-unlock-stuff-your-cpu-can-already-d/


--- Quote ---An eagle-eyed Engadget reader was surfing the Best Buy shelves when he noticed this $50 card -- and sure enough, Intel websites confirm -- that lets you download software to unlock extra threads and cache on the new Pentium G6951 processor. Hardware.info  got their hands on an early sample of the chip and discovered it's actually a full 1MB of L3 cache that's enabled plus HyperThreading support, which translates to a modest but noticeable upgrade.
--- End quote ---

Intel must really want to shoot themselves in the foot dont they? DLC for games i can understand, but for hardware? go fuck yourself intel.

vuzedome:
If I can unlock my i5 750for hyper threading, why not, but 50 bucks is a little too steep.

Mag-X:
Pffft. If it can be unlocked with software, it won't be long before pirates figure out how to do it for free.

Lupin:
The article lacks details.

I'm assuming that coupon is to be used on complete systems that are sold, not processor only. I also assume that the proc is either quad core with two cores disabled or a dual core with hyperthreading disabled.

Is the system marketed as a dual core or non-hyperthreading enabled dual core?
Is the system priced at dual core range or at non-hyperthreading enabled dual core range?

If it's priced and marketed accordingly, I don't think there's anything wrong. It may or may not become a good deal for the user (depending on the gains from a $50 unlock).

nstgc:

--- Quote from: Mag-X on September 19, 2010, 05:26:35 AM ---Pffft. If it can be unlocked with software, it won't be long before pirates figure out how to do it for free.

--- End quote ---

I was thinking the exact same thing. This isn't Intel's brightest move, but it does make sense. "Can't buy the full version now? No problem! Buy part now and part later." We'll see.

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