Intel Charging $50 to Unlock Your CPU

J

John_Keck

Limp Gawd
Joined
May 3, 2010
Messages
379
Want to unlock extra threads
and cache on your new Pentium G6941 processor? Well, all you have to do is buy this little scratch-off card! I can't see this ending well for Intel. Thanks to Atl530i for the linkage.

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.
Click to expand...
 
Intel is already having problems competing with AMD on price... this price gouging just gives people another incentive to switch.
 
Well the good news is that it should be easier to crack than a hardware lock...

But making people pay again for something they already bought..no thanks. At least with hardware locks, there's the claim by the manufacturer that it was done because some parts of the chip were broken.
 
So what is this, a microcode update? People will be bricking their CPUs now.
 
This is really pathetic. Intel has the performance crown...but their business practices leave much to be desired.

I'm happy with my Thuban...and I'm sure that others will be happy with AMD too now.
 
I'm imaging very soon we'll be pirating Intel's ass.

"I7_1GHZ_UPGRADE_RAZOR1911.torrent"
 
So it is completely software based? Would using a crack on it not be piracy since you already own the chip?
 
i see this differently, i see it as a smart business move that is ahead of its time

i can see in the near future they will only release a handful of CPU's for each socket, lets say 10 models instead of 30 or whatever they have these days, the number of levels will be limited by voltage binning, cant sell a "model 7" as a model 7 unless it is able to run at the possible unlock speeds at the given physical core's VID, so this means everything gets binned extra carefully

you can buy one and use it as it is, OR, you can pay a little extra to unlock more performance

it will be tiered, so that the different performance levels stack up until you get to the next stock cpu performance level, they wont overlap

this will be marketed as saving you money and allowing you to better find a cpu that suits your performance.

example:

you can buy model 7 for $100. if it works as-is for your use, great! but what if it doesn't? in the past you had to buy a new CPU! making your old purchase obsolete and wasted money! why buy a new car when all it needs is some aftermarket performance accessories to make it even faster without the hassle of the old way of "upgrading the cpu, motherboard and memory" which was costly and unnecessary!

now if six pack joe buys a computer, it works fine, but then Windows 11 comes out or some new game comes out that joe wants to play. he loads it up but its a little slow. he goes to the support page where the software company shows the "minimum requirements" and "recommended requirements". the cpu he bought 6 months ago meets the minimum, but all he has to do is drop by Walmart and pick up an upgrade code to bump his cpu up into the recommended territory

now joes game runs smoother, required no tech knowledge, required no tools and it was as painless as a trip to Walmart. (if you are me thats still pretty friggin painful but to the vast majority of people thats fine)
 
Looks good on paper, but I think the hackers will be having a field day with this.
 
nobody_here said:
i see this differently, i see it as a smart business move that is ahead of its time
Click to expand...

The gimped processor is $99, the one you unlock for another $50 is a $115 one. They're not as kind as you are when it comes to making money, and won't ever be.


Meanwhile, AMD rebadges fully working quads as tri-cores and even a monkey can unlock them with a little luck and the right chipsets..
 
I can see it now.

"Your computer running slow? Click here and enter your credit card number to unlock faster speeds!"

Intel.. or ID Thief..you decide

/exaggeration off
 
This is just another reason why I prefer AMD: they may not have the performance crown but they don't go crazy picking and choosing what features go with which CPUs - AMD is my only choice if I want a CPU that supports ECC RAM, unlocked multipliers for overclocking, and virtualization extensions. Aside from the unlocked multiplier, I can pretty much be assured that every CPU in a generation has the same features.
 
LOCO LAPTOP said:
I'm imaging very soon we'll be pirating Intel's ass.

"I7_1GHZ_UPGRADE_RAZOR1911.torrent"
Click to expand...

And the the comments will be filled with complaints that this fried their CPU, don't download it, its full of trojans....
 
LOCO LAPTOP said:
I'm imaging very soon we'll be pirating Intel's ass.

"I7_1GHZ_UPGRADE_RAZOR1911.torrent"
Click to expand...

Yep, who knew, pretty soon saying something like "Can't I just download another 1Ghz?" won't just be the rantings of someone who doesn't know how processors work. Imagine if the RAM companies get in on it - sell you 4GB of RAM and then charge you another $100 to actually unlock the hardware you already bought, then people who say "I need more RAM? Can I download that?" can be told, "Yeah, you actually can."
 
It appears Activision's Bobby Kotick has some how influenced Intel as well.
 
SockMan! said:
This is just another reason why I prefer AMD: they may not have the performance crown but they don't go crazy picking and choosing what features go with which CPUs - AMD is my only choice if I want a CPU that supports ECC RAM, unlocked multipliers for overclocking, and virtualization extensions. Aside from the unlocked multiplier, I can pretty much be assured that every CPU in a generation has the same features.
Click to expand...

QFT, I did like this most about AMD
 
Could this be a good-deal for gamers in the end though? I mean what's the difference in cost between an icore920 and an icore950?

If you add 50 dollars to an icore 920 and overclock it, I guarantee you it would be faster than an icore 950 locked at stock speeds since the icore 950 is only a bad bit faster. If it turns out the icore 920 + $50 is cheaper than an icore 950, then your getting a faster machine for less money spent when consider whether to unlock an icore 920 or buy a stock icore 950.
 
WBurchnall said:
Could this be a good-deal for gamers in the end though? I mean what's the difference in cost between an icore920 and an icore950?

If you add 50 dollars to an icore 920 and overclock it, I guarantee you it would be faster than an icore 950 locked at stock speeds since the icore 950 is only a bad bit faster. If it turns out the icore 920 + $50 is cheaper than an icore 950, then your getting a faster machine for less money spent when consider whether to unlock an icore 920 or buy a stock icore 950.
Click to expand...
Something like this never benefits the consumer, unless you download the "I7_1GHZ_UPGRADE_RAZOR1911.torrent" to unlock it for free.

This is like the old days of ATI Radeon 9500, which were really locked 9700 PROS. A softmod turned a cheap video card into an expensive one, for free. Now imagine if ATI release "special' drivers which would unlock all those cores and pipes.

How I miss those days. Hey Nvidia 6800 owners, remember how you could unlock those as well?
 
Ashbringer said:
Something like this never benefits the consumer, unless you download the "I7_1GHZ_UPGRADE_RAZOR1911.torrent" to unlock it for free.

This is like the old days of ATI Radeon 9500, which were really locked 9700 PROS. A softmod turned a cheap video card into an expensive one, for free. Now imagine if ATI release "special' drivers which would unlock all those cores and pipes.

How I miss those days. Hey Nvidia 6800 owners, remember how you could unlock those as well?
Click to expand...

Hell yes my 6800gt unlocked to quadro fx something or other. Boosted my 3d renderign performance significantly, and boy did I laugh when all my classmates where spending hours on their powerbook g4s to do what took my pc minutes :) I ended up renting my pc to people to render their stuff on while I build my physical model.
 
SockMan! said:
This is just another reason why I prefer AMD: they may not have the performance crown but they don't go crazy picking and choosing what features go with which CPUs - AMD is my only choice if I want a CPU that supports ECC RAM, unlocked multipliers for overclocking, and virtualization extensions. Aside from the unlocked multiplier, I can pretty much be assured that every CPU in a generation has the same features.
Click to expand...

except that none of those features mean anything to joe six pack....he cant even spell them

if you give him a scratch card he can buy at walmart....well.....he's been buying those for years and can handle it
 
nobody_here said:
except that none of those features mean nothing to joe six pack....he cant even spell them

if you give him a scratch card he can buy at walmart....well.....he's been buying those for years and can handle it
Click to expand...

meant to say doesnt mean anything of course
 
Don't they currently charge 700$ (98x cost over 930 i7) to "unlock" your CPU... Still is kind of silly and I could see funny WGA kind of shenanighans going on.

ktk said:
screw intel
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If I did, then I'd get one huge pay off afterwards. I mean unless we signed pre nuptuals.
 
I guess my question is this:

If you buy the upgrade for the cpu, does it actually unlock it at a hardware level (i.e in the cpu) or is purely a software based unlock?

If you sell the CPU, does it keep the new premium priced speed difference because it was unlocked at a hardware level, or is tied to a software based install?


Cause that would suck if you removed the cpu and upgraded your mobo or reinstalled your OS only to find that the extra speed/features was tied to the OS install or something.
 
Mathemabeat said:
I guess my question is this:

If you buy the upgrade for the cpu, does it actually unlock it at a hardware level (i.e in the cpu) or is purely a software based unlock?

If you sell the CPU, does it keep the new premium priced speed difference because it was unlocked at a hardware level, or is tied to a software based install?


Cause that would suck if you removed the cpu and upgraded your mobo or reinstalled your OS only to find that the extra speed/features was tied to the OS install or something.
Click to expand...


edit: Or possibly this is something thats only going to offered to the big OEMs and be tied to the bios.
 
I still prefer unlocking my CPU with a mechanical pencil.

I remember an electronics fair I went to, the people at the AMD booth were selling CPU's and giving away the pencils with them.

I like the idea of selling a premium product, the "Black Box" versions, the scratch off card with some sort of driver download? Or do you enter the code into your bios? If it is software I bet A) it is easily duplicated and B) it is only a matter of time until it is not compatible with multiple items. Upgrade to the new windows to find that the old unsupported CPU upgrade doesnt work due to a new driver model or something. Or gee, it just doesnt work with games X, Y, and Z.

IMO
 
SockMan! said:
This is just another reason why I prefer AMD: they may not have the performance crown but they don't go crazy picking and choosing what features go with which CPUs - AMD is my only choice if I want a CPU that supports ECC RAM, unlocked multipliers for overclocking, and virtualization extensions. Aside from the unlocked multiplier, I can pretty much be assured that every CPU in a generation has the same features.
Click to expand...

Yeah its not like AMD would do something ridiculous like take a perfectly fine working 4 core processor and sell it as a 3 core processor! Imagine the outrage that would happen is AMD was purposefully crippling quads cores to sell them as triple cores until someone unlocked them.

Oh wait...
 
3 words.

F that shit.

Its straight bush leauge, making paid software unlocks for hardware in order to make more money off something you already own is like what was stated, DLC. AMD adds value to their low end processors because you have a decent chance to unlock a 2 or 3 core into 4, as well as in some cases, unlocking L3 cache. Heres hoping that bulldozer is a complete success.
 
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