I agree, the benefits aren't there today. I think the barrier for now is still chip level integration. It will be feasible once CPU/GPU combos become common and maybe integrate the southbridge and an NIC as well. Then, the PCB complexity should plummet considerably to maybe the levels of what a graphics card has today and manufacturers will be spewing out these designs.
Why do they bother with socketed RAM and CPUs?
- Thread starter Squilliam
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You got yor wish, atleast if you are looking for an low-power PC. This article mentions that AMD`s Ontario will be available as "mainboards including APU", I dont think it meant a simple bundle
Blazkowicz
Legend
I've found out about an awesome deal!, not the best performance/price on earth when you can get a sempron or dual atom instead, but it's the absolute cheapest mobo/CPU combo and for many people, 20 euros is a very meaningful difference.
http://www.ldlc.com/fiche/PB00104497.html
a 1.8Ghz VIA C7 with a slow DX9 IGP that decodes h264 and mpeg4, with a nice 800MHz fsb.
everything-is-soldered-but-the-memory-sticks makes a lot sense here as you may either use ddr2 or ddr3.
I appreciate the legacy I/O as you can use PS/2 mouse/keyb, laser printer and serial IR receiver for next to nothing in term of cost. real bummer is the lack of IDE but you can use a fast HDD or two and can always have external USB to IDE if needed.
PCIe 16x + PCI is the icing on the cake, you can use an old nvidia card + makeshift cooling, or a recent nvidia card, plus an old or recent sound card, or plug two NICs in and make a very powerful firewall using the crypto acceleration hardware.
if AMD Ontario mobos look like this, if possible with the same creative memory slots set up, that's about the perfect mobo as far as I'm concerned.
http://www.ldlc.com/fiche/PB00104497.html
a 1.8Ghz VIA C7 with a slow DX9 IGP that decodes h264 and mpeg4, with a nice 800MHz fsb.
everything-is-soldered-but-the-memory-sticks makes a lot sense here as you may either use ddr2 or ddr3.
I appreciate the legacy I/O as you can use PS/2 mouse/keyb, laser printer and serial IR receiver for next to nothing in term of cost. real bummer is the lack of IDE but you can use a fast HDD or two and can always have external USB to IDE if needed.
PCIe 16x + PCI is the icing on the cake, you can use an old nvidia card + makeshift cooling, or a recent nvidia card, plus an old or recent sound card, or plug two NICs in and make a very powerful firewall using the crypto acceleration hardware.
if AMD Ontario mobos look like this, if possible with the same creative memory slots set up, that's about the perfect mobo as far as I'm concerned.
Trial software decode?
Could be something akin to this as well:
http://aceshardware.freeforums.org/pentium-g6951-upgradeable-intel-cpu-t1048.html
I don't see what you mean...
Blazkowicz
Legend
a quick search tells what it's about : X-Fi is now software. I remember reading about low end X-Fi cards from creative which actually do the same - no X-Fi hardware, but the algorithms such as the famous "crystalizer" and the various spatialisation features can be run on the CPU.
http://www.creative.com/oem/products/software/x-fimb.asp
http://www.creative.com/oem/products/software/x-fimb.asp
The Xi-Fi hardware is on the motherboard but disabled until the user forks over $50 for a key. I guess this has been cleared up by the above post though.
Typically the so-called "X-Fi hardware" is just a standard intel HD audio-compatible CODEC IC. At least that is the case with my ASUS mobo.
All of the X-Fi stuff is merely software, which means you don't pay for just a key to unlock the feature, you pay for the actual feature (and a key to unlock it...
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