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Forums - PC - Intel wants to charge $50 to unlock stuff your CPU can already do

XeNoStRatoS on 21 September 2010

... And I'm like F*CK YOU! Oh oooh oooooh! (Cited from Ceelo Green)



Life is short... It is all about priorities!

I am a Freerider 4 life, no matter if on a surfboard in the sea, a snowboard or ski in the mountains or the combo with a kite in the plains... Adrenaline's my engine and better than any video game can ever be - Check it out! ^.^b

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NJ5 on 21 September 2010
Zlejedi said:
NJ5 said:
greenmedic88 said:
Zlejedi said:
Squilliam said:
NJ5 said:

It's not the same thing as paid DLC which is already on the disc, since in that case you are paying for the development of the DLC (putting it on the disc or not doesn't increase the costs).

In this case, the real cost is in manufacturing the hardware, which means part of the chip you buy is wasted even though it's working perfectly well.

It just all seems a bit dodgy and cheap from Intel's part, I don't really like it.

They have always disabled parts of chips when they have worked. The difference here is you can pay to unlock them.

This. I wonder if all those people bitching about this realize that for example all the Pentium G and i3 5x0 as well as i5 6x0 cpu are coming from same line and are diffrent only by bins and/or multiplier that was applied to them.

Imho that's very good idea to save people time and effort when upgrading.

This is essentially the core of the "processor upgrade" program. It's nothing new; consumers have been paying more for additional multipliers and additional cache for decades.

Price bracking for CPUs is often the difference between a 20x multiplier and a 22x multiplier; purely an artificial constraint that amounts to a pretty significant difference in price.

But the difference is that an activation upgrade system provides a better option for upgrading CPUs than physically removing a chip, selling it and then buying and installing a new chip. It is a good idea.


Yeah it doesn't sound bad if you put it that way, but I'm still concerned about the loss of privacy. They are very likely using a unique ID on the CPU for authenticating the unlocking process, which means Intel (and trojans, if any program can get the ID out) can invade your privacy by tracking a CPU.

I'm sure police in all countries (and other government-controlled agencies, to "keep us safe") will love to get Intel's help to track down where a computer is no matter how much you format it or what anonymizers you use.

Get me Hollywood on the line, I'm sure they'll love this idea for a script.

Hmm unless you live disconnected from internet they can track you with perfect accuracy anyway.And formating is not gonna help just make it more expensive for them. Hell short of shooting HDD with .45 or shotgun or bathing hdd in proper acid it's very hard to make your information completly gone.

Just because you're connected to the Internet that doesn't mean they can track you. MAC addresses are easy to spoof (many ethernet/WiFi drivers let you set it), all the rest is software.

As for the HDD stuff you're right but that's unrelated to tracking per se.



My Mario Kart Wii friend code: 2707-1866-0957

Zlejedi on 21 September 2010
NJ5 said:
Zlejedi said:
NJ5 said:
greenmedic88 said:
Zlejedi said:
Squilliam said:
NJ5 said:

It's not the same thing as paid DLC which is already on the disc, since in that case you are paying for the development of the DLC (putting it on the disc or not doesn't increase the costs).

In this case, the real cost is in manufacturing the hardware, which means part of the chip you buy is wasted even though it's working perfectly well.

It just all seems a bit dodgy and cheap from Intel's part, I don't really like it.

They have always disabled parts of chips when they have worked. The difference here is you can pay to unlock them.

This. I wonder if all those people bitching about this realize that for example all the Pentium G and i3 5x0 as well as i5 6x0 cpu are coming from same line and are diffrent only by bins and/or multiplier that was applied to them.

Imho that's very good idea to save people time and effort when upgrading.

This is essentially the core of the "processor upgrade" program. It's nothing new; consumers have been paying more for additional multipliers and additional cache for decades.

Price bracking for CPUs is often the difference between a 20x multiplier and a 22x multiplier; purely an artificial constraint that amounts to a pretty significant difference in price.

But the difference is that an activation upgrade system provides a better option for upgrading CPUs than physically removing a chip, selling it and then buying and installing a new chip. It is a good idea.


Yeah it doesn't sound bad if you put it that way, but I'm still concerned about the loss of privacy. They are very likely using a unique ID on the CPU for authenticating the unlocking process, which means Intel (and trojans, if any program can get the ID out) can invade your privacy by tracking a CPU.

I'm sure police in all countries (and other government-controlled agencies, to "keep us safe") will love to get Intel's help to track down where a computer is no matter how much you format it or what anonymizers you use.

Get me Hollywood on the line, I'm sure they'll love this idea for a script.

Hmm unless you live disconnected from internet they can track you with perfect accuracy anyway.And formating is not gonna help just make it more expensive for them. Hell short of shooting HDD with .45 or shotgun or bathing hdd in proper acid it's very hard to make your information completly gone.

Just because you're connected to the Internet that doesn't mean they can track you. MAC addresses are easy to spoof (many ethernet/WiFi drivers let you set it), all the rest is software.

As for the HDD stuff you're right but that's unrelated to tracking per se.

Yes but you are connecting through ISP unless you are on huge public city network. Which means someone knows perfectly well what you did in net.



PROUD MEMBER OF THE PSP RPG FAN CLUB

NJ5 on 21 September 2010
Zlejedi said:
NJ5 said:
Zlejedi said:
NJ5 said:
greenmedic88 said:
Zlejedi said:
Squilliam said:
NJ5 said:

It's not the same thing as paid DLC which is already on the disc, since in that case you are paying for the development of the DLC (putting it on the disc or not doesn't increase the costs).

In this case, the real cost is in manufacturing the hardware, which means part of the chip you buy is wasted even though it's working perfectly well.

It just all seems a bit dodgy and cheap from Intel's part, I don't really like it.

They have always disabled parts of chips when they have worked. The difference here is you can pay to unlock them.

This. I wonder if all those people bitching about this realize that for example all the Pentium G and i3 5x0 as well as i5 6x0 cpu are coming from same line and are diffrent only by bins and/or multiplier that was applied to them.

Imho that's very good idea to save people time and effort when upgrading.

This is essentially the core of the "processor upgrade" program. It's nothing new; consumers have been paying more for additional multipliers and additional cache for decades.

Price bracking for CPUs is often the difference between a 20x multiplier and a 22x multiplier; purely an artificial constraint that amounts to a pretty significant difference in price.

But the difference is that an activation upgrade system provides a better option for upgrading CPUs than physically removing a chip, selling it and then buying and installing a new chip. It is a good idea.


Yeah it doesn't sound bad if you put it that way, but I'm still concerned about the loss of privacy. They are very likely using a unique ID on the CPU for authenticating the unlocking process, which means Intel (and trojans, if any program can get the ID out) can invade your privacy by tracking a CPU.

I'm sure police in all countries (and other government-controlled agencies, to "keep us safe") will love to get Intel's help to track down where a computer is no matter how much you format it or what anonymizers you use.

Get me Hollywood on the line, I'm sure they'll love this idea for a script.

Hmm unless you live disconnected from internet they can track you with perfect accuracy anyway.And formating is not gonna help just make it more expensive for them. Hell short of shooting HDD with .45 or shotgun or bathing hdd in proper acid it's very hard to make your information completly gone.

Just because you're connected to the Internet that doesn't mean they can track you. MAC addresses are easy to spoof (many ethernet/WiFi drivers let you set it), all the rest is software.

As for the HDD stuff you're right but that's unrelated to tracking per se.

Yes but you are connecting through ISP unless you are on huge public city network. Which means someone knows perfectly well what you did in net.


You can connect through open WiFi, open ethernet (more rare but still exists), disposable SIM cards with Internet access, etc... There are tons of ways to be anonymous on the net, an unique ID on your CPU eliminates a few of them. I'm just not very comfortable with knowing that a PC you buy is tagged and identifiable forever.



My Mario Kart Wii friend code: 2707-1866-0957