If most of you are like me, you get a little riled up when it comes to purchasing something and then being told you have to pay AGAIN to "access" certain features that are already there. A great example of this is a lot of DLC currently, where the content is already on the disc you've purchased and you have to pay extra money to "unlock" the ability to play it.

It drives me BONKERS.

This however, is another example of what's going on, and it's extremely shady.

Found at Best Buy, these $50 Intel "Upgrade" cards make your processor run faster. How? By enabling the 1MB of L3 cache and HyperThread support THAT ALREADY EXIST ON THE CHIP!!!!!

http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http://nl.hardware.info/reviews/1815/intel-g6951-upgradeable-cpu-review

Basically you buy the card with the unlock code, go to Intel's website to download software, and poof. "Magically" your processor is faster.

In the past this was mostly known as overclocking, but my god this is getting out of hand. I GUARANTEE you that Intel is PURPOSELY hard coding these chips and software to not use the chips to their fullest potential, with the idea being to charge the consumer on the backend a second fee to get the best use out of the chip.

GAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do you get just as mad as I do about companies who do this? Do you have any other examples? Let out your frustrations! It's a Monday so let's all be crabby together! LoL

indeed furstrating..

when i buy something id like to be able to use everything of it....not having part of the damn thing locked.....

realy stupid.

Wow. Seriously?

First there's AMD's problems with RAM and their motherboards not utilizing it right and you having to manually configure EACH RAM slot on the board. AMD's reponse "Eh, let the consumer figure it out"..

Now, -this- from INTEL? When I buy a product I expect it to operate at its full potential, at the specs that it's produced at. I should not have to buy a "license agreement" to unlock more performance. FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFffffffffff

It's in a very small test market, in a few stores. It will do poorly, and hopefully they end up passing on the idea.

It's in a very small test market, in a few stores. It will do poorly, and hopefully they end up passing on the idea.

I truly hope you are right PK. I WANT this to do poorly.

The problem is on XBL, so many kiddies WILL buy the DLC, using their parent's money, that the devs will feel it's ok to continue to charge an inflated amount just because they know people will buy it and they will reap the benefits.

*growls at MW2 1200MS Point Map packs*

Who's the drunken hippy that thought about this?

I don't think this is as bad as it sounds. You have to realize that processors are almost always clocked lower than their actual potential. This actually benefits the consumer more than you would think. As the article said, often cpu's are modified to fit the popular or more in demand product. With cache disabled etc. So, if you had the option to buy a PC for a cheaper price you could. Then, as your need for a faster computer went up you could upgrade easily. As the article mentions, it certainly doesn't target enthusiasts. I personally would never buy one, but I could see the potential in some people doing so. If given the option to buy a computer now, and then, say a year from now, upgrade it with a simple insertion of a flash drive would it not be worthwhile? This would be compared to going out and buying an entire new system or taking your current one to someone to upgrade the hardware ( IF the hardware you need is still available ) or a non enthusiast attempting a CPU upgrade. Very hit or miss there. Not to mention laptop potential.

I can see where it seems shady, but the reality of the situation is it is not. Currently, you go out and purchase a cpu at a certain speed. Unless you are an enthusiast you are stuck with that speed until you upgrade. EVEN THOUGH, I and many others could easily get more performance out of that very same cpu. This provides an alternative.

I think what he's referring to is the fact that they're now charging for what was once free, as long as you knew what you were doing. There's tons of software and how to's about over-clocking. The sting of it is now they're locking away that potential until you pay extra for what you've already bought. It would be like buying a $60,000 car..... and then be charged an extra $10,000 to take off a limiter that keeps it below third gear.

I see what you're trying to get at, but that doesn't seem to be the case. It's specifically stated that the chips aren't meant for enthusiasts. Of which none would purchase them anyhow. Plus, the potential that they are locking away is cache and things that cannot be unlocked through normal overclocking methods. I would be willing to bet those chips could be overclocked in the traditional way. As far as selling what's there, it already goes on. If you want an 'unlocked' cpu from intel that will allow a wide range of multipliers for overclocking you have to pay a premium. You can overclock the normal ones just fine but the extreme end of the market goes for the unlocked ones.

The car example is based on the fact that you are paying for those extra gears anyhow. The point with CPUs is you are not. The cpu, if they didn't have this stuff, would be sold as the lower model for the lower price OR the higher model for the higher price. Just without the option to easily go between. The example would be more accurate if you said you bought a 60,000 dollar car for 50,000 and it was kept below third gear unless you paid the extra 10,000. You're expecting the lower performance for the lower price, but if you so desired, you could increase the performance to its full potential.

The example would be more accurate if you said you bought a 60,000 dollar car for 50,000 and it was kept below third gear unless you paid the extra 10,000. You're expecting the lower performance for the lower price, but if you so desired, you could increase the performance to its full potential.

So you're saying that Ace Combat (Xbox 360) game is technically worth over $100, and since we're just paying the regular launch price of most games that we should have to pay a premium to have the extra jets/skins/etc? LoL

So you're saying that Ace Combat (Xbox 360) game is technically worth over $100, and since we're just paying the regular launch price of most games that we should have to pay a premium to have the extra jets/skins/etc? LoL

I believe you just took the entire post I made out of context. I never referred to anything based on gaming. This is soley based on cpu's and used as an example. What works for one product obviously won't work for all of it. But if you wish to use the above as an example, the example would be, you pay 20 dollars for Ace Combat and extra for the jets/skins/etc to reach the full potential of the game OR you pay 60 up front and get everything with it.

With the CPU you are assuming you are paying the same price for it with lower specs as you would for it with higher specs. This isn't the case though.

I believe you just took the entire post I made out of context. I never referred to anything based on gaming. This is soley based on cpu's and used as an example. What works for one product obviously won't work for all of it. But if you wish to use the above as an example, the example would be, you pay 20 dollars for Ace Combat and extra for the jets/skins/etc to reach the full potential of the game OR you pay 60 up front and get everything with it.

With the CPU you are assuming you are paying the same price for it with lower specs as you would for it with higher specs. This isn't the case though.

LoL I know, and I wasn't trying to annoy you with the out of contextness.

Big huggy bunches! I don't necessarily agree with your example and tend to feel it (gaming nowadays) is more along the lines of MY example, but we can agree to disagree. I just feel that the mindset with gaming now (holding back content/charge later) is on its way to bleeding over into other markets.

LoL I know, and I wasn't trying to annoy you with the out of contextness.

Big huggy bunches! I don't necessarily agree with your example and tend to feel it (gaming nowadays) is more along the lines of MY example, but we can agree to disagree. I just feel that the mindset with gaming now (holding back content/charge later) is on its way to bleeding over into other markets.

I can certainly agree with you on the gaming side of things. Most of the DLC crap they pump out is mere extras that could have been there anyhow. The point I was trying to make is with CPUs. They are binned depending on what is popular and what is selling. So, many of the chips you get are capable of the higher performance but are locked out to bring them down to a lower cost bracket. One that people are buying. Games are games. Once the final product is made it's just a matter of copying that product. I guess the only other example I can use is this:

Bioshock 2 released with single player and multiplayer. I would have gladly purchased the single player for 30 bucks with the option to add the multiplayer for 20 more. They aren't cheating me, and I never would have personally bought the multiplayer, but that would have left the options for others to do so. Instead, the wasted time on a multiplayer that sucked, and then charged me 50 bucks with no choice but to take the crappy multiplayer. A release system has the ability to work if done right.

Not to say intel will get it right, but it is worth letting it pan out. They are not selling you a product that has been nerfed at full price. They are selling you a product that has been nerfed for a discount, with an option to upgrade it if you so choose. You could easily buy both at the same time and pay the full price.

Anyhow, we can agree to disagree if you don't see my point. However, I do agree that the direction games are going with DLC, etc. is a bad one. One that has the potential to only get worse with the new ruling on licensing.

One that has the potential to only get worse with the new ruling on licensing.

Whoa there. That's a WHOLE other ballpark that is exceptionally BS. We could go on and on and on about that one too. LoL

And I didn't miss your point. I just like to play devil's advocate sometimes and occasionally rabble rouse.