Features - QOTW: How would you improve the PC?

[crossy]

I was serious though I made a typo I like to have the *choice* of buying the latest and shiniest when I upgrade. It doesn't mean that I will necessarily buy the latest and shiniest but I welcome the option to, or not to. Now if the entire architecture changes every 6 months to make it incompatible with previous motherboard, I'd have a problem, but for just a CPU, it's not such a bad thing.

Oh lord, where do I start...

Okay, so you're doing two revisions every year - and by "revisions" I'm thinking you mean SB,IB,Haswell. Can you image the hassle that'd cause everyone with different "mainstream" SKU's every six months - not good for manufacturers or resellers.

Then there's the small matter of testing - with two rev's a year, what do you think the chances are of another Pentium bug type issue? A lot higher than now I'd suggest. You also can't guarantee board support - so your "Q2 2015" Haswell++ might have the same socket as today's 4770k's but your fancy Asus mobo may have to be replaced anyway. I've been caught in the past like that.

No, for CPU's what I'd really, really, really like to see is AMD get their act together on the high-end space. As far as I can tell they've been reheating "scraps" for too long. i7 definitely needs some real competition - if AMD were able to provide it then I'm pretty sure we'd see some price "realignment" (i.e. cuts) on the Intel gear. At the moment i7 is pretty much unassailable, so it's priced as a "premium" product.

I'm not saying that there's no merit in what you're suggesting, but to me at least the disadvantages overwhelm it.

[DanceswithUnix]

As far as I can tell they've been reheating "scraps" for too long. i7 definitely needs some real competition

Quite the contrary, AMD gave up on their Stars CPU scraps and went split between Bulldozer and the netbook/budget Brazos. The low end has been the more successful of the two, but generally it takes a while for a new architecture to bed in.

Intel has OTOH been reheating the same scraps for a very long time, but they were quite quick scraps to start with so you end up with very quick scraps now. They also use a larger transistor budget on the CPU than AMD do, and there is quite a lot of simple "if you make that bit bigger it will all go faster" in cpu design. I think AMD are simply choosing to put their transistor budget into the graphics part of their chips, and I think they are wrong.

I said before, the PC front panel should be on CAN bus. It works on a car bouncing down the road at 70mph, it should be robust enough for a stationary PC. A single 2 pin connector on the motherboard can now talk to as many buttons and LEDs as you want on the front of the PC. Heck, you could put a touch panel on there if you want as long as it knew a standard command protocol for starting the PC.

[TooNice]

Oh lord, where do I start...

Okay, so you're doing two revisions every year - and by "revisions" I'm thinking you mean SB,IB,Haswell. Can you image the hassle that'd cause everyone with different "mainstream" SKU's every six months - not good for manufacturers or resellers.

Then there's the small matter of testing - with two rev's a year, what do you think the chances are of another Pentium bug type issue? A lot higher than now I'd suggest. You also can't guarantee board support - so your "Q2 2015" Haswell++ might have the same socket as today's 4770k's but your fancy Asus mobo may have to be replaced anyway. I've been caught in the past like that.

SB/IB/Haswell is, as far as I am concerned, different (micro)architecture, the sorts that may break board support that I said I was against.

Considering that the first SB was released in 01/2011, first IB in 04/2012 (1 year 3 months later) and the first Haskwell in 06/2013 (1 year 2 months later), a rather far cry from "ever 6 months", I am assuming the poster I quoted meant processor when he typed processor. Either that, or I missed some kind of figure of speech here, as I wouldn't round down 15 months down to 6.

Then again, there is nothing that quite fit the 6 months release date either. Sometime processors in the same range, that is, architecture/TDP get a new CPU released after 3 months, and at other time after a year. But those could be more readily rounded to 6 months than the micro-architecture changes.

[mack_5991]

Open software that works great with all hardware available. Better quality components across manufacturers and better customer services from boutique and part seller because everyone should build a pc.

[wolfsSpirit]

I am a bit annoyed about the "newest" tech , while they recently released the dual processor graphic cards , i know for fact they already working and experimenting with dual/quad core multithreading GPU's since the release of the first dual/quad core CPU.
This is a typical " lets see how much money we can drag in before we release anything new"
Get those quadcore GPU's for the public already online!!
This happens with Sata also .. while we know sata5 is already there.. consumers are still stuck with old tech.
Sometimes it realy gets to me , they won't replace the cow untill it won't give milk anymore attitude.

Furthermore i would love to see a stripped Light version of windows.. and add optional program installation as an option on the DVD.
Windows light is way faster as they only load the drivers and programs it realy needs to , an option to install programs later whenever you need it , is the best option.
As for now , more as half of the programs installed with windows are not used , waste of processor power and memory , it makes windows slow and you are more likely to get errors and BSOD's.

The newest haswell processors have HD4600 integrated GPU , and i am still wondering why the hell they add a 4600 with a new processor while they should add a 6500 or 7 series.(yeah yeah its all about money and graphic card vendors won't sell if it's integrated blah blah)

And as last :-)
Virtu MVP has the ability to co-operate with your excisting dedicated GPU when there's an integrated GPU installed , releaving the stress of your main GPU.
I am sure if they put some more effort in it they could probly make this program work with different dedicated GPU's .. meaning you might not have to buy simular GPU's for a SLI anymore , but could place any GPU in SLI to work together

[Tropi]

I want plug-in, external CPUS, GPUs and RAM for better future proofing.
I want desktops to be much smaller, cooler and quieter. Faster, not so much.
I want a laptop with decent 10" screen and keyboard, capable of smooth HiDef video, with 1-2TB onboard storage and excellent connectivity, to facilitate add-on keyboard, mouse, extra storage and 1st class monitor IF/WHEN desired.