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So I saw a comment once which suggested all intel cpu's are the same and they just disable certain features before its sold. So this article would make sense w

So I saw a comment once which suggested all intel cpu's are the same and they just disable certain features before its sold. So this article would make sense when thinking about the above comment, only instead of features being factory fused or disabled, they become a payable option which might be a one time fee or an option which can be switched on for a period of time. From a recycling point of view, it would make sense, people dont have to throw away a computer or shelve it when they want to upgrade, but I cant help but think what about the realisation over time people may come to if this instruction set on/off service/rental/purchase becomes an option? Would that then harm intel or not if it became known that and would that spawn some new hacking interest in microcode or whatever it is that controls the enabling of different instruction sets?

BeetleB 5y ago
> So I saw a comment once which suggested all intel cpu's are the same and they just disable certain features before its sold. Really not true. What happens is that during manufacturing of a particular design, you get a distribution - not all units will have all features working. They analyze the data, and partition the units into segments based on (common) features that do work. Those on the tail end of the distribution (on the positive side) are the most featureful and sold with a premium. And so on from there. If they actually tried to manufacture different CPUs for high and low end features, then each of those would have their own distributions, and they'd waste a lot of units for not meeting the spec. This way they can simplify the production and not waste the units.
- togs 5y ago
  Oh interesting, I didn’t know this. So an i3 is just partially botched i7
  - BeetleB 5y ago
    I believe so. Not saying they may not also do what the GP said, but from what I've heard most of it is my explanation. I think his comment is more applicable to the data center chips they make, and less for the consumer chips.

BeetleB 5y ago

> So I saw a comment once which suggested all intel cpu's are the same and they just disable certain features before its sold. Really not true. What happens is that during manufacturing of a particular design, you get a distribution - not all units will have all features working. They analyze the data, and partition the units into segments based on (common) features that do work. Those on the tail end of the distribution (on the positive side) are the most featureful and sold with a premium. And so on from there. If they actually tried to manufacture different CPUs for high and low end features, then each of those would have their own distributions, and they'd waste a lot of units for not meeting the spec. This way they can simplify the production and not waste the units.

togs 5y ago
Oh interesting, I didn’t know this. So an i3 is just partially botched i7
- BeetleB 5y ago
  I believe so. Not saying they may not also do what the GP said, but from what I've heard most of it is my explanation. I think his comment is more applicable to the data center chips they make, and less for the consumer chips.