Problems with Today's Computer Processors

[vesther]

The following issues have plagued me ever since I started BYOPC'ing in September 2001:

* Processor Price
* Cost Concerns
* R&D Considerations
* Heat due to Speed
* Rapid Advance in Technology, resulting in Surpluses in Processors
* Hardware TCO Concerns
* Motherboard/Socket/Chipset Limitations

This is basically a Poll that I need to take for an English Homework that I currently must execute. I appreciate your participation in this poll.

[nukes]

I think the CPUs are more reasonably priced now than ever. You can get an XP2200+ for under £50, whereas when I first got into computers you were lucky to get a 386SX 8mhz for that price. The total costs have dropped. You can build a complete computer system for under £500, and 10 years ago you would have been laughed off the face of the earth for suggesting it.
The main thing that gets me is the heat. Its fine if you get a decent setup in a cool room, but then it gets noisy with fans etc. I either have to have a freezing room with a cool CPU or a warm room with a hot CPU.

[Gettinbye]

Personally, I'd like to see more flexibility in reguards to motherboards...I don't see why the north&south bridges couldn't be "upgradable" (as well as other chipsets such as usb 2.0 controllers,ect...), allowing motherboards to be upgradable as well (removable/replacable chipsets)...Don't know how practical an idea this is, but I'd love to see it

[nukes]

It isn't very practical. The whole board is designed around a chipset.

[nochay]

I don't have problems with the processors, just get annoyed at the fact all the motherboards have intergrated crap in them. It is not needed. Oh, and blowing capacitors is pretty annoying also

Dane

[usslindstrom]

With new stuff coming out all the time, it makes it painfully expensive to stay current. When the new 64 bit Windows comes out, we'll all have to move to that one, then on to 128, etc. etc. etc.

Good thing the beer prices always stay the same, for the most part anyway.

[PresterJohn]

i can tell you there is really only 1 important issue...Heat due to Speed. all the other choices listed are either unimportant or silly (who's crying about chip surpluses or who is making you spend big $$$ to buy the latest cpu???). i'm still using a p3 to do most of my desktop computing.

the problem is heat & power consumption. w/silicon based technology, the manufacturers are rapidly approaching the limit as to how many transistors they can cram onto a chip because of the heat generated. it will near the point where unless they can use an alternative material such as diamond, they will hit a wall.

[smurffart]

Ditto on the heat issue. Plus all the added noise from stock fans to combat the heat, although that can be taken care of with alternative cooling choices...but then again that is an added cost.

[SeanC]

Yep... The heat issues. If it wasn't for the silicon procesors on stuff we wouldn't have many fans in our computers. We'd have a power supply fan and maybe one front fan to pull air in. They could both be quiet running and you wouldn't hear them.

Sean

[Omardeth]

i would have to disagree with all of those up there in the poll . i don't think any are a real problem . heat isn't really a problem anymore either .

people overdo it with fans in there pc's . thats the cause of the noise issues . they get a pc that runs at 55c and panic . 55c is WAY under the high of the max operating specs (about 85c) of todays pc's .