Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD)

[fastpathguru]

wbmw, I think you've been looking at the memory controller thing from an engineer's perspective.

From a marketing perspective, building-in obsolecense is a trick used to sell new microprocessors. Intel's FSB ought to do exactly what you're pining for, but the chips and chipsets are in reality much more tightly tied together than need be.

By creating some new quirk that means only new P4's will work with this new chipset that supports DDR2, means that for DDR2, Intel gets to sell you both a new CPU AND a new chipset. I mean really, who's going to let that 1GHz FSB go to waste on a 533MHz FSB P4?

Who is going to upgrade their chipset (i.e. motherboard) and memory, without getting a new processor?

Who is going to upgrade their CPU to a model that supports a new memory type, but stick it in an old system?

Another thing: Intel seems to downright relish in the notion of releasing new platforms, breaking compatibility with not-so-old products, forcing complete overhauls to upgrade, etc.

It's just their way.

fpg