Late last month, we relayed a rumour which has been circulating around Intel CPUs and the possibility that they would be soldered directly to the motherboard socket as standard in the future, in the same style as embedded solutions such as smartphones and tabled PCs. Since then other industry groups have responded to the rumours, not least of which AMD who reiterated that they would be working with socket-able AM3 and FM2 solutions for some time to come, implying continued support for the enthusiast even if Intel gave up on this segment.
Well it was fun while it lasted, but this past week Intel popped the speculation bubble and confirmed that they were intending to provide LGA socketed CPUs for the desktop market well past IvyBridge. In a response to MaximumPC the company sought to reassure worried enthusiasts that they weren't leaving them in the lurch and would continue to support the market "for the foreseeable future".
“Intel remains committed to the growing desktop enthusiast and channel markets, and will continue to offer socketed parts in the LGA package for the foreseeable future for our customers and the Enthusiast DIY market [..] However, Intel cannot comment on specific long-term product roadmap plans at this time, but will disclose more details later per our normal communication process.”
- Intel spokesman Daniel Snyder told Maximum PC.
- Intel spokesman Daniel Snyder told Maximum PC.
That 'however' will be of some concern and continued fuel for the fire (or should that be straws to clutch?). As far as the general public is concerned, 'foreseeable future' essentially extends to the Haswell generation, and Intel make no mention of Broadwell CPUs specifically being available; this is pretty much par for the course. Yet on the other hand Intel are well into the planning stages for the generations superseding Broadwell, and LGA being available for Skylake and later would tally with the facts claimed by the initial rumour (if not the later supposition).
So, should enthusiasts still be concerned? In our judgement probably not. Even though you can drive a horse and cart through the statement, Intel would be shooting themselves in the foot were they to contradict the spirit of it any time soon. It may well be that Broadwell is an embed-only part and desktops will be skipping a generation, or that Broadwell will be a feature of LGA 1155 systems into 2016; either way the high-end desktop market will still be catered to with at the very least speed-bumped Haswell or LGA2011-equvalent solutions.
Does Intel's response satisfy you? Let us known in the comments.
Source: MaximumPC
