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by rbanffy 1298 days ago
Indeed it feels like that - Intel makes only one part, sells it at one price and, if you want to enable the dark silicon, you pay Intel for a key and the feature is enabled.

It's better than what they used to do, when they killed parts of the CPU to match the SKUs they needed to sell. At least you can pay Intel to enable things.
2 comments
cesarb 1298 days ago
> when they killed parts of the CPU to match the SKUs they needed to sell

Or that part of the CPU was dead to begin with; every wafer of silicon has some defects, but if these defects hit a part of the chip they can disable, they can avoid wasting a whole chip. Of course, if there's high enough demand for the SKU without that part, and low enough demand for the SKU with that part working, they might kill that part even when it's defect-free.

(Of course, if the part can be enabled "on demand", it means that the disabled part must be working, so they cannot be reusing partially defective chips; it smells like a cash grab.)

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rbanffy 1298 days ago
OTOH, if all I need is a powerful CPU and I have no use for any of the accelerators right now, I can pay a lower price than I would be able to, without Intel needing to make a different part for me.

For Intel, it also helps to fine tune the product lineup by getting more detailed usage information.

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bayindirh 1298 days ago
I'm pretty excited to buy an entry level server for the price of a high end one, and pay the difference again to get the high end server I paid for.

This is the future I was waiting for.

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rbanffy 1298 days ago
> to buy an entry level server for the price of a high end one

You pay base price for a mid-range server. You pay the difference to enable the accelerators, if you need them.

What is the problem with that?

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bayindirh 1298 days ago
> What is the problem with that?

Because, I guess, Intel will charge a premium for these SKUs anyway, because they have unlockable features inside.

So, you'll pay twice for the privilege.

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rbanffy 1297 days ago
Price elasticity will play a role here, but, all things equal, you'll get a slightly better part than the one you'd get with the units permanently disabled.
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