Intel unveils $50 CPU upgrade scheme
Somewhat a surprise move by Intel. They now intend to charge customers $50 to uncover the hidden processing power of your processor.
This pilot scheme in a number of retail stores is on PC with the Pentium G6951 processor.
The upgrade would increase the size of the chip’s cache memory and unlock a technology known as hyperthreading. This would allow the computer to be more responsive and help with data-intensive tasks such as video editing as it enables a workload to be spread more dynamically shared across the two processors.
The G6951 processor is a dual core 2.8Ghz chip from Intel’s i3 family that is intended for lower-end desktop machines. This part of the PC market is seen as very competitive and price sensitive.
The G6951 is not available to buy yet but is expected to be used in Gateway’s SX2841-09e desktop machine that will only be available from the Best Buy store. A comparable Gateway machine currently costs $559.99 (£385). Acer is also believed to be taking part in the upgrade scheme.