Quote:
Originally Posted by Ulysses_
A mobo without a chipset would be compatible with all cpu's, so long as they had a chipset inside, wouldn't it. Compatibility would then be decided by the ram.
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Not exactly. It would make it impossible to add a new peripheral bus...
Second it means you are paying for things you might not be using...
It could also mean you may be forced to overload one particular bus just because the CPU doesn't have the available pins for 3 different busses.
It is the problem with SoC since forever. You end up having to replace the entire computer just to add one peripheral.
It is completely reasonable if that is what the design is for. But I prefer being able to upgrade without having to completely replace.
Another problem is manufacturing. All the silicon ingots I've seen are circular (about 2/3 the size of a CD). As I understand it, they are round because of the way the ingot has to be manufactured (slowly pulled from a molten vat), and square ingots just introduce flaws in the results. And flaws prevent the ingot from being used.
The larger the rectangle a unit takes, the fewer units that can be made (and the reduction isn't linear... Think about cutting a cake into squares - you get a LOT more squares with smaller squares, and less wastage) the corners of all units off the cylinder are losses. The smaller the rectangle is, the larger the number of units (and less wasted surface). I think they even try manufacturing different devices (smaller squares fitting in around the rim where possible) that go into different chips when the result is cut up.