1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,320 When you think of upgrading a component in your PC, you probably think of something pretty 2 00:00:04,320 --> 00:00:09,600 straightforward. Take out the old one, insert the new one, and then just carry on computing as 3 00:00:09,600 --> 00:00:18,240 usual with better performance. But unsurprisingly, companies have long schemed to sell us upgrades 4 00:00:18,240 --> 00:00:24,320 by making us pay again for stuff we already have. Just ask anyone who's ever purchased a Tesla. 5 00:00:24,320 --> 00:00:29,600 But did you know that Intel was actually guilty of this not too long ago? And that they might be 6 00:00:29,760 --> 00:00:35,280 doing it again? Back in 2010, Intel launched a program called Intel Upgrade Service, and it might 7 00:00:35,280 --> 00:00:41,040 sound like they'd send someone out to your house to swap out the CPU, but no. What it actually 8 00:00:41,040 --> 00:00:46,640 entailed was the user paying extra money after they bought the PC to unlock certain capabilities 9 00:00:46,640 --> 00:00:51,040 of the processor. Originally, if you had a system that came with a Pentium installed, 10 00:00:51,040 --> 00:00:55,760 you could pay 50 bucks to buy an upgrade card, which kind of looked like a gift card from a 11 00:00:55,760 --> 00:01:00,240 major electronics store. The card had a pin on it that you'd enter on your PC, which would 12 00:01:00,240 --> 00:01:06,000 enable additional cash on the CPU that was already there, as well as turn on hyperthreading, 13 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:11,440 effectively turning the Pentium into a slightly lower clocked Core i3, with a few other CPUs added 14 00:01:11,440 --> 00:01:17,120 to the program later on. Needless to say, this did not sit well with a lot of tech industry 15 00:01:17,120 --> 00:01:24,080 observers. Some saw it as a blatant money grab. And that isn't surprising because that's kind 16 00:01:24,160 --> 00:01:29,440 of what it is. There's just something about paying more to unlock a product you already physically 17 00:01:29,440 --> 00:01:35,120 have that intuitively doesn't sit well with a lot of people. I mean, a heated seat subscription, 18 00:01:35,120 --> 00:01:40,960 really? Others weren't quite as upset, but pointed out that just buying a Core i3 was 19 00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:45,520 only $15 more than one of the Pentiums that were supported by the program. 20 00:01:46,400 --> 00:01:51,440 But to be fair to Intel, the program was aimed at folks who were buying lower-end PCs, 21 00:01:51,440 --> 00:01:56,960 many of which were laptops with CPUs that were permanently soldered in. Those customers may have 22 00:01:56,960 --> 00:02:01,840 wanted to upgrade later when they could afford it instead of buying a whole new machine. But 23 00:02:01,840 --> 00:02:08,080 regardless of whatever Intel's intentions were, the program was never very popular, especially 24 00:02:08,080 --> 00:02:13,920 considering the upgrades were tied to a specific motherboard, making moving an upgraded CPU to 25 00:02:13,920 --> 00:02:20,480 a new system a pain. And the program was discontinued a year later in 2011. But could it be making a 26 00:02:20,480 --> 00:02:26,960 comeback? Intel recently announced a new program called Software-Defined Silicon. And undoubtedly 27 00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:33,280 fancy your name, then upgrade service. But it's a relatively similar scheme for Xeon processors. 28 00:02:33,280 --> 00:02:37,680 In case you aren't familiar, Xeon is Intel's workstation server and data center CPU line, 29 00:02:37,680 --> 00:02:44,880 and Team Blue really tries to sell the scalability aspect of Xeon. In other words, Xeon CPUs are 30 00:02:44,880 --> 00:02:49,280 supposed to easily handle significant workload increases, whether it's through running more 31 00:02:49,280 --> 00:02:55,040 virtual machines or simply adding more processors to a multi-socket board. With machine learning 32 00:02:55,040 --> 00:03:00,240 becoming more and more important, Intel is touting Xeon's flexibility as AI becomes more complex. 33 00:03:00,880 --> 00:03:07,040 So it would make sense, at least from a business perspective, for Intel to try and sell upgrades 34 00:03:07,040 --> 00:03:12,400 for Xeon that you could just unlock with additional money rather than having to go out and buy more 35 00:03:12,400 --> 00:03:18,560 silicon and send someone down a long hallway and crack open a server and out is just too much work. 36 00:03:19,520 --> 00:03:25,840 But why are they doing it now? Well, Intel is building quite a few new chip fabs and 37 00:03:26,480 --> 00:03:33,600 getting into an entirely new product lineup. Discrete GPUs. And those things cost money. 38 00:03:34,240 --> 00:03:40,000 Going to this quasi-subscription model for some of their CPUs brings Intel a more consistent 39 00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:44,240 revenue stream than just the processor sales themselves. Not to mention it's cheaper to 40 00:03:44,240 --> 00:03:48,960 just make one model of a product and have the buyer pay for a built-in feature later if they 41 00:03:48,960 --> 00:03:57,520 want it. Ah, economy of scale. But it still isn't clear exactly when we might see Xeon's with 42 00:03:57,520 --> 00:04:02,560 software-defined silicon hitting the market. Nor is it clear if this kind of program will 43 00:04:02,560 --> 00:04:08,000 rear its ugly head again in the consumer-oriented CPU market. But with so much of the tech world 44 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:17,520 moving into the by now, pay forever, model, it might not be the most far-fetched thing. 45 00:04:17,600 --> 00:04:20,880 Thanks for watching guys! Like, dislike, check out our other videos, maybe comment 46 00:04:20,880 --> 00:04:24,000 with some video suggestions and don't forget to subscribe and follow.