WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.320 When you think of upgrading a component in your PC, you probably think of something pretty 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 00:00:09.600 --> 00:00:18.240 usual with better performance. But unsurprisingly, companies have long schemed to sell us upgrades 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. 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 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 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 00:00:41.040 --> 00:00:46.640 entailed was the user paying extra money after they bought the PC to unlock certain capabilities 00:00:46.640 --> 00:00:51.040 of the processor. Originally, if you had a system that came with a Pentium installed, 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 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 00:01:00.240 --> 00:01:06.000 enable additional cash on the CPU that was already there, as well as turn on hyperthreading, 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 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 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 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 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, 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 00:01:42.000 --> 00:01:45.520 only $15 more than one of the Pentiums that were supported by the program. 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, 00:01:51.440 --> 00:01:56.960 many of which were laptops with CPUs that were permanently soldered in. Those customers may have 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 00:02:01.840 --> 00:02:08.080 regardless of whatever Intel's intentions were, the program was never very popular, especially 00:02:08.080 --> 00:02:13.920 considering the upgrades were tied to a specific motherboard, making moving an upgraded CPU to 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 00:02:20.480 --> 00:02:26.960 comeback? Intel recently announced a new program called Software-Defined Silicon. And undoubtedly 00:02:26.960 --> 00:02:33.280 fancy your name, then upgrade service. But it's a relatively similar scheme for Xeon processors. 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, 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 00:02:44.880 --> 00:02:49.280 supposed to easily handle significant workload increases, whether it's through running more 00:02:49.280 --> 00:02:55.040 virtual machines or simply adding more processors to a multi-socket board. With machine learning 00:02:55.040 --> 00:03:00.240 becoming more and more important, Intel is touting Xeon's flexibility as AI becomes more complex. 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 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 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. 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 00:03:26.480 --> 00:03:33.600 getting into an entirely new product lineup. Discrete GPUs. And those things cost money. 00:03:34.240 --> 00:03:40.000 Going to this quasi-subscription model for some of their CPUs brings Intel a more consistent 00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:44.240 revenue stream than just the processor sales themselves. Not to mention it's cheaper to 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 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 00:03:57.520 --> 00:04:02.560 software-defined silicon hitting the market. Nor is it clear if this kind of program will 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 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. 00:04:17.600 --> 00:04:20.880 Thanks for watching guys! 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