I think I can live with that. I like building my own PCs, but choosing a motherboard is perhaps my least favorite part of the process. There are just too many choices out there, and the number of variables to consider is downright unholy. I might welcome anything that helps me cut down the list of options more quickly, including being able to toss out every model that doesn't have a CPU I'm interested in.
Alternatively, if there's serious demand for it I'm sure the market will come up with a solution. Motherboards with BGA-compatible sockets, perhaps. Or PGA sockets designed to accept adapters you can solder a BGA CPU into.
MB choice today seems to be rather simple for me: What _socket_ do I care for, plus what kind of slots and ports do I need (memory, pci-e, random ideas about the minimum required numbers of USB ports, whatever).
But for me the socket came always first. I upgraded my CPU quite often and would like to keep that option in the future. In the past there was no need to throw away your board for a faster (clock speed) CPU and it made sense to me that way.
Well, it is already pretty easy to throw out any motherboards that don't correspond to the processor you've chosen. On most PC part picker websites such as ebuyer you can select only motherboards with the correct socket. I don't like what Intel are planning to do as I absolutely love the flexibility of desktop PCs. This move could end them a lot sooner.
> Well, it is already pretty easy to throw out any motherboards that don't correspond to the processor you've chosen.
Not really. You can use it to throw out motherboards that aren't compatible with the category to which your processor belongs. Which is probably a very loose category - "Motherboards which support socket AM3 CPUs", for example. That's just not a very fine filter - probably only vaguely more specific than "Motherboards which were released in the past 48 months."
No its pretty good as a first filter. Lets say I want a i5 or an i7 but I must have a bunch PCI-e slots and 4 e-SATA. You start with a motherboard with the right socket and go from there. Perhaps I can get away with getting the most inexpensive processor right now but I must have these other features. This will probably work out to an inexpensive processor on an expensive motherboard. Right now, you can do that.
In the cheap processor is married to the low-end motherboard and the expensive processor is married to the high end motherboard world you couldn't. To get the higher end features you would have to buy the expensive processor, even if you didn't need it.
Actually, in building my own system, choosing the MB was my favorite part of the building process; always choosing high-quality and board component reliability/longevity over anything else.
I still have a few questions though. What will this mean for aftermarket heatsinks/coolers? I never run with the stock Intel/AMD heatsinks, will these coolers be permanently bolted on just like the processor?
And for motherboards featuring high-end processors, what will this mean for scenarios where the MB fails but the processor is still good. Will we just have to scrap the two altogether?
Alternatively, if there's serious demand for it I'm sure the market will come up with a solution. Motherboards with BGA-compatible sockets, perhaps. Or PGA sockets designed to accept adapters you can solder a BGA CPU into.