AMD is slashing prices on its chips ! Mainly on dul core processors , but also on low end 64s . Also Nvidia is engineering standerdized sockets for its GPUs... normally designing a board to suit the card's needs is a part of the development process but now with a standerdized socket this will lower cost and development time slightly . Also it would make it interesting.. I doubt they will sell the gpus seperate , but if you ould get your hands on one and a soldering iron... you may have a cheaper new upgrade on your hands.
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2570 also somewhere they mentioned engineering GPU sockets for motherboards... which will make i simpler to get intergrated systems , instead of engineering a whole new northbridge and finding a way to cram in the GPU , nvidia can just make their Nforce 5 or 6 with a socket... and stick in a standard geforce 7200 for cheaper.
Plus with the northbridge and GPU seperate , the GPU can have more power , currant integrated solutions have 2 pixel pipelines and 1 vertrex pipe.... even the lowest end 5200 or geforce mx has 4 pipelines and 2 or 3 vertrex pipes.. making it pretty inferior .
Newegg and a few sites sell at SBPP price... around 145 US , so we can expect 110 US athlon 64 3000s and 150 US 3200s in a few months... time to upgrade... REJOICE!
