Sandy Bridge-E CPUs Too Hot For Intel? 244
MrSeb writes "Intel's next consumer CPUs — the Sandy Bridge-E — will ship without a heatsink and fan. These new chips, which will feature up to 15MB of L3 cache and integrated four-channel DDR3 and 32x PCI 3.0 controllers will run very hot — potentially up to 180W TDP. Is Intel unable to cool these extreme chips, or is there another reason for the shift? Curiously, Intel will still offer 'sold separately' own-brand cooling solutions for the new chips — so is this merely Intel trying to cut costs for enthusiasts who don't need a stock cooler — or is this the beginnings of Intel branching out into the cooling business?"
Re:Warranty (Score:4, Interesting)
Again, this is something they could have done already. I'm not sure what kind of refunds they're supposed to deny, though. Lots of people buy boxed CPUs and then use after market coolers (because the boxed HSF sucks). I have a few Intel HSFs lying around because I couldn't get a "bulk" CPU without a cooler; I'd prefer it if Intel stopped bundling a useless heat sink.
Getting into the desktop enthusiast heatsink/fan market right now would be a fairly bizarre move for Intel to make. Even if they used some sort of DRM to force people to use their stuff, I doubt there is a lot of money in it and it'll result in a lot of anger and hate among the people you're trying to sell to. If they're that sure of their own position, they could simply jack up prices for new CPUs.