AnandTech speaks with Intel and ASUS

by Tuan Nguyen on 12/17/2005 3:59 AM EST
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  • Beenthere - Saturday, December 17, 2005 - link

    I don't know where all this "market" is for living room or office PC toys for multi-media, but I haven't seen it and none of my friends are looking for this type of PC hardware.

    This paragraph of the story doesn't make sense to me either:

    "With stability being a concern for most users, we asked ASUS about the rising concerns of power supply compatibility with motherboards and ASUS acknowledged that while there is a problem currently, it believes what's needed is needed is strong stability for power lines from the power supply unit and for motherboard manufacturers to design more flexible power supply requirements. ASUS didn't lay blame on any specific company but are aware there are issues."

    The only people with PSU induced PC "stability" issues that I have heard of were folks using low priced, inferior PSUs. I don't know of any PSU "compatibility" issues with Mobos if you're using a QUALITY (as in ELECTRICAL QUALITY - NOT pretty boxes or LEDs), PSU. I am aware that certain PC companies who think quite highly of their technical skills, have contracted with a 3rd party to produce low cost, questionable quality PSUs that have had compatibility issues with certain Mobos, but this is a cost/design issue you encounter when trying to make cheap PSUs instead of quality PSUs. Most PC enthusiasts can't differential between PSU electrical quality and pretty lights and lotsa fans on a PSU, so they are easy targets for marketeers laughing all the way to the bank.

    You can be certain that with Intel's current and future systems requiring significantly more electrical power than AMD CPUs, that high quality and high power output PSUs will continue to be required along with the BTX form factor for Intel's new, excessively hot products. There was no reason for BTX other than to deal with the excessive power consumption and related heat from Intel's defective design CPUs.
  • Doormat - Sunday, December 18, 2005 - link

    Actually, there is a market. I'm a used-to-be-enthusiast. I used to try and o/c the hell out of my system and tweak for all the performance I could get out of it.

    But then I graduated college and got a real job and a life. I dont have all day to spend tweaking my computer and modding it. I just want a nice small computer (smaller than a shuttle SFF) that would interface with my TV digitally (DVI/HDMI) and provide both internet surfing and other multimedia playback from a PC. From watching podcasts/videocasts like DL.tv to surfing the internet at 61" in HD, its that whole "convergence" thing we've been hearing about for 5 years now. I think 2006 will be it and the box I'll choose for this will be the new intel-based Mac Mini with Front Row.
  • bob661 - Monday, December 19, 2005 - link

    Beenthere is sort of right. The major manufacturers could've taken advantage of the growing HTPC market but failed so as far as I'm concerned there is no market. People have either moved on or figured out how to make a HTPC themselves.

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