Anyone else bored with computer hardware right now?

[NFS4]

Just seems as though nothing really INTERESTING is happening anymore these days. Everything seems rather ho-hum. I mean graphics cards are already fast as hell, processor speeds jump every few months or so, but things just don't seem as "frantic" as they were back in the old Athlon vs PIII battles or Voodoo 5 5500 vs GF2 GTS.

 

[bjc112]

Originally posted by: NFS4
Just seems as though nothing really INTERESTING is happening anymore these days. Everything seems rather ho-hum. I mean graphics cards are already fast as hell, processor speeds jump every few months or so, but things just don't seem as "frantic" as they were back in the old Athlon vs PIII battles or Voodoo 5 5500 vs GF2 GTS.

While all of that is true, it is all still very interesting... We have the Opteron and Athlon 64 coming...

DDR-II on the way, Doom 3 coming to push hardware further...

I think the 9800 PRO vs 5900 ultra is just as good of a battle as was the 5500 vs. GTS...



I do know what you mean though...

 

[t0mmyb0y]

I agree, and I think a lack of competition is causing this lull.

Nvidia owns the AMD mobo market.
ATI owns the video card market (budget for sure, high end is debatable)
Intel owns the high end proc market.

 

[dullard]

We are in a lull. For example, Intel has only released two frequency bumps in the last 10 months. It was late August 2002 when the 2.8 GHz P4 came out and now we are approaching mid July and we are at 3.2 GHz. New top chips used to come out every 3 months or so. So yes things have slowed way down. Plus we don't have the constant debates over who is in the lead. When the P4 was right around 2.0 GHz, there were heated battles where the P4 won some benchmarks and the Athlon won others. Therefore there were posts every day listing new benchmarks were we could analyze the results. But for the last year or more there has been nothing to debate. The top P4 blows away the top Athlon in virtually every benchmark. Things were so slow that even Anandtech delayed reviewing the 3200+ Barton for a month just since we all already knew the answer - it is a very slight improvement over the 3000+. There is just nothing to debate.

Heck it used to be fun coming in and seeing the people crying because they disliked the method used by site X since it put processor Y in a good light. Or one site would post overclocked numbers and shows it beats the competition and everyone would be in an uproar. The close battles meant that even a slight tweak here or there will put on processor on top. We'd have all these fantasy posts (such as "my 3400+ Hammer released in 2 years will blow your 1.7 GHz P4 away"). Now that doesn't happen - an overclocked 3.2 GHz doesn't stun anyone when it wins. The magical 3400+ Hammer number is really disappointing especially if it is still based on the same benchmarks that gave the 3200+ Barton its name. All these threads have disappeared. Or even on the same token the Intel with RDRAM vs Intel with SDRAM threads and how it compares to the Athlon with DDR (of course which Intel memory benches you quoted all depended on which processor you perfer). Now with both companies using the same memory - there is that much less to distort in benchmarks, and that much less to discuss here. I think that is why all these G5 threads have taken off - a good and clear yet poorly used benchmark will always spark a fun debate.

Same thing with video cards. With the FX series being delayed month after month, there was nothing available to discuss.

Plus many people have reached the point where even the slowest processors meet their needs (note this doesn't apply to all). That means no reason to spend the time or money for overclocks and then come here to discuss it. No reason to jump into a spirited discussion over which processor is better since they all do what he/she needs.

Finally, that nice little sticky at the top of the GH forum kills any of the really good threads.

 

[PrinceXizor]

Yep, video cards have kind of burned themselves out (nothing to really do unless they REALLY start innovating on personl cinematogrophy applications (not just marketing blither)).

And the AMD vs. Intel fued that started with the Athlon vs. the PIII has pretty much been the same. The new arguments will begin anew when Clawhammer finally "claws" its way to the desktop.

New Tech on the yawn list:

Serial ATA (nice, but not super faster than IDE)
Organic LED's (no fab tech still)
DVD Recorders (pick a standard any standard)
Blue-Ray Tech (in its infancy)

Oh yeah, also...AT hasn't had a whole lot of new tech reviews (and mostly mb's at that). So that could contribute to the "blah" feeling.

P-X

 

[DaveSimmons]

Somewhat, though memory compatibility problems make shopping for an i865 mobo and RAM a little exciting, especially since Asus hasn't validated most of the RAM that newegg sells.

But overall, yes. "designing" a cutting-edge gaming system takes about 3 minutes now: Abit or Asus i865, 2 x 512 DDR400, P4 2.8 - 3.2, ATI 9800 Pro or (if nvidia fanatic) fx5900, Audigy2 or onboard. :: yawn ::

I can see why some people get into ricing their PC, since putting together a normal system is now so cut and dried.

 

[SexyK]

I think the key is we need new "killer apps" that really push the hardware. Back in the day every new change was like night and day, like when we finally got GLQuake and the voodoo's. Now all the games look the same and nothing really pushes the hardware in new ways (Sure, splinter cell runs like crap on most systems, but i still dont see it as a new generation of games). Maybe Doom 3 will start things up again. I hope so.

 

[buleyb]

Agreed, we need a killer-app to come to market. Something that isn't costly, but really burns down a 2-3GHz CPU.

I would like to see AT do some kind of "our experience" articles, with making a HTPC with off the shelf parts (no specialty tivo-ish cards). We need more to do with our hardware than game. I would love to see more case/quiet pc reviews, and LCDs too...


I also wish the hot topics on here got more answers than quesions. all the good "where is this tech" posts in GH never get any decent replies.


Oh well, I guess Moore's law applies to here as well, as every 18 months, my boredom doubles

 

[ElFenix]

i won't be much excited about hardware unless a) something comes out that is so much faster than its predecessors that its almost a sea change (see radeon 9700) or b) someone manages to cram long battery life, speedy processor, and top of the line graphics into a 3 lb notebook. hell, we're still waiting on the mobility 9600.

 

[Jeff7181]

I think what we need is a new hardware category... or a drastic design change to hardware... the Athlon-64 fits into that category... but when it's released, will there be a 64 bit version of Windows?

We need some new technology that's not extremely expensive. Maybe if one of the video card manufactuerers made something like, a dedicated AA and AF processing unit... kinda like a GPU with 2 cores.

Serial ATA isn't anything to get excited about... the Raptor on the other hand is quite nice. Most of the complaints people have about a computer being slow can be remedied with a fast hard drive... but the Raptor still can't keep up with the demands of a 3 Ghz processor and programs that are 2-3 GB in size. Affordable solid state hard drives would definately be an interesting thing.

I think Windows needs some changes made too... Longhorn sounds like a big change, but I don't think it's a significant enough change to increase hardware requirements. I've always though a 3D Windows GUI would be great. That would require a good 3D video card, maybe a new mouse design, more and faster RAM. And a faster hard drive wouldn't hurt either.

I also think Microsoft would do themselves a huge favor if they built another xBox with more PC-like capabilities... maybe make an xBox 2 that's got Windows XP's Media Center Edition that allows you to browse the web, play games online, and run a home entertainment center from it... hell, they could even make xBox 2 that can play regular PC Games.

And those aren't the only things that are lacking... the internet is becoming very boring. I think it would be a good idea for bands and singers to make their music available to download online for a reduced price than if you went to the store and bought it. And software companies as well. I think with broadband, the internet can be more interactive than it is... sell software that's on the internet... in other words... you pay for access to a program on a website... it's never actually installed on your computer.

 

[Smilin]

Yeah - it's kinda stagnant. The only real excitement is in the recent video card wars but that's kinda died down now too. I think the next round of ATI vs Nvidia and Intel vs AMD is going to be a lot more interesting than this last round since we'll have HL2 and Doom3 to benchmark with. Other than that it looks like some pretty uneventful stuff until the PCI components start getting replaced with the next-gen.

Face it: for the time being hardware has outrun software. It's gonna suck like this till the next killer app comes out.

 

[ClueLis]

Originally posted by: SexyK
I think the key is we need new "killer apps" that really push the hardware. Back in the day every new change was like night and day, like when we finally got GLQuake and the voodoo's. Now all the games look the same and nothing really pushes the hardware in new ways (Sure, splinter cell runs like crap on most systems, but i still dont see it as a new generation of games). Maybe Doom 3 will start things up again. I hope so.

The problem is that we're in sort of a dead zone. On one hand, the normal, everyday programs (increasingly including games) don't tax a system enough to justify paying $3000 for a top-of-the line system. On the other hand, operations that would be more stressful are far ahead of us in computing power required.

For something to be a new "killer app," it would have to also apply to the casual user, who is taking up increasing market share and is happy with his/her three-year-old system. That's not easy to find.

 

[Gomce]

my desktop became boring, so I bought laptop - now I read books on it. Toying with computer / computer games since 1989 (spectrum days) ... lost it's mommentum somehow

 

[UlricT]

Originally posted by: Jeff7181
...I think it would be a good idea for bands and singers to make their music available to download online for a reduced price than if you went to the store and bought it. And software companies as well. I think with broadband, the internet can be more interactive than it is... sell software that's on the internet... in other words... you pay for access to a program on a website... it's never actually installed on your computer.

Ummm... Apple IS going to bring their music store to the PCs sometime soon (this fall?), so thats going to be make life a bit more exciting huh?

 

[DaveSimmons]

Originally posted by: Gomce
my desktop became boring, so I bought laptop - now I read books on it. Toying with computer / computer games since 1989 (spectrum days) ... lost it's mommentum somehow

I want a 6x9 tablet PC for that, but priced at $499 not $1999.

A litle booksize tablet for books, the morning paper, AV remote control, roaming music player ...

 

[AtomicDude512]

I agree NFS4, ho-hum kind of year so far.

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: UlricT

Originally posted by: Jeff7181
...I think it would be a good idea for bands and singers to make their music available to download online for a reduced price than if you went to the store and bought it. And software companies as well. I think with broadband, the internet can be more interactive than it is... sell software that's on the internet... in other words... you pay for access to a program on a website... it's never actually installed on your computer.

Ummm... Apple IS going to bring their music store to the PCs sometime soon (this fall?), so thats going to be make life a bit more exciting huh?

Yes I know, but wouldn't it make sense for musicians or record companies to bypass another middleman and just do that themselves?

 

[bjc112]

Face it: for the time being hardware has outrun software. It's gonna suck like this till the next killer app comes out.

So very true...

 

[bjc112]

Face it: for the time being hardware has outrun software. It's gonna suck like this till the next killer app comes out.

So very true...

 

[Schadenfroh]

i am bored also, eventhought the nvidia/ati flamewars are fun to watch and toss gasoline on. we need something radical. the 64bit is interesting if it can get off the ground. i would also like to see some video cards taking advantage of radically differant archetectures, Tile Based rendering, external HWTL units, or SLI or something cool. we are now in a video cycle where hardware is dictated by microsoft

 

[DAPUNISHER]

From the perspective of which product is superior it may be true that things are mostly boring at present, but with the recent drama/soap operas such as ATI's driver optimization/cheat /Nvidia's driver optimizations/cheats and unified driver release debacle, UberTom vs AMDMB war with HardOCP's owner jumping in, and AMD 64bit CPUs starting to arrive there's enough for most techies to keep the stock of popcorn and soda rotated

 

[NFS4]

Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER
From the perspective of which product is superior it may be true that things are mostly boring at present, but with the recent drama/soap operas such as ATI's driver optimization/cheat /Nvidia's driver optimizations/cheats and unified driver release debacle, UberTom vs AMDMB war with HardOCP's owner jumping in, and AMD 64bit CPUs starting to arrive there's enough for most techies to keep the stock of popcorn and soda rotated

Well, that's more Jerry Springer than anything actually "interesting."

 

[Snoop]

Originally posted by: NFS4
Just seems as though nothing really INTERESTING is happening anymore these days. Everything seems rather ho-hum. I mean graphics cards are already fast as hell, processor speeds jump every few months or so, but things just don't seem as "frantic" as they were back in the old Athlon vs PIII battles or Voodoo 5 5500 vs GF2 GTS.

You hit it dead on NFS4. Since I started visiting anandtech back in late 98/ early 99, I cannot remember a time when I had less interest then i have had in the last few months. Hopefully AMD can crank up the competition in the cpu market soon, but unfortunately, I am not holding my breath. I have a feeling Intel may have finally overwhelmed them with their enormous R+D budget. Maybe another company will challenge Intel in the future (BitBoys????), but again, I doubt it.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: Jeff7181 I think it would be a good idea for bands and singers to make their music available to download online for a reduced price than if you went to the store and bought it.

most artists don't own the copyright to their music so they couldn't do that

 

[Megatomic]

I'm so bored with the AMD vs Intel and the NVidia vs ATI scene that I have started looking at Macs. :Q