The need for the impractical

The video is from the last episode of the 2009 season of BBC's Top Gear and it moves me.  It's not that I'm particularly taken with the Aston Martin V12 Vantage but rather about why it's important.

Although I don't reflect it much in these pages I am at heart an incurable gearhead.  I don't look at the automobile as a mere means of conveyance but rather an expression of the soul. 

We live in a world bent on the disposable.  Nothing we own is designed to be held, cherished or valued beyond its immediate purpose.  Our busy lives cluttered with the trappings of a rudimentary survival leave little room for the seemingly impractical.

I understand the need for the purely practical vehicle but it should hold no higher rank than one that evokes the emotions.  We seem to forget that life is a gift meant to be embraced not suffered.  The soul needs as much nourishment as the body but its frequently denied. 

And we suffer.  Our minds trapped in the narrow constraints of our profession.  Our relationships never fully realized, our dreams never known.  A sad construct reinforced by the demands of the mundane.   We tell ourselves that someday we will be able to live our dreams if we just deny ourselves a little longer.  The focus is on the destination but sadly we find ourselves unfulfilled when we get there.  All the time, all the effort for little more than a brutal survival near our inevitable end. 

Practicality has its place but we need to take advantage of all the journey has to offer.

For me, the sight of an early 70's pony car starts my mind racing.  Perhaps it's in sad shape.  Oxidized paint, a cracked taillight or mismatched wheels, it doesn't matter.   My heart doesn't see an impractical jalopy destined for the crusher,  I see a cry for rebirth.

And given the opportunity, I'd gladly play midwife...

Yes compared to a hybrid, it will probably swallow fuel like a drunkard swills cheap wine, it will require constant attention like a young child and will never meet the measure of practicality.  It doesn't matter.  I'll form a connection that feeds my soul and that's its purpose.  

Anything can get me from point A to point B. 

I want to be conscious of the journey and I want the opportunity to make it to continue on.  That can't happen in a Prius.

X79, the last Intel Enthusiast platform?

Article first published as X79 - The Last Intel Enthusiast Platform? on Technorati.

It started a few months back when a leaked Intel road map suggested that socketed CPU's were on the way out.  With half of the upcoming Haswell processor offerings designated as BGA (surface mounted) assemblies and only a question mark in the "enthusiast" row, it looked as though Intel was moving away from the DIY/enthusiast market.  The cornerstone of which is the ability to mix and match motherboards and CPU's at will. 

Within days, Intel's closest competitor, AMD, announced its undying affection for sockets.  Proclaiming no end in sight in satiating desires for devotees of the free and open CPU socket.  That resulted in an almost instantaneous response from Intel asserting that socketed designs would continue for the "foreseeable future." Which from current roadmaps appears to be at least 2015.

Last week came official word from team Blue that the release of Haswell would be the last Intel branded motherboards to be offered by the company.  Signaling an intention to focus resources on the more lucrative mobile and SOC markets dominated by Nvidia and Apple.

Again speculation swirled that this was the beginning of the end of the desktop market.  Intel was never as big a player selling motherboards to the enthusiast market as the likes of ASUS, Gigabyte and MSI.   Still, their presence was often the foundation for many OEM PC builds and served as a kind of reference design.  If Intel made a board, consumers knew that this was going to be the foundation for all the rest to build on.

With plans to exit the motherboard market that raises the question of the veracity of their commitment to desktops in general.  Chipsets are planned up to at least Haswell (x87) but a look at  the family's  enthusiast offering  shows an a flagship CPU that runs not on a new chipset but rather repurposes the Sandy Bridge-E X79 platform.  You read that right, Intel will likely offer four different Haswell chips as an upgrade option for an aging 2 year old platform. 

Now you can have cutting edge technology hamstrung by features made obsolete by the last  year's bargain bin ultrabook.  Intel's been slow to add features like SATA 6 and USB 3.0 on even its newest chipsets let alone mature examples.  It seems Intel is throwing the enthusiast community a bone without any meat on it. 

That leaves remaining motherboard manufacturers scratching their heads when considering how to position their higher margin "enthusiast class" boards.  Remember that this is Intel's last hurrah in the space and it's unlikely there will be much more than a BIOS update for current X79 offerings. 

How will ASUS or EVGA justify asking upwards of $300 for an X79 motherboard with tacked on features to fill in the obvious gaps?  Let's also not forget that half of the Haswell chips are BGA designs which are conspicuously mainstream.  Forcing third party board makers to support not only their boards but the CPU opens up new and exciting opportunities for them to go broke with warranty claims. 

With mainstream board designs moving away from replaceable sockets and Intel making a half hearted attempt at an enthusiast Haswell product, Intel's sending a message to the DIY market...

It's not our problem anymore but hey! have you seen our new NUC!