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Blue|Fusion · Rated XXX

What do you guys think about the upcoming ICH8? I'm already planning on my future upgrade for Core2 Duo, but am getting more and more uncomfortable as I look at Intel's future.

A quick Google search of ICH8 turns up some interesting reads. So far, some positives of Intel's ICH8 southbridge:
- 6 SATA ports instead of 4
- Second EHCI USB controller and up to 10 USB ports instead of 8
- Sporting added technologies for Conroe
- BIOS in NAND flash memory instead of ROM

And the cons:
- No Parallel ATA (PATA) (exception for mobile version)
- No AC'97 support - just Intel's High Definition Codec
- Intel's La Grande (LT) technology

The PATA is a few years premature, IMHO, because most optical drives are still PATA. The lack of AC'97 means I have to get new speakers and headphones that support the HD codec. But the most disturbing of all is Intel's La Grande technology. This is their first implementation of following the Trusted Comuting Group and Trusted Computing Platform Alliance (TCPA) specifications. It supposedly has alot to do with Apple's new stuff on Intel, however this still also works with the upcoming Windows Vista - so Microsoft can literally control what you do. I've heard that some of the hardware TCG stuff is made to prevent operating systems such as Linux, BSD, etc., but don't think it's that far yet...but you never know. I already completely wiped Windows from my computer, so Windows Vista is not a factor, however I am worried of some problems it may have with a so called "untrusted" operating system. I'll be waiting a while to see how well it works with Linux (and drivers come out, etc.), as it is scheduled to be released this July. If there's any problems, I may be switching to AMD... Yikes