The socket system wasn't the most effective. There were times when the socket was the same for two or three different devices, but if you plugged in the incorrect chip, it wouldn't work. If the industry adopts a standardized format and socket structure, then that might work. The problem is this, why only sell the chip for $50-75 when you can sell a whole new motherboard for $150-200? There is a perceived loss of capital between the two, even though selling the chips costs $8-10 to manufacture and the motherboards only cost $15-20. Remember the capitalism mantra, "Don't give away something for free when you can make a buck off of it." I also like the credit card company mantra, "If anything goes wrong, the consumer pays for it, not us." This shows how broken the systems are. But, they are best ones we have tried so far...

Perhapse they should have socketed the X38 to have it replaceable by an X48.

so back to the old days of AT-XT when every chip was socketed...Oh my, what next? Socketed GPU ??? Soundcard?

As far as the mobo manufactures are concerned the new chipset is a 1 for 1 drop in replacement. They dont have to worry about "removing" a X38 chip and replacing it with a X48. The chips fit into the same solder points, all they got to do is fill the machine that places the chips on the mobo with X48 chips. They dont remove a old X38 and replace it with a X48. The problem they have is that there is not enough of a diffrence between the chips to rename it as a whole new part, They want to just append their documentation as "revison2" or sum such thing so they do not have to rewrite the materials, come up with all new ad's, and new marketing material. They would be happy to slap a sticker on the box that states "revision2". Instead of new documents in the box, they would only update the pdf on their website to list the change. It is all about them not wanting to spend the money not a manufacturing isssue.

That would be soooo nice. I mean, imagine the EASE of updating your PC! just swap chips!! That's a nice idea.