From what i've seen so far, my current 2600K system will survive yet another round. Its my first Intel system and probably I will be using it the longest compared to my previous high end AMD systems... 🙂 ps: If they think they can feed us marginal performance increases, we will not purchase. Its damn simple as that. I hate it when technological progress is hindered by profit margins due to corporate interest...

I'd say you probably right, though until i see Intel in court for price fixing then I'd rather just look at it as though I've gotten my moneys worth from my 2600k, So why complain. Perhaps this is the best they can currently do, or perhaps they can do better but a different technology is required and as such they are just releasing the best of whats possible with current tech in-order to keep money flowing, so as to fund the new techs progression until its cost effective enough for public consumption/release and the most bugs have been ironed out. Most people jump for joy when something lasts longer than what one would expect, but as usual here are pc enthusiasts complaining about being ripped off because their two year old processor is still going hard. f-n really!!

You do get the feeling companies are holding back sometimes because the future of the global economy is so uncertain, they do not wish to take risks. I didn't have hopes or desires to upgrade, 'cause I doubt I will for another 4-5 years currently, but still am interested in new technology and the developments thereof. The price seems right, but I think there is more oomph and creativity they left on the drawing board.

I think there is more oomph and creativity they left on the drawing board.

That's almost always the case....

You do get the feeling companies are holding back sometimes because the future of the global economy is so uncertain, they do not wish to take risks. I didn't have hopes or desires to upgrade, 'cause I doubt I will for another 4-5 years currently, but still am interested in new technology and the developments thereof. The price seems right, but I think there is more oomph and creativity they left on the drawing board.

I can't agree more. It's very common that you don't go 100% ahead (been there, done that). If you make and sell complete product, you cut the revenue. For example, if you make a huge progress in one year, it's financially good to release only a part of it, as an insurance, so you can release the rest later on to boost the sales. Sometimes people even introduce issues to sell the next model. Another issue is risk related to releasing new technologies - less new stuff = lower risk.

Pricing looks very similar to how the Ivy Bridge CPUs were sold when they came out last year. deltatux