Question Computex - new trend to hide cable connections behind mobo. (Paul's Hardware)

[VirtualLarry]

Interesting idea that Asus has, to move GPU power to an additional slot connector.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Asus wants to lock us into their ecosystem by making proprietary connectors that will almost certainly only be on their GPUs? No thanks. Probably figure out a way to have the correct board connector only on their branded PSUs too.

 

[EXCellR8]

I'm all for clean builds but proprietary or semi-proprietary isn't good for the consumer. At the end of the day I just want my custom builds to work, even if there's some cables to look at. But that's just me, someone who isn't even fully accepting of the whole RGB-the-world mentality. I'm much more a fan of well-made and reliable components.

 

[Ranulf]

Why yes, I totally want to put all my gpu power through a motherboard. This makes a lot of sense. Oh, and its being promoted by Asus you say? Even better! Why they have no bad history with gpu's or motherboards! None at all.

If they want to innovate in cases and cable management... wider cases and bring back removable mobo trays.

 

[aigomorla]

I am not a fan of behind or rear plugs.
Cases would need to get wider for routing.

I am also definitely not a fan of motherboard power connectors for video cards.
That would make the price on boards so much more expensive because we would need straight up bus bars built into the PCB, to handle that many amps on high end GPU's.

And more amps = more heat. So i am not a fan of making my board heat up especially when its also made of copper, and it can move the heat in the X axis to somewhere you really do not want the heat to go.

At least thank god they seem to have scrapped the idea and notion of a 12V only PSU supply, and motherboard controlled buck converter for the 3V and 5V stuff.

I really want my boards to be simple.... possibly with some bling like non obnoxious RGB, and functional heatsinks on places where its needed.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

IMO the ATX form factor does need a tune-up but I don't think an open standard like ATX could be made today. Any modifications to the form factor are just going going to make it more proprietary and closed, which is a damn shame.

I'll take the dated interoperability and openness of ATX over whatever prison walled garden the current market will provide.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I'll take the dated interoperability and openness of ATX over whatever prison walled garden the current market will provide.

I've swapped all of the hardware in my Mother-in-laws' OG Antec Alienware case a fair number of times over the last couple of decades. The idea that it won't be a thing anymore. Or even that I'd have to use the same brand parts every time, makes me angry enough to want to liver kick whomever is responsible. It'll just mean more stuff getting chucked in the landfill. Idiocracy great garbage landslide, here we come.

 

[aigomorla]

makes me angry enough to want to liver kick whomever is responsible. It'll just mean more stuff getting chucked in the landfill. Idiocracy great garbage landslide, here we come.

CTO: People are not buying anything because of inflation... recession has hit hard... we need to think of something.
CEO: Great, make people replace everything and make it look like its worth it.
CTO: New ATX format? New PSU? New GPU connector? New Socket Ram... what else can we replace.
CEO: What about the standard ATX CASE.
CTO: Hold my beer... here is what i came up with....


I bet it was something like that...

 

[WelshBloke]

Interesting idea that Asus has, to move GPU power to an additional slot connector.

I actually like the general idea posed there. AIBs used to pull all their power through the socket anyway, that's how they were originally designed.
The problem I see is that if you do it it needs to be an open standard supported by all the industry. New AIBs supporting it will need to be backwards compatible with MBs that do it the old way.
And the biggest problem I see is that video cards in particular are drawing crazy amounts of power and I just see that increasing, routing that amount of power through the MB is going to lead to interesting new points of catastrophic failure!

 

[Ajay]

Honestly though, if building a power slot into the PCIe became a standard, I’d be for it. No stupid cables running out to my GPU. At present, some boards have stuff near where the tab would be. The chains of backward compatibility.

As for connectors *under* the motherboard, no thank you! Need to re-cable something, first remove the motherboard 😡.

 

[gorobei]

we really are getting to the precipice of needing a new form factor to replace ATX.

with ssd we have integration into the motherboard simplifying cables and eliminating/relocating drive bays. but with the heat output of cpu/gpu/pcie5 we are tacking on literal kilograms of heatsink fins. there were ssd minitower heatpipe coolers at computex this year.

i would love to see the motherboard made super narrow and laid out horizontally like the old AT form factor. since sli/xfire is dead let's put the primary gpu pcie slot on the edge of the board at 90deg so the m/b and gpu pcb are parallel. the old shuttle sff cube m/b had the gpu slot at the top of the board above the cpu socket so it is doable. it certainly beats using riser extensions to relocate gpus



as far as the gpu power going thru the board, that was fine in the 386/486 days of passive cooling but not today with nv reticle limit die tdp.

while it does simplify cabling, what we are really talking about is easier(pre thought out) assembly. in the early days of cad/cam there were a bunch of products that fit together in cad but couldnt be assembled because they hadnt thought about the clearances needed to put the parts in as well as the hand/fingers of the person holding the part. robotics and better cad training solved the problem but apple style "right to no repair" dickery is the bigger issue now.

what we need is a form factor that makes the initial assembling of the pc easier, but also allows the easy removal/upgrading of a part(gpu/ssd/cooler/frontpanel wiring/fan/etc). this is a total rework which means a ton of peripheral makers may get left behind so you will never get complete buy in from 90% of the industry.

at worse you could simply cut holes in the m/b and plug in the gpu cable through from the back. this would mean more openings in the case m/b tray but they managed it for cpu cooler backplates.

 

[WilliamM2]

Nothing to get exited about, it will never catch on. Remember BTX?

 

[Hotrod2go]

I think this trend is situation of obsessive compulsiveness in some individuals being potentially exploited by proprietary manufacturing. Realistically, that phenomena is not unique to the DIY PC building market.