Just curious why no Motherboard manufacturer hasnt toyed with the idea of at least making the inside's of a pc run via fiber optics instead of copper I mean they do it for Internet why not the desktop itself . I bet it would make leap and bounds for computer development? Just a thought any ideas why they havnt?
How come there is no Fiber optic Desktops?
- Thread starter Mrcrowley
- Start date
Expensive. Also, most PC components don't run fast enough to need the bandwidth, and there is the latency of the electric-to-photon conversion controllers. Further, it's expensive.
ever try to terminate a fiber cable ? its not like cat 5... unless you're an expert.. dont bother..
Fiber optics have this annoying habit of smoking when you get them hot. Actually, the plastic caseings do, BWE.
My dad designs security systems in real big buildings and they all use fiber optics. He says their a PITA! All you need to know!
Most (if not all) efficiency gained from the optical bus would be lost translating it to and from electrical signals.
inside the computer? motherboard? you mean the printed cables? man, if you could get a fiber optic line that small and flat, good job! by the time fiber optics become mainstream, nanotubes will be incorporated.
zephyrprime
Diamond Member
- Feb 18, 2001
- 7,512
- 2
- 81
There has been research on making printed fiber optic circuit boards. The technologies just not there yet and it costs too much. Conversion is slow but there are some technologies that have direct light production on silicon but they're not ready for prime time.
However, I would like to ask why people are talking about splicing and terminating? That's necessary for long cable runs but in a PC nowadays, most everything is point 2 point and all the cables are premade.
However, I would like to ask why people are talking about splicing and terminating? That's necessary for long cable runs but in a PC nowadays, most everything is point 2 point and all the cables are premade.
MDE
Lifer
- Jul 17, 2003
- 13,199
- 1
- 81
You have to terminate the cable (polish the end) to get the light out of each end, which is a PITA as they said. The entire point of every post in this thread is that fiber optics are a giant pain, especially trying to use them on a PCB, or even as cables because if you kink the cable just a *little* too far, just throw it out and buy a new one.
great commment, very informative!
I think that distance is also an issue, at such short lenghts would the extra speed really be worth it? Lets say I race a guy on foot who is 20x faster than me.....but if we only race 5ft I am only a second or two behind him anyways....Im not sure Im saying this right, its real late for me and stuff. Ill come back later and clarify this if it diddnt come out right
Optical fibers carry information through light impulses (photons) while copper wires use electrical impulses (electrons). Right now almost all silicon based technology works with electrons, not photons. To convert light to electrical impulses you need an optoelectronic light switch. The ones available today operate at a frequency that does not give any advantage in using them in motherboards. The interconection distances in motherboards are too small to take advantage of fiber optics. The new technologies beeing developed are aiming at optical switching for all transistors and circuits. Some nanogate quantum dots transistors are being developed in order to use light inside the circuits and increase the computation speed.
Bottom line, the technology will only be used probably in quantum computers 10 to 20 years from now (unless there is a technological breakthrough)!
Bottom line, the technology will only be used probably in quantum computers 10 to 20 years from now (unless there is a technological breakthrough)!
Rather than tell you how a PITA it is to use fiber, I would like to take your other information and add to it... You mention that you feel the benefit is there because we use it to transfer large amounts of data over long distances... The reason they do that is not so much because of how fast it is, it is fast because it is a cleaner signal and over longer distances does not alter it's integrity as much as copper. Sure it travels at the speed of light, so in essence the transmission takes less time and lets another transmission begin, but because of it's wavelengths more data can move at one time rather than the standard ones and zeros via digital. Exploring the ability to move data via higher and lower wavelengths is increasing the throughput as well.
In a PC, well the idea just doesnt translate as well. You would still have sever bottlenecks like storage media, memory wait times, and processor utilization. Someday they will be, but wasting R&D on them right now isnt exactly the right timing. Besides, maybe some of the manufacturers out there are playing with the idea and just not saying so, I dont know... It would appear to me at any soon to be date, that the results would be cost prohibitive...
gsellis
Diamond Member
- Dec 4, 2003
- 6,061
- 0
- 0
Great first post. Welcome to Anandtech and thanks for answering this so I did not have to type parts of it.Originally posted by: dmcp
Optical fibers carry information through light impulses (photons) while copper wires use electrical impulses (electrons). Right now almost all silicon based technology works with electrons, not photons. To convert light to electrical impulses you need an optoelectronic light switch. The ones available today operate at a frequency that does not give any advantage in using them in motherboards. The interconection distances in motherboards are too small to take advantage of fiber optics. The new technologies beeing developed are aiming at optical switching for all transistors and circuits. Some nanogate quantum dots transistors are being developed in order to use light inside the circuits and increase the computation speed.
Bottom line, the technology will only be used probably in quantum computers 10 to 20 years from now (unless there is a technological breakthrough)!
this should answer the question. we aren't talking about using silicon or converting from light to elecrtonics. we're talking about a system completely driven by light. transistors activated by light. the problem here is not the speed of light or the speed of electrons moving through a conductor, it's the rate at which you can take that energy and make very fast switches (gates) for computation. as stated above, such technology is in the works but by that time, quantum computing will be born (although somewhat infantile).Originally posted by: dmcp
Optical fibers carry information through light impulses (photons) while copper wires use electrical impulses (electrons). Right now almost all silicon based technology works with electrons, not photons. To convert light to electrical impulses you need an optoelectronic light switch. The ones available today operate at a frequency that does not give any advantage in using them in motherboards. The interconection distances in motherboards are too small to take advantage of fiber optics. The new technologies beeing developed are aiming at optical switching for all transistors and circuits. Some nanogate quantum dots transistors are being developed in order to use light inside the circuits and increase the computation speed.
Bottom line, the technology will only be used probably in quantum computers 10 to 20 years from now (unless there is a technological breakthrough)!
hopefully the new era of computing will use a base 10 system rather than base 2. SCREW BINARY. lol
Sort of an aside to this, but I am pretty sure they won't be using fiber optic "cable" as everyone is thinking about it for such devices. Most of the research for these types of uses right now is in using CVD/Laser Deposition types of processes to lay optical "fiber" traces directly onto circuit boards.(I've also seen solution processes where the board is dipped and when you dry it there is an optical component right on the surface...known usually as sol-gel processing) That way you simply assemble the board, mask it off, and lay down the fiber. The big trick is still in the interconnects, but it should be quite a bit faster/cheaper than using fiber itself.
Also, the gas deposition processes being looked into are the process used right now to produce the preform from which fiber optics are produced.(so the technology and cost for the deposition is already there) It's getting to be pretty cool stuff where they can produce multi layer fibers where the inner fiber is square or oval shaped and the cladding no longer "has" to be the organic stuff that burns off.
Also, the gas deposition processes being looked into are the process used right now to produce the preform from which fiber optics are produced.(so the technology and cost for the deposition is already there) It's getting to be pretty cool stuff where they can produce multi layer fibers where the inner fiber is square or oval shaped and the cladding no longer "has" to be the organic stuff that burns off.
TRENDING THREADS
-
Discussion Zen 5 Speculation (EPYC Turin and Strix Point/Granite Ridge - Ryzen 9000)- Started by DisEnchantment
- Replies: 25K
-
Discussion Intel Meteor, Arrow, Lunar & Panther Lakes Discussion Threads
- Started by Tigerick
- Replies: 21K
-
Discussion Intel current and future Lakes & Rapids thread- Started by TheF34RChannel
- Replies: 23K
-
-
Facebook
Twitter