Hey Guys,
There's obviously a trend toward more compact computing, with the rise in popularity of not only mobile devices like smart phones, tablets and ultrabooks, but also in smaller form factor desktops. One thing that is often sacrificed with smaller form factor desktop computer is a lack of expandability or configurability. Take Mini-ITX for example. It only has 1x PCI-e slot, but there's nothing that can be done about that because we're limited by the sheer size of the expansion card format we use, the smallest of which is half-height PCI. Sure, there's Mini-PCIe, but this is internal only with no external facing IO ports.
One common work-around to this are USB dongles. You can currently get 'thumb drive' format TV tuners, wireless adapters, sound cards, flash storage, and quite a bit more. The main problem here, besides the USB interface, is that the devices sit external to the chassis which is ugly, prone to damage, plus a few additional drawbacks. Most of these dongles are also slightly oversized meaning many can't be used side-by-side.
There's an additional problem all of this causes, which is that because of the limited expandability options on smaller motherboards, motherboard manufacturers are compelled to cram more features onto the motherboard - features that everyone has to pay for but not necessarily need, like wireless adapters, higher quality sound cards, etc.
All this makes me wonder whether the PC industry could adopt a SFP-style expansion standard (think SFP modules for higher end switches). Motherboard's could implement the most common IO needs like USB, display ports and perhaps ethernet, and then leave six or more vacant SFP-style module ports. These could each connect to a dedicated PCI-e 1x bus. The ports could come with dust covers, but would not be "divided" per-say. By not physically dividing the ports, it allows for dual-width and triple-width adapters among other configuration, which is necessary for those modules that need to provide more IO ports or require more bandwidth; sound cards may require more IO port space for example. This format would would work equally well for laptops, as long as they're not impractically thin.
The only issue would be that these modules would have to be at least a couple of inches deep which may initially pose a challenge to board designers.
This would not replace the need for full-size PCI-e slots and there will always be the likes of graphics cards that need to PCB space, power and higher bus speed, besides a few more exceptions, most scenarios could be satisfied by this idea. I would imagine the module format to be a little bit larger than SFP modules. They would also be square in shape as to accommodate as many standard IO sizes as possible.
I'm curious to hear what others think? I really think this work.
There's obviously a trend toward more compact computing, with the rise in popularity of not only mobile devices like smart phones, tablets and ultrabooks, but also in smaller form factor desktops. One thing that is often sacrificed with smaller form factor desktop computer is a lack of expandability or configurability. Take Mini-ITX for example. It only has 1x PCI-e slot, but there's nothing that can be done about that because we're limited by the sheer size of the expansion card format we use, the smallest of which is half-height PCI. Sure, there's Mini-PCIe, but this is internal only with no external facing IO ports.
One common work-around to this are USB dongles. You can currently get 'thumb drive' format TV tuners, wireless adapters, sound cards, flash storage, and quite a bit more. The main problem here, besides the USB interface, is that the devices sit external to the chassis which is ugly, prone to damage, plus a few additional drawbacks. Most of these dongles are also slightly oversized meaning many can't be used side-by-side.
There's an additional problem all of this causes, which is that because of the limited expandability options on smaller motherboards, motherboard manufacturers are compelled to cram more features onto the motherboard - features that everyone has to pay for but not necessarily need, like wireless adapters, higher quality sound cards, etc.
All this makes me wonder whether the PC industry could adopt a SFP-style expansion standard (think SFP modules for higher end switches). Motherboard's could implement the most common IO needs like USB, display ports and perhaps ethernet, and then leave six or more vacant SFP-style module ports. These could each connect to a dedicated PCI-e 1x bus. The ports could come with dust covers, but would not be "divided" per-say. By not physically dividing the ports, it allows for dual-width and triple-width adapters among other configuration, which is necessary for those modules that need to provide more IO ports or require more bandwidth; sound cards may require more IO port space for example. This format would would work equally well for laptops, as long as they're not impractically thin.
The only issue would be that these modules would have to be at least a couple of inches deep which may initially pose a challenge to board designers.
This would not replace the need for full-size PCI-e slots and there will always be the likes of graphics cards that need to PCB space, power and higher bus speed, besides a few more exceptions, most scenarios could be satisfied by this idea. I would imagine the module format to be a little bit larger than SFP modules. They would also be square in shape as to accommodate as many standard IO sizes as possible.
I'm curious to hear what others think? I really think this work.
Facebook
Twitter