VirtualLarry
No Lifer
There was actually talk some time back about having a specific socket for GPUs. But the industry, especially graphics hardware, moves so fast that it would basically be a pointless endevour, and now that GPUs have gotten so complex, and have so many pins, it wouldn't be cost-effective either. It might have been feasable, back when GPUs had 64-bit busses, but not now, no way. There still might be room for this sort of thing in the mobile arena, allowing laptop users to pop out one GPU chip and upgrade to another. Part of the problem too, is the memory. I'm not sure how many people here are aware, but adding sockets instead of directly soldering the chips on, can add propegation delays to the memory bus lines on the order of more than a nanosecond. When you are talking about ultra-high-speed GDD3 memory that has a cycle time of only 2.2ns in and of itself, forcing it to run at ~4ns because the video RAM is socketed, would not be a wise move.
I actually have wondered, though, about basically building the video-card into the motherboard itself. Considering the power draw, and timing requirements, and cost ratios, that idea is really starting to make sense. These days, main system CPU and RAM, is simply an accessory sub-system and cache for the GPU and video RAM. Maybe it's time for the design of PCs to more closely resemble "disposable" consoles, with fixed video hardware, video RAM, CPU, and system RAM? Except that PCs would have some additional expansion capability, and allow attachment of additional storage devices.
Ironically, that's basically what MS has planned, for the "future of the PC", something akin to the XBox, but with loads of USB, etc., ports for expansion, along with - of course - mandatory DRM controls for media files and playback.
I actually have wondered, though, about basically building the video-card into the motherboard itself. Considering the power draw, and timing requirements, and cost ratios, that idea is really starting to make sense. These days, main system CPU and RAM, is simply an accessory sub-system and cache for the GPU and video RAM. Maybe it's time for the design of PCs to more closely resemble "disposable" consoles, with fixed video hardware, video RAM, CPU, and system RAM? Except that PCs would have some additional expansion capability, and allow attachment of additional storage devices.
Ironically, that's basically what MS has planned, for the "future of the PC", something akin to the XBox, but with loads of USB, etc., ports for expansion, along with - of course - mandatory DRM controls for media files and playback.
