Because a GPU has always been interchangeable for as long as I could tell since I've owned a RIVA TNT2. Unlike a motherboard, to my knowledge a GPU has been an add in card, not a motherboard.
It would be nice if my video card would have a socket for the GPU chip itself, and slots for ram modules themselves, so that I could change out my GPU chip and increase the video RAM, without having to replace the entire video card when I want more performance.
Lots of people are wondering if they should get a video card with 2 GB or 1 GB or 4 GB. We are OK with that, just choose the video card that is right.
Unlike VRAM, the RAM we use has different capacities for different usage scenarios. A basic PC may not need more than 2GB but a rig specifically for rendering, etc requires more RAM (8/16/32GB).
I seem to recall a similar issue for video cards. You can currently buy a video card with GDDR5 or DDR3 memory, depending on whether you want faster or slower performance. Even though the RAM is soldered into both video cards, you have the choice of performance when you purchase.
I appreciate the scenario of having different usage scenarios for PCs, you can get a basic PC and you can get a rig specifically required for rendering. But my question would be, how often do you convert one type of rig to the other? How often does a person buy a basic PC and then convert it to a specialty/enthusiast rig after the fact? And even with those converts, they would *still* probably swap out the entire set of mobo/CPU/RAM, because they are totally different levels.
I think it's still a valid point that with an integrated mobo/CPU/RAM soldered together, you could choose a basic PC implementation (and match that with a basic video card), and could choose a rendering rig with matching video card. Just as we accept the tradeoffs at purchase of the video card where the GPU chip and GPU ram is soldered, we also could accept the tradeoff for motherboard if it's stuff were soldered.
If someone buys an enthusiast-level motherboard, they would probably want to match it with similar level of CPU and RAM. It would be odd for someone to buy a bargain/beginner-level motherboard, and then expect them to upgrade to enthusiast level CPU or RAM.
I just think nowdays most people make an initial decision, get similar level components of motherboard/CPU/RAM, and then use the computer for that intended level of performance (e.g., enthusiast). When they want to upgrade, that typically would involve getting all new matching level of mobo/CPU/RAM.
I mean, when I look back, there were times when I later bought a faster CPU to put in my existing motherboard, but that is rare. Almost always, it's not a good value to swap out the CPU, because you typically want a new motherboard that uses a new socket to get enough of a boost in performance to justify the expense. If you just swap out the CPU, usually the increase in performance is not worth the cost. When was the last time you did such an upgrade?
Also, the combo/soldered mobo price would probably have a lower price and higher performance than an equivalent socketed version. If you gave me a choice at purchase time, I'd pick the cheaper/faster version knowing it's soldered, because I look at my own choices in the past and realize I don't need to swap the CPU or RAM, because I just haven't behaved that way. I upgrade by replacing the entire mobo/CPU/RAM combo, and I think that's a powerful trend among enthusiasts?
I disagree with the ideology of integrating every component like Apple does. IIRC there was a person who had a burnt USB on his 1 month old MBA.
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Now of course all laptop motherboards have USB ports integrated directly. But what if you have a faulty RAM? Faulty GPU? Remember, all of these components are integrated directly to the motherboard and no way of changing them without changing the motherboard itself. Which is why replacing a laptop motherboard is often more expensive than fixing a desktop.
This is a good example, but also interesting that the very example illustrates the progress of history, how USB ports are already integrated in laptops and motherboards. Same with sound cards. That's the march of progress, history speaking to us.
Do we lament the inability to swap out our on-board LANs, soundcards, and USB ports? Do we enjoy the reduced price we pay, not having to spend extra on those? Even though there is a risk that they may break and need a new motherboard to fix, how often is that?
It seems very rare that a CPU or RAM will just fail, and this could actually argue for soldering them in because I bet the vast majority of failures are due to sockets and user installation errors, which drives up costs for everyone with RMAs etc. If soldered, you remove the user-error factor, bringing down costs.
Also, using USB to illustrate failure risks is not fully analogous, because USB is a very user-intensive thing that is very likely to break due to use. But you don't plug/unplug the CPU and RAM, they are just passive electronics with no user interaction and likelihood to break, unlike a USB port.
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