zero cables between the motherboard, GPU, and power supply

[kitekrazy1]

https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/power-wire-less-motherboards-pump-1-500w-over-50-pin-connector-btf3-0-standard-envisions-zero-cables-between-the-motherboard-gpu-and-power-supply?utm_term=0DF43CE8-F433-42DB-AB57-C96579DCD55F&lrh=f20c1a200e7e2d0f94a861f1122ae9feed0d2a20ad468be1fc80eb9f5b4c7001&utm_campaign=2F4928DB-7559-479A-B06E-4801050D48B1&utm_medium=email&utm_content=15025265-2AC4-49E6-931D-77EBDECA6DA4&utm_source=SmartBrief

 

Not wowed by this idea.  Aren't laptop almost like this?

Comments were interesting to read.  

Seems like people forget what still powers the hardware world is something called legacy.  Younger people who build their rigs don't get this.

I guess it appeals to people that like their systems looking like a fish tank.

Cable management is nice but how often do we open our cases?

 

[Amberwolf]

Something like this almost happened with the original ATX way way back when; I don't recall why it went the other way.

 

At some point, to make certain kinds of advances, one has to break legacy-compatibility.  I dislike it even more than the next person 😉 but that's just the way things are.     You can only "hack" so many things onto something else before some kind of major revamp of the system becomes necessary to improve it. 

 

There are good technical reasons to avoid wires whenever possible:  

--radiated noise / RFI.  Shielded wires can help with this, but it increases their cost and complexity.   Changing currents in the supply wires create changing radiated noise, which can be made worse by faulty / insufficient caps on the devices to filter the induced noise from operating the fast-switching high-current devices around the board(s). 

--every connection between any one thing and another is a potential failure point, and every one adds resistance.  Eliminating the cabling eliminates every connection between the wires and their contacts at each end, and the wires themselves, reducing down to just the contacts in the inter-board connectors, and the PCB traces, and the solder connections between those, all of which would exist in either case.  

 

Then there's the cost of making the wiring harness and qc'ing it, and connecting it to the boards.

Then the cost of replacing hardware that is damaged / destroyed by incorrect wiring in the harness itself, or mis-assembled connectors, or user-error. 

 

 

[kitekrazy1]

On 1/4/2025 at 6:21 PM, Amberwolf said:

Something like this almost happened with the original ATX way way back when; I don't recall why it went the other way.

 

At some point, to make certain kinds of advances, one has to break legacy-compatibility.  I dislike it even more than the next person 😉 but that's just the way things are.     You can only "hack" so many things onto something else before some kind of major revamp of the system becomes necessary to improve it. 

 

There are good technical reasons to avoid wires whenever possible:  

--radiated noise / RFI.  Shielded wires can help with this, but it increases their cost and complexity.   Changing currents in the supply wires create changing radiated noise, which can be made worse by faulty / insufficient caps on the devices to filter the induced noise from operating the fast-switching high-current devices around the board(s). 

--every connection between any one thing and another is a potential failure point, and every one adds resistance.  Eliminating the cabling eliminates every connection between the wires and their contacts at each end, and the wires themselves, reducing down to just the contacts in the inter-board connectors, and the PCB traces, and the solder connections between those, all of which would exist in either case.  

 

Then there's the cost of making the wiring harness and qc'ing it, and connecting it to the boards.

Then the cost of replacing hardware that is damaged / destroyed by incorrect wiring in the harness itself, or mis-assembled connectors, or user-error. 

 

 

Just think if something blows it will all go at once.