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Improving Computer Form Factors?

Posted by Cliff on from the going-beyond-ATX dept.

eschasi asks: "Recently we've been seeing some trend towards smaller footprint machines like the new iMac or the tiny PC system shown in this recent article. All these tiny systems have scalability or quality problems for me, and I don't think it has to be that way. But all the solutions I see require discarding much of what we think is standard to desktop/deskside mechanical design for PCs. Apple has been able to do with much more freedom becuase they own the whole process. PC makers, however, don't. The last major improvement to PC motherboard/case design was the ATX design, and that was evolutionary rather than revolutionary. I think that major improvement can still be made in an evolutionary way. I want both worlds: I want a small footprint; I want it in a premium system; I want it to have enough room for a pair of hard drives, a 5.25" external slot, and a 3.5" external slot; and I want it using largely off-the-shelf components, and I don't want to have to re-invent ATX and PCI and ya-da-day to get it!" Do you feel the same way? How would you improve the current crop of PC form factors?

"IMHO large chunks of the problem could be solved by taking advantage of both sides of the motherboard. Put the CPU and most of the misc. chips on one side, put the expansion slots and RAM on the other. The case design would have to change but that's quite doable.

Using both sides of the motherboard does more than reduce footprint by half while returning to full expandability. You also get the benefit of having the RAM sit directly opposite the CPU, reducing trace length problems and permitting RAM bus speed increases. Other timing problems might also be reduced.

I've left aside the rest of my extensive arguements for why this is or isn't a good idea; what I'm interested in is this:

  • Do other people see the same drawbacks with small-footprint systems?
  • What seems to be out there on the drawing board for post-ATX systems?"
Krow's comments: Form factor and cute design is all great and lovely but I want to know what can be done to reduce electrical usage for the average geek's home hosting farm collection. Even small usage reductions add up.

4 of 478 comments (clear)

  1. cPCI Cards by fiori · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'd love not to need to open the case, move all the cables around, and try not to slice my fingers on the case when changing or adding a card. I'd like to see the PCI and AGP internal slots replaced with cPCI cards that slide in on rails from the outside.

    1. Re:cPCI Cards by fobbman · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Why stop at cards? I could also see hard drives and CD-ROM drives going this route as well. For those who have Dell laptops (maybe others do this, too. I'm just mentioning them because I have one) look how they have the hard drive installed. Remove one screw and it slides out of the side, easily replaced or swapped.

      Also, it's been mentioned before but bring back the USB hub in the monitor base. Means I don't have to run long USB cables for my mouse and keyboard. And for that matter, how about speaker outputs and microphone inputs? Heck, IBM for awhile had units that had the CD-ROM drive in the monitor base. Really wouldn't take up that much real estate beneath a CRT that already has a lot of dead space beneath it.

    2. Re:cPCI Cards by seanadams.com · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Then, you could keep the noisy disks in a utility room where they belong and the desktop would be a handful of small quiet cubes

      There are some products out there which let you extend DVI using fiber optics (100 yards) or electronic repeaters (50 yards). Take a look at www.gefen.com. You could put your PC off in the closet and have just a perfectly silent monitor+keyboard in your office.

      The fiber equipment is ridiculously expensive - about $3K, but the electrical repeaters are probably a bit more affordable.

      You can't do this with VGA due to the distortion and ghosting, but it works flawlessly with DVI. Also the spec on DVI is an interesting read - it was actually designed with optical transmission in mind. The data rates are insane, so it's split across four channels (clock + 3 colors, IIRC) - the total data rate for a 1600x1024 display is something like 4Gbps.

  2. Legos are the answer by nsample · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Really. Legos.

    I was given the idea by looking at the original Google server in the basement of the Stanford CS department. Its case is built from Legos (or, maybe Duplos in reality... they're pretty big).

    But why not start with a small form factor for the mobo+busses+limited drivespace. Then, anything you want to add on gets clicked together with another piece. Need two external 5 1/4 bays? Use a 2H piece. Build it as you see fit.

    The real issue at that point is a standard bus architecture to bridge the components, but I think the flexibility potential is immense. Got too many devices? Click in an additional 1H powersupply. Need to move your CDRW between boxes? It's a "snap" (insert "hardy-har-har" here).

    The drawbacks are of course heat and redundancy. Each module whould have to be self contained at the start, but I can even envision a series of holes bridging components as well... like those old hamster tubes worked. Need more flow because you've got a stack of 43 devices? Add an extra fan module somewhere along the path.

    Anyway, it's not here yet, nor will it likely ever be, since it's not mass-marketable (I think). But, it would allow flexibility to grow, a small footprint and size for home users, and massive physical component compatability.

    Legos were always the answer when I was 12, too. Some things never change.