News Asus Reportedly Mass Producing Cable-Free GPUs

[Admin]

According to Bilibili content creator Eixa Studio, Asus will reportedly start producing GeForce RTX 4070 GPUs without power connectors this fall.

Asus Reportedly Mass Producing Cable-Free GPUs : Read more

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

I think this is going to fail miserably.

 

[hotaru.hino]

Apparently ASUS hasn't read xkcd.

 

[btmedic04]

that's going to be a hard pass on a proprietary connector for me.

 

[emike09]

I like the idea, particularly if other manufacturers jumped in on the standard, and if there could eventually be enough power delivery to support xx80/90 series. Nice clean look and less cables to get managed properly.

 

[Dr3ams]

And if you thought the 12 pin connector was fun...we can melt your board too.

 

[JTWrenn]

While the idea of doing it on their own is horrible...the idea of the next pcie standard for 16x having a power delivery system that doesn't require a cable sounds great.

 

[tamalero]

I think this is going to fail miserably.

Maybe, but then.. ASUS will now have the NUC market on their hands since Intel left.
So they might leverage this connector for a better cableless dedicated gaming nuc.

 

[WrongRookie]

Even if this doesn't work out, I applaud Asus cause they are the ones that innovate the most.

 

[YSCCC]

It might work better for the ASUS few years ago, but being a proprietary interface, from a brand usually priced higher than others, and the recent AMD melting gate issue.. I doubt any meaningful customer base will pay for that

 

[thestryker]

Generally speaking I like the idea of eliminating the cabling, but this doesn't really seem like a particularly useful idea without it being an industry standard. We have the same issue with the whole cabling on the back of the motherboard thing. This would have been a good time to switch to an ATX12VO setup while they were at it.

 

[ezst036]

There is some logic in what Asus is doing here considering the failure of the melting connectors.

If you have a 2 slot video card, why can't it plug into the 2 slots directly below it? (the second, only for power, but still there it is) It's simple and it does actually make a ton of common sense. If a 3 slot video card, why can't it plug into 3 slots? The fail is the proprietary slot in some regard. The other fail is that most motherboards don't place the PCI-e slots directly next to each other in alignment with the openings on the back of a standard computer case.

What is at issue, perhaps, is the power ceiling. PCI-e can only deliver what, 75w? You would need a ridiculous 7 slots for some of these 600w and up beasts going around these days. And they're talking about more and even more power consumption.

 

[Sleepy_Hollowed]

I'd be more onboard with an external GPU enclosure and just a cable to the board, to be honest.

Considering that GPUs are usually the more replaced part and the issues with the new connector from nvidia, I'd rather it not burn anything but the card.

 

[adamXpeter]

It would be much better with hard cabling to the x1 port. Supporting the card, protecting against twisting of the card PCB, removing the need for a graphic card holder.

 

[russell_john]

Apple has been doing this on their professional products for several years now

However what no one mentions is all this does is move the power cable from the GPU to the Motherboard so you still have a high power 12V connector you have to deal with, it's just in a different location but it's still there

 

[hotaru251]

that's going to be a hard pass on a proprietary connector for me.

this.

trying to sell them after you are doen with em is gonna be awful.

 

[BillyBuerger]

There is some logic in what Asus is doing here considering the failure of the melting connectors.

If you have a 2 slot video card, why can't it plug into the 2 slots directly below it? (the second, only for power, but still there it is) It's simple and it does actually make a ton of common sense. If a 3 slot video card, why can't it plug into 3 slots? The fail is the proprietary slot in some regard. The other fail is that most motherboards don't place the PCI-e slots directly next to each other in alignment with the openings on the back of a standard computer case.

What is at issue, perhaps, is the power ceiling. PCI-e can only deliver what, 75w? You would need a ridiculous 7 slots for some of these 600w and up beasts going around these days. And they're talking about more and even more power consumption.

I was thinking a similar thought. Instead of putting the power slot behind the x16 slot, put it in the almost never used next slot down as almost all GPUs are at least 2 slots thick. But, the issue is getting the power to that slot. Behind the x16 slot puts it close to front edge of the MB so direct access from the still needed power connectors. They could make room for 3x 8-pin connectors or something up there. The next slot down in right in the middle of the board meaning you have to route some thick power traces to that slot and not interfere with the PCIe traces running to the other slots. So it's a cool idea but probably not doable.

 

[Eximo]

Basically forcing people to buy GPU/Motherboard combos. That part might actually work if they go about it with decent pricing.

 

[dtemple]

A proprietary slot is a huge "no" from me. I wouldn't be opposed to owning a motherboard with the extra connection, but unless this was officially certified by PCI-SIG, I'm not going for it on my GPU.

A number of comments here saying "Just add more connectors that go into the other blocked slots below the card" except, there are quite a few motherboards on the market now that completely omit having a slot directly below the primary PCIe slot at all. MSI's Pro Z790-P Wifi comes to mind. This will probably be a growing trend since almost nobody uses the PCIe x1 slot directly beneath the topmost PCIe x16.

What I wish is that more GPU board partners would design their connectors to be at the end of the card rather than on the top facing toward the window or side-panel. Cable management would be so much easier.

 

[Eximo]

With the common blow through design moving the connector to come out the back/bottom of the card has already been experimented with and looks pretty good. Just need more companies to implement it so it becomes common enough for proper cable routing support.

 

[Greg7579]

I don't get all of the negative comments about a proprietary connection of motherboard and GPU with no cables. I'm about to build with the Z790 Hero motherboard and ASUS TUF 4090 GPU. I would love it if the GPU connected to the motherboard like that. What is not to love? That would be awesome and the thought of it makes me drool. That huge ugly cable and all of those power connection problems gone!
Besides, there is no way that it could not be proprietary unless every motherboard maker and NVidia complied with a radically different standard. This is like Corsair coming up with that amazing new iQUE Link system. Who cares if it is proprietary? For 30 years we have all been complaining about there being no standard with connections, controller hubs, fans, etc...

 

[changedcanuck]

This isn't a new concept. 99% of the computers up to the early 2000's didn't need the extra power connectors. Maybe Asus is just improving on the older model for modern technology?

 

[Eximo]

This isn't a new concept. 99% of the computers up to the early 2000's didn't need the extra power connectors. Maybe Asus is just improving on the older model for modern technology?

We also ran whole computers on like 100W throughout much of the 90s. Passively cooled CPUs and GPUs...By the early 2000s most relevant PCI and AGP cards needed at least a 4-pin molex at the time. PCIe popped up in 2003 with consumer power supplies having PCIe 6-pin cables a year or two later. I still have an old Thermaltake that proudly mentions the new 6-pin connector on the box.

As a more modern concept it still isn't new. Apple did it with the last x86 Mac Workstation, but also added a PCIe adapter cable that could plug into the motherboard for non-Apple cards. But that was an extremely proprietary board that was very wide with a lot of empty real estate around the PCIe slots.

 

[Friesiansam]

So I could buy any existing RTX 4070, install it and go or, I could buy s new cableless Asus card for an extra premium price, an expensive new motherboard and, possibly, also need new RAM and, the only benefit is no power cables. My GPU power cables are mostly hidden anyway. Hard to see why I should bother...

 

[hotaru.hino]

I would love it if the GPU connected to the motherboard like that. What is not to love? That would be awesome and the thought of it makes me drool. That huge ugly cable and all of those power connection problems gone!

You still need to connect an auxiliary cable somewhere. 24-pin can't supply enough power. So the only way this will work is to add either a standard PEG power connector or a 12VHPwr on the board somewhere. In addition, If you stick the connector on the back side of the board, this limits what cases can be used with the board.

Besides, there is no way that it could not be proprietary unless every motherboard maker and NVidia complied with a radically different standard. This is like Corsair coming up with that amazing new iQUE Link system. Who cares if it is proprietary? For 30 years we have all been complaining about there being no standard with connections, controller hubs, fans, etc...

The problem with this being an ASUS proprietary solution, even if they open it up, means that only ASUS products will have it. If say I have an ASUS video card with this thing, I need an ASUS motherboard, which I may not want. It's nice the other way around works with anything though. Conversely, I may not want an ASUS video card, so what was the point?

Also the other things you mentioned ultimately connect to the computer using a standardized interface. iQUE, NZXT CAM, etc connect to the computer via USB. ARGB pinouts are standardized (though how to talk to said RGB lights may not be). And fans have used the same pin outs since whenever.