News Asus Reportedly Mass Producing Cable-Free GPUs

[bigdragon]

I think this is a great design. Power connectors on GPUs need to be rethought and redesigned. I think Asus is onto something here even though their first implementation may not be ideal. Hopefully they're using this as a way to push a new standard when previous discussions failed to lead to consensus.

However, Asus has no QC anymore. I would not want to be in the Asus ecosystem right now. Too many users reporting problems. Even the big streamers are having issues and dropping Asus sponsorships!

 

[colossusrage]

I don't know, I like the idea, however I wouldn't go for it unless ASUS made some kind of guarantee that they'll support the design for at least one if not two more GPU generations.

 

[waltc3]

Sounds like proprietary connectors on GPUs for proprietary motherboards... Oh, joy. Locking customers in seems all the rage. I think I'll have to say "pass" on both... I never knew so many people had so much trouble plugging in power connectors for their GPUs. While I know that these days getting through grammar school is a celebrated accomplishment, still, I don't see this having any legs. But it's good for a slow "news and gossip" day @ TH, I won't argue... Real design changes are universally applied throughout a standard, such as "ATX" or "BTX", etc. Although many have tried through the years, redesigning the wheel, for instance, has never taken off. The original design had staying power...

 

[crimsonfilms]

I think this is a great idea. GPU power has been problematic. First it was location (back or top of the card). Then it required dual 8pin. Now we have firestarter 12v. This is a more elegant solution.


Of course it proprietary. ASUS do not have the power of NVidia or AMD or Intel to push for new standards. If this catches, then it will be a standard (doubt it).

Why is ASUS "forcing" you? You dont have to buy their GPU or mobo and you will know ahead of time if your mobo or GPU is compatible. You guys are not making any sense.

 

[PEnns]

I actually applaud Asus for innovation, thinking outside the box and not following blindly like other companies.

Sure, it's proprietary, but one hopes that down the road a standard would be found and the industry would stop using the ludicrous cables and disastrous connectors.

As to "being forced to buy " a new motherboard...seriously?? Do people so conveniently forget that Intel forces them to do just that every 2-4 years!!!

 

[hotaru251]

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..

you answered your own question...

People like a standard not proprietary :|

 

[hotaru.hino]

I actually applaud Asus for innovation, thinking outside the box and not following blindly like other companies.

So we should applaud Apple for refusing to switch the iPhone to USB-C because it's better to not blindly follow standards that other companies are using?

Maybe we should applaud Dell for their proprietary 24-pin connector that fits in a standard ATX 24-pin connector. That was a great idea.

Sure, it's proprietary, but one hopes that down the road a standard would be found and the industry would stop using the ludicrous cables and disastrous connectors.

This isn't solving anything related to cabling. You still have to plug in extra power to the motherboard to get that extra bit to work. And considering ASUS's solution to this is to put all the connectors on the back of the board, now I have to find a case that has cutouts for those connectors. Which by the way, line up with the mounting holes which eliminates basically every case I can think of from being able to use said motherboard.

As to "being forced to buy " a new motherboard...seriously?? Do people so conveniently forget that Intel forces them to do just that every 2-4 years!!!

It's still a problem.

 

[Greg7579]

you answered your own question...

People like a standard not proprietary :|

Yes, you got me there. I said that wrong. I am about to build with as much Corsair stuff (fans, case, AIO coller, hub, ram, SSDs, etc...) as I can get so it can all be controlled by the iCUE software using only single cables with one hub connected to up to 14 devices (see the new iCUE Link - amazing stuff). Besides, I always build with ASUS Hero motherboards and get ASUS GPUs, so for me, having no power connection to the external part of the GPU would be great even if ASUS only. That is, if it works. NVidia is already redesigning that infamous 16 pin 12VHPWR connector that is causing so much trouble. Side note: I and everyone else was blasting Corsair for not having one of those new 16-pin connectors on their new Shift PSUs. Turns out they were smart. The new Shift PSUs are ATX 3.0 & PCIe 5.0 ready, but there is no 12VHPWR connector on the PSU. They have a 16-pin (12+4) cable that splits to two 8-pin PCIe connectors on the PSU side.
It connects to two They were smart. They knew NVidia was probably going to redesign that connector, so they left it off. Bravo. So yes, any new mode of connectivity is going to have to work well, so there is that. If they get it wrong, instead of just frying the connector on the PSU or GPU or cable, they will fry the motherboard! LOL.

 

[Alvar "Miles" Udell]

This is the kind of thing that's better suited to the server space.

 

[Royce1969]

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.

I agree. I think they should build barebones systems with "pick your GPU and chipset" type systems

 

[3tank]

I think its a step in the right direction amd i think its high time to industry adopt a new standard for all the ridiculous difficult connectors on motherboards. Nothing about it is ergonomic and hassleless to install.

 

[alan.campbell99]

I think moving away from plugging in these extra power cables into GPU cards and using a standardised additional board connector instead is a good idea.
It would be better to eliminate or reduce the need for this in the first place if somehow these higher end GPUs could be engineered to not require this much power.

 

[newtechldtech]

This is a good idea but the GPU connection to the slot should be removable and the standard power plug is on the card but not used. until this becomes a standard. people want to sell their old cards ...

 

[newtechldtech]

You are right-on…its all about forcing people to buy GPU/Motherboard combos and more. Besides ASUS has the financial cloud to do such research for the future to come. I personally see premium proprietary desktop MB designs (or simply put hobbyist builds) to actually include Memory, NVME’s, GPU, CPU and thus affording total and swift plug and play possibilities with 100% compatibility! With the worldwide tech enthusiast market being now less than 0.5%, OEMs very well know that this is not where their money should be! Thus ASUS could grab a major piece of the market all for itself, dispel the many hundreds of the smaller independent product suppliers, and make it possible for the man on the street in building a high-end system with not much ado! This is surely not what the readers here like to see nor hear, but reality bites more often then not!

Actually it is about ASUS being fed up with US motherboard standards that never changes for tens of years. The same Apple was fed up with Intel and AMD in low voltage CPU/GPU performance per watt failures ... the technology exists but the giants want to delay releasing it to the market because the care only about profit and not abut making life easier.

 

[newtechldtech]

I actually applaud Asus for innovation, thinking outside the box and not following blindly like other companies.

Sure, it's proprietary, but one hopes that down the road a standard would be found and the industry would stop using the ludicrous cables and disastrous connectors.

As to "being forced to buy " a new motherboard...seriously?? Do people so conveniently forget that Intel forces them to do just that every 2-4 years!!!

Asus allways "copy" all their ideas are stolen .. this in particular is stolen from APPLE MAC PRO desktops.

 

[Tac 25]

replying to the opening post..

hmm, looks interesting. Two of the three active pc here at home have an Asus gpu installed, so I'm sort of a fan of this company. Looking forward to see what cable-free gpu they are gonna make.

 

[NatalieEGH]

I am my friends that build are own systems tend to be more interested in long term upgrade and enhancement ability. Unless this motherboard has a minimum of 6 PCIe slots, as far as I am concerned it is not worth considering. Adding another proprietary standard just makes the board less upgradable not more.

We do not complain about the cabling near as much as about fewer and fewer expansion slots unless we go with a server class motherboard and processor. I long since lost the ability to close the cover due to cabling. I just use a can of compressed air every few months.

Asus, go back to giving 5 and 6 PCIe slots. Only two need to be x16. Heck for me me one x16 is only running at x8 speeds and the rest X1 is good. I just want for if I need to slot an x16 card other than my GPU.

 

[Ravestein NL]

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.

Cabling isn't eliminated but is a connection placed on the on the back of the motherboard which passes through to the front of the motherboard behind the PCIe 16 connector. So it's entirely possible that this "new" connection could also melt if the GPU isn't slotted in well or the cabling at the back isn't connected well. Also it could go wrong in two places in stead of one if I'm understanding this article right.

 

[PEnns]

Asus allways "copy" all their ideas are stolen .. this in particular is stolen from APPLE MAC PRO desktops.

And your point being....??

So, you're saying no company should even think about using this approach on a non Mac PC otherwise they're "stealing" the idea??

By this measure, all those companies that used a keyboard, they "stole" the idea from IBM or whoever thought of it first?? Great thinking!!

 

[Randi Poling]

Kinda meh about it being ASUS exclusive. Wouldve loved to have seen the companies work together on this. With the MoBos/GPUs, you can have it either way, "cableless" or the usual way.

 

[Sam Bridges]

Cool, but I would never pay a premium for it.

Cheers.

 

[thestryker]

Cabling isn't eliminated but is a connection placed on the on the back of the motherboard which passes through to the front of the motherboard behind the PCIe 16 connector. So it's entirely possible that this "new" connection could also melt if the GPU isn't slotted in well or the cabling at the back isn't connected well. Also it could go wrong in two places in stead of one if I'm understanding this article right.

Words mean multiple things, and in this case I'm referring to the installation of cables rather than the elimination of the physical cables.

There's no way for it to "go wrong in two places" because if your card isn't in the PCIe slot it just doesn't work period. The connector melting problem would also be harder to have happen when plugging it into a motherboard instead of video card because you're not moving it around like you would a video card.

 

[NatalieEGH]

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...

I am sure there are MANY people here that want there system to be PRETTY.

I kind of gave up the battle of cable management years ago when I moved my systems into a 42U server cabinet. All the space I could want. It is not pretty but it is functional.

 

[hotaru.hino]

There's no way for it to "go wrong in two places" because if your card isn't in the PCIe slot it just doesn't work period. The connector melting problem would also be harder to have happen when plugging it into a motherboard instead of video card because you're not moving it around like you would a video card.

The problem isn't simply people moving the video card around, the problem is people not sure if the connector is secured in place, which is independent of how you move the video card around.

You can fudge up a 12VHPwr install on a motherboard just as badly as a video card. And depending on how much clearance there is on the right side of the case, it could make things as bad if not worse depending on what sort of weird angles the cable has to bend to or if the act of moving the panel around with the cable rubbing up against it could wiggle it around.

 

[Skramblr]

Something is fishy here. I understand you can add a power connector to the motherboard to provide power to a card when it is docked. But where does that power come from? Seems like it will require the motherboard to have additional power cables from a power supply to provide additional power to the motherboard, then bigger power planes to deliver that power to the PCIe card slots. The connector really isn't gone, it is just moved to the motherboard. Right? So there's no real benefit.