4 ms·

It seems odd that they insist on putting the power connectors on the top of the card instead of the back which would avoid a lot of space constraint issues. It

It seems odd that they insist on putting the power connectors on the top of the card instead of the back which would avoid a lot of space constraint issues. It also indicates there might be a market for a specialized 90° connector that can squeeze into tight spaces like that.

strictnein 9y ago
That's not the top of the card, that's actually the side of the card.
- astrodust 9y ago
  When it goes into a server, as in the article, it's on the top.
zeta0134 9y ago
I'm not sure I agree here; a lot of consumer cases that I've worked with are just barely deep enough to house a card of this size. Putting the power connector on the end of the card would add some extra room to make the case slimmer perhaps, but most consumer cases tend to be generously wide, while not having a lot of extra depth. Wires plugging into the end of the card would compete with the hard drive / CD ROM / Media Card Bay, etc etc. I agree with nVidia's choice here, but you also raise a valid point; certain cases and configurations would benefit from the added flexibility of that adapter, so there may well be a market.
- astrodust 9y ago
  It can be a squeeze in some of the Mini-ATX cases, but I've never had a problem with anything bigger. There's always at least four inches to spare.
  - seanp2k2 9y ago
    I had an Antec case (solo or sonata or something like that) where I had to cut into the drive bays with tin snips to fit a 1080ti. Modern cases have more room for GPUs.
- rhinoceraptor 9y ago
  Also, super compact mini ITX cases almost always use a PCI extender to mount the card away from the motherboard.
schlarpc 9y ago
There's at least one on the market: https://www.evga.com/articles/01051/evga-powerlink/ https://www.evga.com/articles/01051/evga-powerlink/
rhinoceraptor 9y ago
Power on the top of the card makes it easier to fit in most cases. When it's on the end of the card, you usually have to connect the power before installing the card. You also get a much nicer cable bend on top since the cables don't have to twist.
wmf 9y ago
I wouldn't be surprised if it's a form of price discrimination to deliberately make consumer GPUs not fit into server cases.
- 21 9y ago
  Most of these boards are made and sold by third parties (MSI, ASUS, Gigabyte, ...).
- dogma1138 9y ago
  Server GPUs come with the exact same connector in the same place and often use the exact same PCB if it's a reference design card.
  - wmf 9y ago
    In all the photos I've seen consumer GPUs have power on top and server GPUs have it on the end.
jdietrich 9y ago
Consumer cases tend to be fairly wide, to accommodate 5½" drive bays and tall CPU coolers. Length tends to be the primary constraint on GPU size in these applications.

strictnein 9y ago

That's not the top of the card, that's actually the side of the card.

astrodust 9y ago
When it goes into a server, as in the article, it's on the top.

zeta0134 9y ago

I'm not sure I agree here; a lot of consumer cases that I've worked with are just barely deep enough to house a card of this size. Putting the power connector on the end of the card would add some extra room to make the case slimmer perhaps, but most consumer cases tend to be generously wide, while not having a lot of extra depth. Wires plugging into the end of the card would compete with the hard drive / CD ROM / Media Card Bay, etc etc. I agree with nVidia's choice here, but you also raise a valid point; certain cases and configurations would benefit from the added flexibility of that adapter, so there may well be a market.

astrodust 9y ago
It can be a squeeze in some of the Mini-ATX cases, but I've never had a problem with anything bigger. There's always at least four inches to spare.
- seanp2k2 9y ago
  I had an Antec case (solo or sonata or something like that) where I had to cut into the drive bays with tin snips to fit a 1080ti. Modern cases have more room for GPUs.
rhinoceraptor 9y ago
Also, super compact mini ITX cases almost always use a PCI extender to mount the card away from the motherboard.

schlarpc 9y ago

There's at least one on the market: https://www.evga.com/articles/01051/evga-powerlink/ https://www.evga.com/articles/01051/evga-powerlink/

rhinoceraptor 9y ago

Power on the top of the card makes it easier to fit in most cases. When it's on the end of the card, you usually have to connect the power before installing the card. You also get a much nicer cable bend on top since the cables don't have to twist.

wmf 9y ago

I wouldn't be surprised if it's a form of price discrimination to deliberately make consumer GPUs not fit into server cases.

21 9y ago
Most of these boards are made and sold by third parties (MSI, ASUS, Gigabyte, ...).
dogma1138 9y ago
Server GPUs come with the exact same connector in the same place and often use the exact same PCB if it's a reference design card.
- wmf 9y ago
  In all the photos I've seen consumer GPUs have power on top and server GPUs have it on the end.

jdietrich 9y ago

Consumer cases tend to be fairly wide, to accommodate 5½" drive bays and tall CPU coolers. Length tends to be the primary constraint on GPU size in these applications.