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How about we move to external only GPUs with huge connectors? If GPUs are half the size, power consumption and price of a PC now, they might as well be a separa
by zaptheimpaler 4y ago
How about we move to external only GPUs with huge connectors? If GPUs are half the size, power consumption and price of a PC now, they might as well be a separate device. As a bonus the rest of the motherboard & PCs actually get much smaller. A PC without any spinning disks could conceivably just be the size of a NUC by default, something you can travel with when you don't need the beefy GPU.
- jvanderbot 4y agoYou can easily buy a NUC ECE (size of a graphics card) and use a pcie cable to connect to an actual card. This is my plan for my next machine.
- pdimitar 4y agoHow would that work? I admit I never even thought of PCIe cables, thought it was always just a physical slot you have to put stuff in.
- nighthawk454 4y agothere are PCIe riser cables that you can imagine as an extension cord for a PCIe slot. they're popular in some thin server chassis or in miniITX builds where the form factor dictates the GPU must be in a certain orientation to fit. there's also the method of external GPUs via Thunderbolt (which carries PCIe) that is more practical for putting a GPU in an entirely separate enclosure
- imtringued 4y agoOk so just plug your computer into the GPU ;)
- pubby 4y agoI wonder how far that connection could be before it stops working. Probably not much!
- jacooper 4y agoHere is an LTT video about how many PCI-E extensions one can daisychain without problems. The limit is around 3 meters. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5xvwPa3r7M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5xvwPa3r7M
- bmicraft 4y agoOne should note that it will works way worse with higher pcie versions of today
- Red_Leaves_Flyy 4y agoAre you referring to pcie 4?
- layer8 4y agoThe RTX 4000 series uses PCIe 5, and the article references PCIe 6.
- bhedgeoser 4y agoA meter of extension adds ~10ns of latency (speed of light).
- spartanatreyu 4y agoThe most expensive part of GPU operation (power-wise) isn't computation, it's actually moving information around. Moving the GPU further away from the CPU and storage is going to lead to worse latency and power requirements. Over the next 10-15 years, we'll probably see CPU+GPU packages become mainstream instead of CPU (with basic integrated graphics) and a separate GPU.
- rodgerd 4y agoGiven that every Mac, AMD-based XBox and Playstation, and a chunk of the Ryzen market are shipping decent unified CPU/GPU combos, I would say that day is mostly here.
- ekianjo 4y ago> Over the next 10-15 years, we'll probably see CPU+GPU packages become mainstream instead of CPU (with basic integrated graphics) and a separate GPU. its already the case with arm socs.
- bradleybuda 4y agoBut home PC users / high end GPU buyers (rightly or wrongly) are fanatical about modularity. The server market will likely (has already?) shifted.
- calessian 4y agoI’m inclined to say that’s more due to integrated gpus not being a good replacement if you need CUDA or play games; If a better combined alternative existed (and not at an outrageous price) I don’t see the majority skipping it die to lack of being modular.
- userbinator 4y agoThe most expensive part of GPU operation (power-wise) isn't computation, it's actually moving information around I doubt that. Compare the GPU temperature (a good proxy for power consumption) when playing a game or doing GPGPU stuff vs playing a video (without GPU acceleration, so it's just acting as a framebuffer). The former involves far more computation, and gets the GPU much hotter.
- chucklenorris 4y agoThe problem with external gpus is that the pcie5x16 slot requires signal integrity chips every 5 inches or so [1]. Even for pcie4 it's bad, many people had blue screens or boot issues when using pcie3 only rated riser cables with a pcie4 video card, even though electrically they have the same connections. So, having a huge cable with x16 lanes of pcie5 on the back of the computer doesn't seem that feasible. Maybe fiber optics could be a thing. [1] https://www.planetanalog.com/signal-integrity-challenges-set-to-explode-in-servers-with-pcie-5-0/ https://www.planetanalog.com/signal-integrity-challenges-set...
- Bluecobra 4y agoFiber optic would have higher latency vs. copper. Not sure how much of a difference that would make on a bus but I would assume the timing is pretty tight.
- bhedgeoser 4y agoI remember linuxtechtips using a meter long wire to connect a 3090 to a computer and it worked flawlessly.
- ChoGGi 4y ago3 metres, not to mention it wasn't a single cable, but a bunch hooked up to each other. Though I believe that was PCIe 3, so 4 might be more picky.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- arvinsim 4y agoIsn't this what the thunderbolt enclosures with GPUs are trying to do?
- bofh23 4y agoI’m pretty sure Thunderbolt only has the equivalent of 4 lanes of PCIe 3.0 while GPU cards tend to be 16 lane.