Now that PCI-E 4.0 exists...

[Sonefiler]

There needs to be a tiny form factor motherboard that has a PCI-E 4.0 4x M.2 expansion slot. Imagine what you could do with that... That's the equivalent of an 8x 3.0 port, or a 16x 2.0 port; you could literally run a graphics card off a 4x M.2 slot.

 

I want to see a STX motherboard with these specifications! Get on it, motherboard manufacturers! (Looking at you, ASRock)

[Alex Atkin UK]

You'd have a hard job fitting a decent GPU die on a M.2 card though.

 

Definitely useful in some cases though.  Like the frustrating situation I have right now where I can't add 10Gig ethernet to my gaming PC because the only spare slot is an M.2.

[Sonefiler]

32 minutes ago, Alex Atkin UK said:

You'd have a hard job fitting a decent GPU die on a M.2 card though.

 

Definitely useful in some cases though.  Like the frustrating situation I have right now where I can't add 10Gig ethernet to my gaming PC because the only spare slot is an M.2.

doesn't even necessarily have to fit onto an M.2 card. With an adapter you could just fit any normal sized GPU 

[manikyath]

3 hours ago, Sonefiler said:

doesn't even necessarily have to fit onto an M.2 card. With an adapter you could just fit any normal sized GPU 

at that point just have a bigger slot on the board again..

 

the benefit of a new generation of pcie is more subtile:

- next generations of processors coming with more bandwidth overall

- updated versions of thunderbolt having higher troughput

- PCIe SSDs eating less lanes for the same bandwidth => more lanes left for other stuff

[Sonefiler]

On 1/19/2019 at 3:57 PM, manikyath said:

at that point just have a bigger slot on the board again..

 

the benefit of a new generation of pcie is more subtile:

- next generations of processors coming with more bandwidth overall

- updated versions of thunderbolt having higher troughput

- PCIe SSDs eating less lanes for the same bandwidth => more lanes left for other stuff

It opens up a massive library of possibilities with the new technology. Just because it's not useful in the way that we're used to doesn't mean it can't be useful. We'll see soon enough

[manikyath]

6 hours ago, Sonefiler said:

It opens up a massive library of possibilities with the new technology. Just because it's not useful in the way that we're used to doesn't mean it can't be useful. We'll see soon enough

that's exactly my point, with that also that OP's suggestion of smaller GPU slots isnt something waiting on PCIe 4.0, but more so something waiting on performance GPU's dropping to the 30 watt range so the cooler can shrink along for the party.

[Sonefiler]

You're right. I'm not thinking big (or small, i guess) enough