I have an idea to solve cable management

[gergy008]

So I was thinking

 

Why do motherboards have all the ports on the front, when they could have them on the back where all the cable management holes are?

I reckon this LTT community should design a new standard for motherboard and cases where (Hypothetically), albeit higher BOM cost due to components being placed on both sides of the PCB all the cables originate at the back of the motherboard which is where they we're going to go anyway.

 

This means the 20+4 pin, the CPU 8pin, the SATA ports and USB/front i/o etc. are all on the back on the mobo, so, you know how there's a standard for motherboard cut out, why not have a cut out at the top of the motherboard or in an extended cut out for all the necessary cable connectors in that area.

 

I thought go this while watching that tiny white case that Linus just uploaded today on the LTT channel.

 

What do you think?

[Arty]

Make it Wireless 

#problemSolved

[spwath]

Would require to much room behind mb tray, or right angle connectors

[ttam]

That would cost way to much money for people buying cases and the people making the cases

[Oshino Shinobu]

Hmm. It probably could work, but I wouldn't like it. If cables are done well, they can improve the look of a build. Having the cables completely hidden can make builds look empty. 

 

It would also require a who new standard of cases and such. 

[gergy008]

That would cost way to much money for people buying cases and the people making the cases

 

For making the cases, a huge CPU cut out would be sufficient for most designs.

[Hackzzila]

Interesting Idea

[gergy008]

Would require to much room behind mb tray, or right angle connectors

 

Yes, right angle connectors. Which, if produced more by this design would also make them more popular on traditional cases.

[TheKDub]

One cable to rule them all!

 

Also, that's actually not a bad idea at all, though I'm not sure how it would work for things like GPUs and such.

[gergy008]

One cable to rule them all!

 

Also, that's actually not a bad idea at all, though I'm not sure how it would work for things like GPUs and such.

 

I always wondered why the 24+4 pin didn't include the CPU 8 pin also. Maybe there's a technical or standardising issue.

 

EDIT: It's about time they started adding more power the the PCI-e bus to get rid of that awkward ugly PCI-e power cable.

[TheKDub]

I always wondered why the 24+4 pin didn't include the CPU 8 pin also. Maybe there's a technical or standardising issue.

 

EDIT: It's about time they started adding more power the the PCI-e bus to get rid of that awkward ugly PCI-e power cable.

 

It would be awesome if there was only one cable needed, and like hard drives and shit were powered via the sata connectors from the mobo, and GPU directly from the PCIE slot, and CPU didn't require extra power

 

or maybe find a way to have PCIE power connectors on the bottom of the mobo, and have like 2 8-pins for every full PCIe slot, then just plug it in down there and power goes up to the slot.

 

Also its 20+4 pin not 24+4

[Guest Kloaked]

I trust the engineers know what the hell they're doing when they design these boards.

[gergy008]

I trust the engineers know what the hell they're doing when they design these boards.

 

Same.

 

I just don't trust the companies that refuse to mix up the game a little bit in order to save money in a business kind of way.

It took Intel, to come up with the ATX standard. That was in 1995. These companies won't change anything unless there's a demand for it. The current standard works and the main consumer isn't asking for it which is all they want. And it makes sense, I don't blame them.

[Guest Kloaked]

Same.

 

I just don't trust the companies that refuse to mix up the game a little bit in order to save money in a business kind of way.

It took Intel, to come up with the ATX standard. That was in 1995. These companies won't change anything unless there's a demand for it. The current standard works and the main consumer isn't asking for it which is all they want. And it makes sense, I don't blame them.

 

I don't think there's anything to change though, other than right-angle connectors (those need to be standard, and should have been from the get-go).

 

What needs to change is better air cooling solutions for graphics cards.

[gergy008]

Make it Wireless 

#problemSolved

 

This is possible. I'd love to do it as a proof of concept.

All you would need, is a very well grounded case, a high-bandwidth wireless standard (200 Gigahertz should do the trick, IBM introduced this for Wi-fi in 2005) and with the well grounded case, the signal can't penetrate that far outside of it's own case anyway, There's plenty of bandwidth, it's just a matter of defining a way to use the available bandwidth in order to serve the components. It would need a central hub, like an access point, with clients.

[Arty]

This is possible. I'd love to do it as a proof of concept.

All you would need, is a very well grounded case, a high-bandwidth wireless standard (200 Gigahertz should do the trick, IBM introduced this for Wi-fi in 2005) and with the well grounded case, the signal can't penetrate that far outside of it's own case anyway, There's plenty of bandwidth, it's just a matter of defining a way to use the available bandwidth in order to serve the components. It would need a central hub, like an access point, with clients.

Can't Tell if serious

 

Only Problem i see is power. That would probbly still need to wired.... or maybe not..

[gergy008]

Can't Tell if serious

 

Only Problem i see is power. That would probbly still need to wired.... or maybe not..

 

Magnetic induction It's close enough!

But it would have to draw very little power. Aaaaand you inherently can't have hard drives in the case.

[Arty]

Magnetic induction It's close enough!

But it would have to draw very little power. Aaaaand you inherently can't have hard drives in the case.

SSD for the win

[gnarly0531]

i think it has to do with location of the resource. ie cpu would need to cut across the board to get power if it went through the 24 pin. we already see how many connections run along the board, add some more for power that can be taken out by an external cable it ends up being way more cost efficient to do the cable rather than route all of it on the board. This is only my guess lol. but i do agree with op that would be a cool concept but also agree that the cables can add a lot of aesthetics. 

[MatazaNZ]

The main problem with having the connectors on the rear of the board compared to the front is how the circuitry is laid out. If they were to reverse the connectors to the rear, the circuitry would have to be completely redone around those areas, which inherently will result in higher costs, due to more design work. Stick to a formula that works, and try to get it to a cheaper point, and improving upon it, rather than going a different direction. Reversing the connectors would also result in a new motherboard standard. It would no longer be ATX, mATX and ITX, as it would have a different layout overall

[ADM-Ntek]

intersting idea but it is probably to much trouble for what it is worth.

[Speedyv]

That would effectively make the cases fatter because the graphics card is gonna fit on one side anyway.

[NARAKU_KAT]

Make it Wireless 

#problemSolved

 

You nailed it.

[Trik'Stari]

I'd still prefer to just have a few power cables, and all other cables be fiber optic cables.

 

If every component of my PC could glow simply as a result of its normal operation, I'd be happy.

[NARAKU_KAT]

Where to start...you'd basically biuld most of the PC the other way around because you still need to hold the MB somehow and leave enough space to easily plug every component, airflow would be a mess, leave alone water cooling. 

 

Nope, it could be hard as sh*t, actually, i like how the cables look in there, specially if they are individually sleeved