OSNews

Since it is clear I'd like the TRAM farm I mentioned before but probably won't ever get to see, I have long thought an acceptable improvement in motherboards is to redesign it completely differently while ending up with something that really works the same.


I propose to redesign the motherboard as 2 separate boards connected with one wide PCIx N connector, and further lay them back to back. Further the ATX PSU is replaced solely by a much simpler fanless 12V/5V PSU or external brick if less power needed.

About 95% of the heat and power in a PC mobo comes from the processor chip, the VRMs, the DRAMs, the GPU and the ATX PSU losses. Mostly this part of the board is completely OS agnostic, the cpu is either Intel or AMD, with 1-n cores and optional gpu is AMD-ATI, nVidia or Intel. It has so much optional DRAM on it, plus temp sensors etc. This module can be replaced as and when a bump in performance is needed and can be resold. It is also essentially dustless since no airflow is needed to remove heat!

All the hot chips are mounted directly or socketed on the PCB back side and thermally coupled to a common large heat spreading plate with heat pipes. The heat dissipation can be managed in one single shot to this heat plate cooled with 1 fan or not and mounted directly to or through the case siding. The heat plate (Cu most likely) is then coupled to a chosen heat dissipating system, which might be the case side, a large extruded Aluminum heat sink or to something more exotic if the heat is large enough. The density of the heat has already been lowered and spread evenly over the whole area of the processor board.

Since the top side of the board can be nearly flush, the remainder of the system can be on a parallel board connected by a single PCIx n channel slot. The DIMs would also be topside with a heap pipe connecting DIMMs to the hot plate.


The remainder of the system uses very little power but contains a myriad permutations of possible connector features that make OS drivers so much more fun. They would hold all the various ports, USB, FireWire, SATA, Audio, TV, you name it. Power (12V/5V) comes through the bus, and no heat management is likely needed at all. You replace it when you want new ports.

Since the heat is managed directly at the source, the 2 boards cam be much smaller and denser than usual. The interface board needs to be large enough to hold all the I/O ports plus optional PCI connectors. The processor board likely needs to be about 4" per side to handle 100W or more.


Since the ATX PSU is replaced by a much simpler 12V/5V box, any heat production is also handled by a heat pipe connecting to the heat spreading plate.

If Intel is reading this, I'm available!