Many computers have a lot of cards, drives, fans, etc. in them that are taking up lots of space and generating lots of heat. Processor fans and heatsinks are also growing in size to accomodate the increase in processor performance and heat. Some of the more extreme overclockers use liquid-cooling systems for their computer, which can be very dangerous to your computer's health if a leak springs (as well as to your desk, office, home, and so on, if the computer catches fire).
What I propose is a completely self-contained liquid cooling system for processors that takes up the space of a 5-1/4" drive. There would be a slot of various types (depending on your processor) where the CPU is mounted. This would be connected by cable (one wire per pin?) to a connector on the motherboard, thereby freeing up space on the motherboard for other cards, the chipset, memory, etc. The greatest advantage of this system would be the cooling. The coolant would be circulated around to the front of the computer case, where it would release its heat to cooler air than that which is present at the rear, where most heat is exhausted anyway. Leaks would never happen, since the coolant path would be completely sealed. The piping would be metal, and would then be welded to the compressor and other necessary equipment, keeping the coolant completely contained to eliminate leaks.
This would also allow you to switch processor types without having to buy a whole new motherboard. You just buy a new CPU-Drive to match the processor (Drive-motherboard connectors would be standardized so that this is possible).-- Bert6322, Jan 23 2003 Ethernet as Bus Architecture http://www.halfbake...0Bus_20ArchitectureSimilar idea, different tangent. [st3f, Oct 04 2004] I'm guessing that the cable connection between CPU and motherboard could be a bit problematic.-- half, Jan 23 2003 I have to agree with half. Finding a 478 cable wire would be a little hard. Combine that with needing to find a 478 pin header, and there's a bit of a space problem. The wires would have to be extremely small (and therefore very fragile [not to mention a high resistance over a length of about 15cm {motherboard to drive bay}]) in order to be implemented without cramming an already tight space.
However, still a good idea (especially if you rethink your interface)-- reap, Jan 23 2003 What would you suggest? I don't know what else would work, even though as you say my idea won't.-- Bert6322, Jan 23 2003 More importantly, your going to have a major problem with noise between the CPU and the modular unit. Your gazillion wires are going to become a pratical radio antenna. Unless you would like to multiplex and modulate the bus signals onto an optical fiber and demod and demux on the other end (a very possible soloution considering the available bandwidth of the fiber) I don't see how it is going to work. I don't see how you are going to get the price of that down to the level that someone who switches CPUs on motherboards would find attractive though.-- ChinnoDog, Jan 24 2003 I'm all in favour of splitting computers into descrete components that can be plugged together, but believe that you've got to choose the lines along which you divide very carefully. Processors talk to memory too much to make the split easy. If you took the memory along with the processor then this might become more feasable.-- st3f, Jan 24 2003 Nearest you could come to the wire here is get one of the old mainframe wires. I used a cable off an old ICL1902A as a tow rope. It had about a hundred cores and was as thick as a broom handle but was only screened overall. Armoured really. This is all taking up a lot of room and also the extra length could be a problem.-- swifty, Jan 24 2003 //switch processor types without having to buy a whole new motherboard// Intel spent alot of money pushing "Overdrive" processors and ZIF sockets a few years back on this same logic. That died pretty quick. The economics of PC purchase have evolved to the point where its just far cheaper to buy a whole new PC now, than to hassle with this sort of incremental upgrade.
I really want to like this idea but I don't see it working too well.-- krelnik, Jan 24 2003 random, halfbakery