Please reinvent the PC!

I am totally with you on this one, is so disheartening to see how people is dumping functionality for "tidiness" but money speaks, and most people are happy using "computers" for just watching videos, photos, playing angry birds and all your typical functionalities offered by mobile devices, but this new resurgence of VR can benefit the powerful computers.
You should show your workmates your rift and how their laptops can't run the rift for a optimal experience. ;)

It might, like Abrash saying VR will work best where the most FLOPS are at. But only for a bit. The market will be diverse with a range of options but the not-far-off endpoint for the vast majority of users is mobile VR.

But mobile is not about tidiness, its about the huge increase in utility that computing gains by being mobile: it's anywhere and everywhere, with you at all times, it's more personal than the personal computer ever was.

I don't get why people think CV1 is a desktop based device instead of a stand alone unit with an ability to hook up to an external system either wirelessly or by cable that the minority who wants to go through the trouble.

Why boggles my mind is, some of these video cards for the PC's are larger than iPads! Yet, the iPads can still render 3D just fine using some tiny super chip for a fraction of the electricity, yet the PC video cards require at least 2-3 connectors and a 1000w PSU. What's going on here?

There seems to be no ambition in evolving the PC.

The PC does not have to be this big bulky and noisy thing. It's just been a trend that many gamers have these large maxi towers filled with huge fans and more lights then a Christmas tree..

I just built a new PC some weeks ago based on the mini-ITX motherboard form factor.
The PC case is 24x24cm and the height is 10cm (18cm including the modded GPU heatsink). It contains all the thing you need in your average gaming PC like a 3.2ghz (4ghz turbo) i7 CPU, 16GB XMP overclocked memory, SSD and a GTX750Ti gfx card.

And it's completely noise free and 100% passively cooled with no moving parts what so ever. And if you need a better GPU then the GTX750 Ti, just add a quiet 120x120 fan to the GPU heatsink. Use temperature control on the fan and it will still remain passive most of the time, and only spin when needed during games.

"EarlGrey" wrote:
Why boggles my mind is, some of these video cards for the PC's are larger than iPads! Yet, the iPads can still render 3D just fine using some tiny super chip for a fraction of the electricity, yet the PC video cards require at least 2-3 connectors and a 1000w PSU. What's going on here?

There seems to be no ambition in evolving the PC.

Don't forget that the heat sink in GPUs takes almost all the space couped by a graphics card, i think a 780ti have a chip with only 4 times the area occupied by a mobile gpu.

Apple attempted it, not sure of its success:

hmm i wonder when we will be ready for home server thin client networks? I think we are pretty much to the point where the only electronics that we should need in our living space is gorgeous HID hubs and mobile devices.

just ports, displays, touch screens and input devices

HID hubs can be designed to mimic;
-home theaters, media centers, stereos
-desktop workstations (monitor mouse keyboard VR)
-mobile device docks, clocks, radio, and alarms
-interactive touch screen displays all over the place such as on smart appliances, on walls on mirrors built into furniture

wouldnt that be a vastly more efficient approach to personal computing?

i mean think about it. think Apples "continuity" taken to a whole new level. basically when you enter your home you are essentially logging on.

just throw some mini server racks in a utility closet isolated and cooled with refrigerant backed with both fiberoptic hardwire connections for the bandwidth intensive hubs (desktops gaming media center) and the rest could just be wireless and mobile device driven.

it could also be tied into utilities monitoring and helping to save on power and water usage providing home automation

and best case scenario this would turn personal computing into more of an appliance where landlords would be required to provide them just like washers dryers and refrigerators -- at least that is the goal

and with a rack server form factor upgrading would be as easy as pulling out a board and popping in a new one.

this has been a bit of a pipedream of mine for many years now.

5 years ago pitching that consumer homes would need server level computing and networking might have been a bit of overkill....

but now hmmm probably still is overkill....

although the market is sort of shifting more towards mobile and cloud since most consumers dont really bother setting up complex networks with NAS and media streaming most of that is done from cloud to device...

but still one of my dreams :D

Someone doesn't read my news threads regarding new technologies.

"jab" wrote:
The PC does not have to be this big bulky and noisy thing. It's just been a trend that many gamers have these large maxi towers filled with huge fans and more lights then a Christmas tree..

I just built a new PC some weeks ago based on the mini-ITX motherboard form factor.
The PC case is 24x24cm and the height is 10cm (18cm including the modded GPU heatsink). It contains all the thing you need in your average gaming PC like a 3.2ghz (4ghz turbo) i7 CPU, 16GB XMP overclocked memory, SSD and a GTX750Ti gfx card.

And it's completely noise free and 100% passively cooled with no moving parts what so ever. And if you need a better GPU then the GTX750 Ti, just add a quiet 120x120 fan to the GPU heatsink. Use temperature control on the fan and it will still remain passive most of the time, and only spin when needed during games.

Right now i am planing to do a frankenlaptop something like you did but portable, your post was like a signal telling me that is possible to do it, i was thinking of using a psu like this ones
http://www.powerstream.com/DC-PC-48V.htm
and this batteries
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__26789__Turnigy_nano_tech_A_SPEC_5000mah_12S_65_130C_Lipo_Pack_.html
Some of the things i am questioning me is, if by busing a PCI_E cable extension is going to have a noticeable impact on the performance of the GPU (i want to put the card horizontal with respect of the motherboard).
thanks for sharing that!

It's not a problem of design, appearance and what not, but function. Nobody wants a desktop anymore, even a sexy open-platform desktop, except for gaming, because frankly, there is no need for one. If you want power for gaming and work, you get a desktop. If you want good looking power, build an m-itx / m-atx beast that take 1/4 the size of a regular tower, and will look good next to the hi-fi. People have been trying to sell custom desktops forever (Alienware, Dell, HP...), and nobody bites. Enthusiasts would rather build and upgrade them themselves, and casuals just don't need them and would rather have a tablet, console or notebook.

The home management PC has been done before. Often too expensive, too complicated and largely superfluous (why get a robot to turn on the lights when you can do it yourself). Sure, you can build your place around a centralised computer system (alarms, AC, voice commands, robo-butlers), it's usually the domain of the enthusiast or the rich geek, we aren't quite there yet for mass appeal.

And BTW, I wouldn't want my gaming PC doing all that stuff in the first place. Hell, I'd want to isolate that sucker waaaay away from the internet, and not have someone mess around with my household appliances.