Why don't vid cards start using external power supplies? Why not a power brick that just plugged into the wall and then into the back of the vid card? It would be much easier than having to upgrade your power supply just so you can get a new vid card.
I don't mean to be rude but thats a ridiculous idea. I bought a $160 PSU to power 1 computer, and now you want me to deal with another power brick just for a GPU? Now thats just plain dumb, imo. Look at the xbox 360 power brick, do you really want to lug that around just to power a GPU? Not even the entire computer, just a GPU.
I know your going to say "but its a desktop nobody cares," quite the opposite. The imense power consumed by a computer has a direct effect on power bills, cooling bills, home comfort, noise problems and the like. The more power is drawn the more heat is generated (generally, lets not get into nit picking here) and that heat has to go somewhere. Most people won't go with water cooling because its risky and not worth it (to them), so lets just toss a few more fans on there, why not? Wrong those fans start adding noise that is like a swarm of mosquitos buzzing around your head all day long. It might just drive a person mad.
Once you get the heat out of the case it has to go somewhere, and guess where? Into your bedroom, living room, or wherever, then it has to be cooled. Guess what? More power is needed to cool the room now.
You might say "hey this guy is retarded, computers don't heat up rooms that much," to which I reply "Are you still using a 386? Ok, thought so, now shut it" lol :tongue: . I used to have a P4 Northwood with a 6800GT in it, and within an hour of gaming I could tell the ambient temp rose 4-6 degrees, it was ridiculous. I had a 15x15 or so bedroom with good air conditioning but the room just got damn hot.
All this power consumption is ridiculous, it needs to be dealt with. They need to reduce the overall power draw of a system. CPU's have already taken a sizeable step towards this. AMD now has 35w desktop CPU's and Intel is down to 65w (last I checked), and Intel used to run 130W!
There has to be a stopping point because at this rate we will all be using phase change to cool our computers within a decade (an exageration, but you get the picture).
Someone please backhand ATI and Nvidia.
/rant