So here's an interesting bit of news from Colorful, via Videocardz and LG Nilsson. Remember when on-board graphics was a pejorative? Since the GPUs that are attached to many CPUs tend to sufficiently cover everything below a discrete graphics add-in board, there is not a whole lot of mind-share for discrete, on-board GPUs. You get the occasional desktop-style device with a mobile add-in module, but that's about it.
Image Credit: LG Nilsson (via Videocardz)
In this case, it looks like Colorful, the Chinese PC hardware manufacturer, integrated the required components from a GTX 1070 directly onto a motherboard's PCB. We've heard rumors that GP104 would be available in mobile form-factors in a few months, so it's possible that this draws from some laptop initiatives, but it's interesting to see others consider it too. As Videocardz pointed out, this is not an ATX-standard board, so it's possible that Colorful is planning on getting into (or supporting someone getting into) small form factor desktops or is building hardware for all-in-one PCs.
So what's next? A vendor like ASUS making a VRWorks Audio sound card with integrated Pascal?
Oh hell yeah, that’s cool and
Oh hell yeah, that’s cool and different.
I could see this being the
I could see this being the foundation for a pretty compact but powerful HTPC, but at the same time the GPU not being upgradable would give me second thoughts.
Gamers certainly wouldn’t
Gamers certainly wouldn’t want this… but for a compact HTPC I think it would be great.
The GTX 1070 coupled with a modern Skylake CPU should have no problem playing video formats for the next 5 years and beyond.
The question is… do you really need a GTX 1070 for an HTPC?
The way things are going,
The way things are going, probably 10 years at least. :p
This board looks like it is
This board looks like it is built for an AIO system. Those things are all custom layouts and parts. Lookout for a AIO from Dell, Lenovo or HP packing a GTX 1070. Or more-so, probably from Asus or MSI touted as a ultra-awesome gaming AIO.
MSI seems most likely they
MSI seems most likely they had gaming AIOs with high end mobile gpus in them for the 900 series.
could also be a barebones
could also be a barebones system, since it has a cpu socket instead of BGA
Is this too powerful to be
Is this too powerful to be the hardware for the updated Xbox? I could see Nvidia suddenly wanting to get their hardware into a console. With AMD graphics powering all of the consoles, that should translate into some advantage as to how much software optimization is done for AMD hardware. With the hardware still having differing abilities, I could see Nvidia wanting have such a platform to ensure optimization for their hardware. Otherwise, Nvidia just has the shrinking PC market.
I wouldn’t expect a console to have a replaceable CPU, but Microsoft has talked about possibly allowing more continuous upgrading. I have wondered if they are going to essentially make UWP such that you have a sandboxes area on your PC that behaves exactly like an Xbox. This means that the updated Xbox could be a relatively powerful and expensive device, to compete with PCs and possibly power VR headsets. They are also supposed to be releasing a slim version of the original Xbox, so the updated model should be significantly more powerful. This board wouldn’t look out of place in a console, except for the CPU socket and SO-DIMM slots. It looks like it has a single DC power input on the upper left. It only has outputs along the back and the right side. It looks like it only has a single SATA port.
It’s actually VR backpack
It’s actually VR backpack prototype by colorful. First revision had gtx980 mobile, newer has this gtx1070 gpu.
https://smallformfactor.net/news/colorfuls-b150-motherboard-integrated-gtx-1070
Nothing says vendor lock-in
Nothing says vendor lock-in like Nvidia, and maybe Nvidia wants all PCs to come with its GPUs welded to the motherboard. Those AIOs represent the laptop-ing of the PC market with OEMs/Nvidia able to plan the devices obsolescence and feed their lust for cash. TO HELL with that!
I’ll take sockets/slots over soldier any day.