Tom's Hardware recently dropped a product release announcement for a mini PC with a PCIe slot on top of the case, externally accessible, for use with any GPU of any size/width.
www.tomshardware.com
I see this product when it is finally available on the open market as a worthy candidate for the Tiny Mini Micro review series. With this product we could finally install our NIC of choice onto a low-power-ish mobile CPU instead of having our options limited to whatever the system designer decided we needed, which is usually (but not always) 2.5/10G copper Ethernet. With this product we could build a cluster of Ryzen 7945HX3D connected via 100 Gbit Chelsio T6 NICs which features a full TCP Offload Engine, or use Infiniband NICs, or a NVIDIA Bluefield DPU. The important thing is this choice is now yours.
I didn't see any external PCIe power connectors, so it looks like you're limited to 75W unless you involve an external PSU. With the add-in-card being external, you don't have to worry about overloading the thermal exhaust capacity of the PC.
Sadly, there doesn't appear to be any screw-down points for the PCIe card's bracket, so the connection will probably be rather fragile. But this is a problem that will quickly be solved by some dedicated CAD engineer with a 3D printer. Perhaps a minimal open-air 3D-printed "case" that snaps over the existing case to give the AIC an anchor point while also adding a fan mount to cool any high-wattage passively cooled AIC.
I am very much looking forward to this product.
Ryzen 9 7945HX3D Mini-ITX PC Puts GPU Slot on Top of the Case
One of the world's fastest notebook CPUs for gaming.
www.tomshardware.com
I see this product when it is finally available on the open market as a worthy candidate for the Tiny Mini Micro review series. With this product we could finally install our NIC of choice onto a low-power-ish mobile CPU instead of having our options limited to whatever the system designer decided we needed, which is usually (but not always) 2.5/10G copper Ethernet. With this product we could build a cluster of Ryzen 7945HX3D connected via 100 Gbit Chelsio T6 NICs which features a full TCP Offload Engine, or use Infiniband NICs, or a NVIDIA Bluefield DPU. The important thing is this choice is now yours.
I didn't see any external PCIe power connectors, so it looks like you're limited to 75W unless you involve an external PSU. With the add-in-card being external, you don't have to worry about overloading the thermal exhaust capacity of the PC.
Sadly, there doesn't appear to be any screw-down points for the PCIe card's bracket, so the connection will probably be rather fragile. But this is a problem that will quickly be solved by some dedicated CAD engineer with a 3D printer. Perhaps a minimal open-air 3D-printed "case" that snaps over the existing case to give the AIC an anchor point while also adding a fan mount to cool any high-wattage passively cooled AIC.
I am very much looking forward to this product.
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