Google| Subject | Re: Pretty cool... |
| From | ZnU |
| Date | 06/14/2013 06:32 (06/14/2013 00:32) |
| Message-ID | <znu-80C62B.00321214062013@news.eternal-september.org> |
| Client | |
| Newsgroups | comp.sys.mac.advocacy |
| Follows | jay birdsong |
| Followups | ed (15h & 56m) > ZnU |
In article <kp5fsj$ma3$1@dont-email.me>, "jay birdsong" <jaybirdsong@aol.com>wrote:
jay birdsongThis machine is, in fact, a classic example of form *following* function. There are three main PCBs in it: the motherboard and two boards hosting the GPUs. The obvious, standard solution here would be to plug the GPUs into the motherboard at right angles, then put the whole thing in a some case shaped like a rectangular solid. I'm sure that was Apple's starting point. But someone, at some point, clearly had the insight to ask "Why are we arranging three items inside a four sided case?" That insight would have lead to the idea of arranging the boards in a triangle around a central heat sink, creating a prism shape.
Of course, form over function. And on the plus side, you can probably heat your home with it in the winter.
OK, so why isn't the case prism-shaped? Well, that would result in the same clearance over all parts of the boards. But some components on the boards are taller than others. So the machine can be made smaller by wrapping the central prism-like shape in a cylinder, and then laying out the boards with taller components toward their centers, where there's more clearance. The way they've got the power supply running vertically up the back of the machine is a particularly notable example of this.
The whole thing is really quite clever.
06/10/2013-
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