No More Cables! by Estefe.

Wireless technology is already well-developed. We have wireless internet, wireless networks,

even wireless chargers. The back of my desktop currently has just four cables plugged into it -
the power supply, a display port connection to the monitor, and cables for the mouse and
keyboard. The last two could, of course, be done away with: there are wireless alternatives. My
internet is wireless, as is connection to a printer.

The point about wireless technology is that cables are a nuisance. Ideally, they would all be
abolished. So why are there still so many cables inside my PC case? There has been progress. I
already have an M.2 NVMe SSD as my boot drive. This is not just fast - it is also cable-free.
Compared with SATA hard drives (2.5” and 3.5”), which need two cables (for power and for
data), it is much more convenient. I am planning to build a new PC later this year (when new
AMD cpus and gpus are available), and I intend to install two M.2 drives in it - and no SATA
drives, at least not unless I run out of storage space (but then maybe an external drive would
suffice). The price of M.2 drives has already fallen to a level comparable with that of 2.5” SATA
SSDs, even though those have become much cheaper recently. It would be great if most
motherboards regularly provided three or more M.2 slots. Clearly the current M.2 configuration
was designed for laptops: it is not ideal for the drives to sit flat on the surface of the
motherboard. As far as desktops are concerned, it would be better if M.2 SSDs could be
positioned like RAM modules, connected at one edge and standing at right-angles to the board.
This would make it easier to fit more M.2 slots onto a motherboard and probably improve
cooling. The advent of PCIe 4.0 later this year should provide extra bandwidth for NVMe drives.
The PCIe 5.0 specification is already under development.

SATA drives are a pain, with their cable connections both to the psu and to the motherboard. It
would already be possible to change this. Many external drives require only a single USB cable
connection. Why not internal drives, too? USB 3.1 gen 2 is faster than SATA. Thunderbolt
connections are faster still. Both USB and Thunderbolt provide power and data connections
through a single cable. Clearly, this could also be done with internal drives, which could be
connected to a USB header, or a USB port, on the motherboard. If SATA data connectors on the
motherboard were abolished, there should be room for more USB connections. Sure, this might
present some complications regarding power supply, but they should not be insuperable.

In fact, what I would really like to see is a redesign of motherboards to simplify cable
management. WHY do we now have to run one cable to the 24-pin connector on the
motherboard and another one (or two) to the EPS connector(s), in a completely different
location? Currently, there is a rear I/O panel on motherboards which is standardized so that it fits
all PC cases. I see no reason why there should not also be a front I/O panel. This would be inside
the case and would not have to be positioned in exactly the same place on all motherboards. The
point would be to put all internal connectors in a single location.

A front I/O panel would include the main motherboard power connector (set at right-angles to
the motherboard, so that it would no longer be necessary to bend the cable through 180º), the
EPS connector(s), USB headers and/or ports (and perhaps Thunderbolt headers/ports), and
connectors for audio, the front power and reset buttons, and anything else on the front of the
case. This would require a substantial redesign of motherboards, but I cannot see that it would be
impossible or even impractical. SATA data ports could be abolished entirely. Anyone wanting to
use old drives with SATA connections could get a SATA to USB adapter - these already exist, of
course. SATA is clearly on the way to becoming obsolete.

If all motherboards had a front I/O panel, PC case manufacturers could then pre-manage the
cables to the front panels of cases. The ends to be connected to the motherboard would all need
to be in approximately the same position (or perhaps in one of two or three positions, to allow for
different sizes of motherboard). This should mean that the free ends of the cables would only
need to be perhaps three or four inches (7 - 10 cm) long at most, to give leeway for making
connections easily. The rest of the length of the cables could be prepositioned in cable channels,
ideally with removable covers to allow builders to reposition them if required. The only essential
power cables from the psu would be the 24-pin motherboard power cable and the EPS cable(s).
However, it would surely also be possible to combine these into a single cable. The only
additional cables would be the PCIe power cables needed to provide extra power to graphics
cards.

Here, I have another beef. WHY are the power connectors on graphics cards positioned close to
the only corner of the card which is completely unsupported physically and usually sticks out
more or less into the middle of the case? At least one manufacturer makes an accessory which
plugs into the connectors and runs around the front edge of the card, so that the power cable can
be plugged in close to the motherboard edge of the card. Why could such an arrangement not be
incorporated into the card itself? Alternatively, the power connectors on the card could be
relocated along its outer edge to be close to the rear of the case, above the usual position of the
psu. In fact, it would be ideal if graphics cards drew all their power through the PCIe slot on the
motherboard and did not need a cable for extra power. I doubt that this would be impossible.

No doubt there will be those who react with horror to my suggestions. Some builders make a
feature of their cables, customizing them in different colors and even with LEDs. Companies
exist which specialize in making and selling custom cables. However, having lived with
computers for several decades, I have already seen many, many changes. I remember using 5.25”
floppy disks, and for a long time I had a large collection of 1.44 MB diskettes (which in fact are
still obtainable, though I threw all mine away years ago). We are now increasingly seeing PC
cases with no 5.25” bays for optical drives, which are also rapidly falling into obsolescence.
Wireless technology has made enormous advances during the past thirty years. Change is
certainly inevitable. For me, getting rid of cables, or at least reducing their quantity and length,
could only be an improvement.

I would like to see cable management greatly simplified, if not completely abolished, and I
believe this could be done now.

Copyright © 2019 Stephen G. Haw. All rights reserved.