Motherboard layout: the Apple factor?

[Quartz]

PC motherboards have been static for decades now. But has Apple upset the applecart? The motherboard inside the new Mac Pro looks to be a masterpiece of design. Will PC manufacturers take note and copy adapt it?

For me the key features are the RAM slots moved to the underside (an optimisation obvious in hindsight), the ducted air cooling (of all components, not just the CPU), and the repositioning of the CPU.

 

[orbitalwalsh]

PC motherboards have been static for decades now. But has Apple upset the applecart? The motherboard inside the new Mac Pro looks to be a masterpiece of design. Will PC manufacturers take note and copy adapt it?

For me the key features are the RAM slots moved to the underside (an optimisation obvious in hindsight), the ducted air cooling (of all components, not just the CPU), and the repositioning of the CPU.

evga rotated 90 degrees for their flagship dual dimm units . can be done. Pointless as then you might have 10 different versions of say Phanteks p600 to fit asus , gigabyte, msi custom board formats .

Works for OEM as they make it from the ground up, even ASUS/MSI gaming Prebuilt systems can use custom designed layout - alienware almost does .