However, SFF boxes and large PSUs just don't go together these days. It makes more sense for someone interested in running a high-powered graphics card to build a system around that card, and these days, that means a full-sized tower box.
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I find that hard to believe because we have laptops that run 1080's and they adequately manage both power and heat. I currently have a thin laptop with a 1070mq or m something on it and it does fine. Admittely, it gets pretty hot when running intense graphics but it works well even for multiple consecutive hours. You do need a cooler tray unless you enjoy burning your body parts though.
Laptops are custom built and don't need to care whatsoever about standardized form factors in relation to cooling, power delivery, or other issues. A dual slot LP card is far more restricted than a laptop in that it has very limited board space in a very specific shape (including display outputs), needs a bulky PCIe power plug if it's above 75W, needs to not exceed the standard measurements for its size category to avoid interference with cases or components, can't assume direct access to cool air from outside the case, and certainly can't expect to exhaust hot air directly from the cooler. All of which laptop designers can do whatever they want with. And look at any laptop with a powerful GPU and you'll see that the GPU and it's cooling solution takes up a lot of space. Not to mention that laptops are generally expected to throttle, while even SFF desktop components are scrutinized far more stringently in terms of "delivering what is promised".
I'd be down for one! My HTPC uses a Corsair SF450, and it runs plenty under its rated limit at all times. Never even see its fan turn outside of a couple of seconds on a cold boot. The only problem would be clearance for the 6-pin connector. I'm sure that could get worked out just fine, though.
You'd be surprised at how small of boxes you can stuff even a full-size GPU into. Just hop into some other threads on this site and you'll see some stunningly small chassis for full-powered systems. And I wouldn't necessarily call SFX power supplies "large PSUs". I'd rather have the PSU inside the case, anyways, since using an external power supply reminds me too much of laptops and makes me feel like I'm cheating on the PC's overall size.I think that would be cool to see.
I personally like SFF boxes both for their size, and for the fact that they are constrained in the amount of electricity they use. Getting the most out of 75 watts tickles me more than just dumping gallons of electricity into a card and seeing how much it can use.
I don't think it's for that. The U.S. is the biggest, most homogenized consumer market in the world. Companies won't bother to release products here unless they can feel confident that they can carve a strong enough base for them. They don't mind selling small amounts in countries with smaller economies, but it's a bigger risk (and potential waste of company resources) to do so for the U.S. It becomes a harder ask when the product in question only garners a niche audience. Economies of scale don't come into effect if the bigger market doesn't have enough people clamoring to purchase the item in the first place.
Not really. MXM cards are significantly larger than HHHL PCIe cards, better suited for GPUs due to their square-ish shape, and lack power connectors and video outputs - i.e. an AIC with a similar layout and the same parts would be even bigger. The advantage of MXM is volume, as laptop designers are able to move cooling to whereever is prudent in that laptop. Fitting the GPU die, VRAM and VRM components from a modern mid-range GPU onto a HHHL card would likely require some sort of exotic PCB solution like a sandwich layout, which would make this extremely expensive while also making cooling very very difficult.
smallformfactor.net
