NVIDIA Announces Enthusiast System Architecture

Post by **Apoptosis** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 8:09 am

NVIDIA today announced the Enthusiast System Architecture or ESA for short. ESA is the new and exciting initiative to enable PC components to communicate operational information in real-time via internal USB ports to provide enthusiasts with unprecedented software control to manage the conditions within their high-end system.

It will be interesting to see where ESA will go, but we hope it takes off as having all this monitoring data in one place will be nice. The days of not know what is going on in the system are gone! Thanks NVIDIA for stepping up to the plate and making ESA a reality and most of all an open standard...

Article Title: NVIDIA Announces Enthusiast System Architecture @ Legit Reviews
Article URL: http://www.legitreviews.com/article/586/1/

Post by **DMB2000uk** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 8:43 am

I did a double take at LR's logo being on this pic

This is a really good idea, but I can't help but wonder how much extra internal clutter the USB cables will bring.

Dan

Post by **Apoptosis** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 8:56 am

DMB2000uk wrote:This is a really good idea, but I can't help but wonder how much extra internal clutter the USB cables will bring.

Dan

How much internal clutter... Here is a fully configures ESA system... Notice a couple wire bundles from the PSU and power supply. The standard certainly doens't 'clean' up the inside of a case. This is an ESA modified Coolermaster COMOS case with a CoolIT Eliminator installed. The thick bundle of wires to the right of the 24-pin power header on the motherboard are the wires for ESA on the water cooler. They go to the control module on the bottom of the case (the lighted black box) and then to the motherboard. The three zone sensors for the chassis can be seen in the 5.25" drive bays. I can't see the ones form the PSU in that image, but I'd imagine they look just like the ones found on the Gigabyte Oden series.

Post by **Digital Puppy** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 9:47 am

Post by **DMB2000uk** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 11:16 am

When your system has that many things in it, cable management is a mute point! But yeah, all the extra ESA cables don't help. But I'd put up with the mess for the conveinence of the data it provides.

Dan

FeRaL · Post by **FeRaL** » Tue Nov 06, 2007 12:42 pm

So, bottom line, how much more is this going to add to the cost of an "enthusiast PC"?

Post by **Apoptosis** » Tue Nov 06, 2007 2:07 pm

well it's not going to be on every product and I wouldn't expect a price increase across the board...

Some CoolIT coolers already have these connections and the Gigabyte Odin series of power supplies does also. Others that have this added will see a price increase, but not everything is going ESA.

Mumm · Post by **Mumm** » Tue Jul 08, 2008 1:31 am

I've been looking into this a bit more as of late just to see where its at since the posting. Product support is still pretty slim but there are a few nice items. For example, SilverStone not only made a case with the ESA circut built in but also offers a bay device (known as the "Commander") to pretty much convert any case to ESA capable. Just need 1 5.25" bay open. Prices I've seen are around $50 for their unit.

While the structure is all set up each company has to develope how ESA is used for their product. The trend in cases so far has been to have 5 or so 12v fan connection with some able to control fan speed. Only up to a .5 amp fan though

So no Ultra Kaze. Others simply just use it as a reporting tool. Some also add a status LED for Power \ Water Cooling \ and Failure (ie: over heating). However CoolerMaster stuck those LEDs inside the case. Why I have no idea, as it was ment to be a way to report failures while in full screen mode and not interupt you. It comman sofar to see a $50 increase in prices on cases for it. Like I said though... sometimes you dont get much for the price hike.

I believe if ESA is really going to take off either some company is going to have to send some $$$ on better development or its going to left to the old grassroot modders that invent creative ways to adjust poorly done design work. If a company like ASUS, whos has their fingers in many different pc components, came up with a slick package they could corner the market pretty easy for awhile. Why buy an EVGA or XFX ESA board if they offer better functions. Or even a mac or Intel for that matter... I wonder if LCD Studio or another similar program could pull info from ESA to be displayed on an LCD?

As far as product support here is what I've found sofar:

Thermaltake: