# Is a ring shaped motherboard possible? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 1, 2001, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-ring-shaped-motherboard-possible/96262 "2001-12-01T04:32:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![cainxinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7bcc69/32.png) [@cainxinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cainxinth)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2001, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-ring-shaped-motherboard-possible/96262/21 "2001-12-02T17:40:48Z")
> [@](#): > > Mullah = a Muslim religious teacher i did not know that bibliophage, my mistake. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2001, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-ring-shaped-motherboard-possible/96262/22 "2001-12-02T17:46:28Z")
Frodo? šŸ˜ƒ ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2001, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-ring-shaped-motherboard-possible/96262/23 "2001-12-02T22:45:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by cainxinth \* > \*\*thats exactly what i meant Mangetout. why would this change things, though? currently, im under the impression that it would take a great deal of brilliant engineering and mullah to figure out the necessary configuration for a ring shaped mobo of any kind to workā€¦ if it could work at all. \*\* Well, simply that itā€™s a much smaller set of circuits, less components, no need for PCI/AGP/DIMM sockets and some of the factors such as clock frequencies and bus speeds may either be absent or less crucial. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-ring-shaped-motherboard-possible/96262/24 "2001-12-03T00:53:07Z")
Obviously it would work - all you have to do is consider a thought experiment where you take a normal motherboard and punch a hole in the middle, then just start expanding everything until the hole is the size you need. But designing any motherboard is not a trivial task. I believe most modern motherboards use a sandwich of about 5 layers, each of which has a difference circuit design on it. You need computer assistance to design those boards, and you canā€™t make them in your basement like a simple single or double-sided PC board. ---
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-ring-shaped-motherboard-possible/96262/25 "2001-12-03T01:21:58Z")
Were not CRAY supercomputer made circular in order to take advantage of the natural movement of electrons, or somthing of that sort? ---
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-ring-shaped-motherboard-possible/96262/26 "2001-12-03T01:24:16Z")
Ahh, here it is: _The first Cray-1Ā® system was installed at Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1976 for $8.8 million. It boasted a world-record speed of 160 million floating-point operations per second (160 megaflops) and an 8 megabyte (1 million word) main memory. The Cray-1ā€™s architecture reflected its designerā€™s penchant for bridging technical hurdles with revolutionary ideas. In order to increase the speed of this system, the Cray-1 had a unique ā€œCā€ shape which enabled integrated circuits to be closer together. No wire in the system was more than four feet long. To handle the intense heat generated by the computer, Cray developed an innovative refrigeration system using Freon._ [http://www.cray.com/company/history.html](http://www.cray.com/company/history.html) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-ring-shaped-motherboard-possible/96262.md?page=1)