TWI812315B - Computer device and method for increasing stability of computer device - Google Patents

Abstract

A computer device includes a motherboard, a graphic card, a power cable and a power supply. The motherboard has a processing circuit. The graphic card is inserted into the motherboard. The power cable has a plurality of power supply lines and a plurality of data lines. The power supply is configured to supply power to the graphic card through the power supply lines. The processing circuit obtains a first power consumption of the graphic card through the data lines of the power cable, and the processing circuit is configured to determine the operation mode of the motherboard according to the first power consumption and a second power consumption of the power supply.

Description

Computer devices and methods to increase the stability of computer devices

The present disclosure relates to a computer device, and in particular, to a computer device that can be booted stably.

With the development of technology, many electronic devices (such as desktop computers or notebook computers) have become quite popular and popular products nowadays. Among them, desktop computers have the freedom to assemble and match them by themselves.

For example, a desktop computer can be assembled by users choosing their own parts, such as their favorite PCIe graphics card, motherboard, or power supply, etc. However, under the new PCIe gen 5.0 specification, desktop computers may fail to boot because the power of the power supply does not meet the maximum power consumption of the PCIe graphics card.

Therefore, how to design a computer device that can boot stably is a topic worthy of discussion and solution today.

In view of this, the present disclosure proposes a computer device to solve the above problems.

The present disclosure provides a computer device, including a motherboard, a graphics card, a power cable and a power supply. The motherboard has a processing circuit. A graphics display card is inserted into the motherboard. The power cable has a plurality of power supply lines and a plurality of data lines. The power supply is configured to supply power to the graphics card through these power supply lines. The processing circuit obtains a first power consumption of the graphics card through the data lines of the power cable, and the processing circuit is configured to determine an operating mode of the motherboard based on the first power consumption and a second power consumption of the power supply.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, when the processing circuit determines that the difference between the second power consumption and the first power consumption is greater than a first power threshold, the processing circuit controls the motherboard to operate in a performance mode.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, when the processing circuit determines that the difference between the second power consumption and the first power consumption is less than or equal to the first power threshold and greater than a second power threshold, the processing circuit controls the motherboard to operate in a normal operating mode.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, when the processing circuit determines that the difference between the second power consumption and the first power consumption is less than the second power threshold, the processing circuit controls the motherboard to operate in the energy-saving mode.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the computer device further includes a display screen, and when the motherboard operates in the energy-saving mode, the processing circuit controls the display screen to send a warning message.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the processing circuit is configured to receive device identification data of the power supply, and the processing circuit obtains the second power consumption according to the device identification data.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, a QR code is provided on the power supply, and an external electronic device captures the QR code to obtain device identification information of the power supply, wherein the computer device further includes a wireless transmission circuit disposed on On the motherboard, the processing circuit obtains the device identification data from the external electronic device through the wireless transmission circuit, and the processing circuit obtains the second power consumption based on the device identification data.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the power cable includes a first connector, a second connector and a third connector, the first connector is connected to the power supply, the second connector is connected to the graphics card, and The third connector is connected to the motherboard.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the power supply is electrically connected to the graphics card via the first connector, the data lines and the second connector, and the processing circuit is electrically connected to one of the data lines via the third connector. A first data line and a second data line.

The disclosure provides a method for increasing the stability of a computer device. The method includes: installing a graphics display card to a motherboard, wherein a processing circuit is provided on the motherboard; and providing a power cable, wherein the power cable has multiple power supplies. lines and a plurality of data lines; a power supply is provided, and the power supply supplies power to the graphics display card through these power supply lines; the processing circuit obtains a first power consumption of the graphics display card through these data lines of the power cable ; and the processing circuit determines the operating mode of the motherboard based on the first power consumption and a second power consumption of the power supply.

The disclosure provides a computer device, including a motherboard, a graphics card, a power cable and a power supply. Since the computer device may be a computer purchased and assembled by the user, it may happen that the graphics card and the power supply are not completely matched. Therefore, when the computer device is just turned on and enters the BIOS, the controller circuit determines the operating mode of the motherboard based on the first power consumption and the second power consumption.

It is worth noting that based on the design of the present disclosure, when the controller circuit determines that the difference between the second power consumption and the first power consumption is less than the second power threshold, the controller circuit will control the motherboard to operate in the energy-saving mode. At this time, some non-essential electronic components on the motherboard (such as indicator lights) may be turned off so that the motherboard still has enough power to boot. That is to say, even if the power supply is not enough to fully bear the maximum power consumption of the graphics card and motherboard, the computer device can still boot into the operating system, allowing the user to perform low-power tasks such as word processing without being unable to boot.

The following description is of embodiments of the present disclosure. The purpose is to illustrate the general principles of the present disclosure and should not be regarded as a limitation of the present disclosure. The scope of the present disclosure shall be defined by the scope of the patent application.

It is worth noting that the following disclosure provides multiple embodiments or examples for practicing different features of the present disclosure. The special component examples and arrangements described below are only used to briefly and concisely illustrate the spirit of the present disclosure, but are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. In addition, the following description may reuse the same component symbols or words in multiple examples. However, the purpose of repeated use is only to provide a simplified and clear description, and is not intended to limit the relationship between multiple embodiments and/or configurations discussed below. In addition, the following description of one feature being connected to, coupled to, and/or formed on another feature may actually include multiple different embodiments, including the features being in direct contact, or including other additional features. features are formed between such features, etc., such that the features are not in direct contact.

The terms "first", "second", "third", "fourth", etc. are merely universal identifiers and, therefore, may be interchanged with each other in various embodiments. For example, although in some embodiments an element may be referred to as a "first" element, in other embodiments this element may be referred to as a "second" element.

Please refer to FIG. 1 , which is a block diagram of a computer device 100 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, the computer device 100 may be any desktop computer or server computer or other similar device, and may include a combination of two or more of the above devices. However, those skilled in the art should It is understood that the disclosure is not limited thereto. In this embodiment, the computer device 100 includes a motherboard 102, a graphics card 200, a power supply 300 and a power cable 400.

The graphics display card 200 is inserted into a slot 1021 on the motherboard 102, and the graphics display card 200 is configured to provide graphics computing and graphics display functions. It is worth mentioning that the graphics display card 200 is a graphics display card that complies with the PCIe Gen 5.0 specification. Furthermore, the power supply 300 is electrically connected to the motherboard 102 and configured to provide power to the motherboard 102 and various electronic components thereon. Furthermore, the power supply 300 can provide power to the graphics display card 200 through the power cable 400 .

The motherboard 102 is further provided with a processing circuit 103 and a storage circuit 110, and the processing circuit 103 may include, for example, a controller circuit 104, a central processing unit 106, and a platform path controller 108. It should be understood that the computer device 100 in Figure 1 is only an example of various computer systems, and the computer device 100 may have more or fewer components than those shown in the figure, or may have different component configurations.

In this embodiment, the controller circuit 104 may be an embedded controller (EC) configured to control the computer device 100 when the computer device 100 enters a basic input/output system (BIOS). Peripheral devices and power management. For example, you can control the keyboard, mouse, monitor battery or system temperature, and more.

The storage circuit 110 can be a random access memory (Random Access Memory, RAM), flash memory (flash memory), read-only memory (Read-Only Memory, ROM), erasable and programmable read-only memory. Memory (EPROM), Electronically-Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM), scratchpad, hard disk, portable hard disk, Compact Disc Read-Only Memory (CD-ROM) or any other computer-readable storage media format known in the art.

The central processing unit 106 is coupled to the storage circuit 110 and can execute an operating system in the storage circuit 110 . Operating systems may include Android, Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD), iPhone OS (iOS), Linux, OS X, Unix-like Real-time Operating System (for example: QNX), Darwin, UNIX, Microsoft Windows, Window Phone and IBM z /OS, but not limited to this.

Platform path controller 108 may be a chipset configured to communicate with central processor 106 and input/output interfaces of computer device 100 . For example, the platform path controller 108 can communicate with external devices such as keyboards and mice when the computer device 100 executes the operating system. In this embodiment, the graphics card 200 communicates with the CPU 106 through the slot 1021. However, in other embodiments, graphics card 200 may communicate with platform path controller 108 via slot 1021 .

Next, please refer to Figure 1 and Figure 2. Figure 2 is a schematic three-dimensional view of a first connector 410 on the power cable 400 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In this embodiment, the power cable 400 includes a first connector 410, a second connector 420, and a third connector 430. The first connector 410 is connected to the power supply 300, and the second connector 420 is is connected to the graphics display card 200 , and the third connector 430 is connected to another slot 1022 of the motherboard 102 . The first connector 410 and the second connector 420 have the same structure.

Furthermore, the power cable 400 further has a plurality of power supply lines and a plurality of data lines. Specifically, the power cable 400 may have 12 power supply lines 460 and 4 data lines (the first data line DT1 to the fourth data line DT4). The power supply 300 is electrically connected to the graphics display card 200 via the first connector 410 , the power supply lines 460 and the second connector 420 to provide power to the graphics display card 200 , and the power supply 300 is via the first connector 410 , these data lines and the second connector 420 are electrically connected to the graphics display card 200 to communicate with the graphics display card 200 .

It is worth noting that the controller circuit 104 of the processing circuit 103 is electrically connected to the first data line DT1 and the second data line DT2 among these data lines via the third connector 430 . Therefore, the controller circuit 104 can obtain the power consumption (first power consumption) of the graphics display card 200 through the first data line DT1 and the second data line DT2 among these data lines.

For example, the controller circuit 104 can learn the power consumption of the graphics display card 200 according to the signals (voltage levels) of the first data line DT1 and the second data line DT2 and the following chart 1.

[Chart 1] First data line DT1 Second data line DT2 Power consumption (W) 0 1 600 1 1 450 1 0 300 0 0 150

For example, when the voltage level of the first data line DT1 is 0 and the voltage level of the second data line DT2 is 1, the controller circuit 104 can know the power consumption (such as the rated power consumption) of the graphics display card 200 ) is 600W. In addition, when the voltage level of the first data line DT1 is 1 and the voltage level of the second data line DT2 is 1, the controller circuit 104 can know that the power consumption of the graphics display card 200 is 450W, and so on. .

In addition, in this embodiment, the controller circuit 104 can receive a device identification data DID provided by the power supply 300, and the controller circuit 104 can obtain the maximum power consumption that the power supply 300 can provide according to the device identification data DID. (Second power consumption). For example, the controller circuit 104 can compare a database previously stored in a memory (not shown in the figure) with the device identification data DID to obtain relevant device information (such as model and consumption) of the power supply 300 power, etc.).

In the present disclosure, the computer device 100 is a computer purchased and assembled by the user, so the graphics card 200 and the power supply 300 may not completely match. Therefore, in the design of the present disclosure, when the computer device 100 is just turned on and enters the BIOS, the controller circuit 104 is configured to determine the operating mode of the motherboard 102 based on the first power consumption and the second power consumption.

The operation mode of the motherboard 102 can be illustrated by the following example of chart 2, where chart 2 shows an example in which the power supply 300 used in the computer device 100 can provide a power consumption of 450W.

[Chart 2] First power consumption (W) Maximum power consumption of motherboard (W) Power supply power (W) Difference (W) operating mode 150 200 450 300 Performance mode 300 200 450 150 Normal operating mode 450 200 450 0 Energy saving mode 600 200 450 -150 Energy saving mode

As shown in chart 2, when the first power consumption is 150W, the controller circuit 104 determines that the difference (300W) between the second power consumption and the first power consumption of the power supply 300 is greater than a first power threshold. The circuit 104 controls the motherboard 102 to operate in a performance mode. The first power threshold is, for example, the maximum power consumption (200W) of the motherboard 102 .

Since the difference is 300W, it means that the power supply of the power supply 300 is enough to bear the maximum power consumption of the motherboard 102 (200W), so the electronic components on the motherboard 102 can operate at the highest power.

In addition, when the first power consumption is 300W, the controller circuit 104 determines that the difference between the second power consumption and the first power consumption (150W) is less than the first power threshold and greater than a second power threshold (for example, 100W), and controls The processor circuit 104 controls the motherboard 102 to operate in a normal operating mode. When the motherboard 102 operates in the normal operating mode, each electronic component on the motherboard 102 can operate normally, but some electronic components may not operate at the highest power.

Finally, when the first power consumption is 450W or 600W, and the controller circuit 104 determines that the difference between the second power consumption and the first power consumption is less than the second power threshold (for example, 100W), the controller circuit 104 controls the motherboard. 102 operates in energy saving mode. When the motherboard 102 operates in the energy-saving mode, some non-essential electronic components (such as indicator lights) on the motherboard 102 may be turned off so that the motherboard 102 still has enough power to turn on.

It is worth noting that the computer device 100 may further include a display screen 150, and when the motherboard 102 operates in the energy-saving mode, the processing circuit 103 will control the display screen 150 to issue a warning message to remind the user that the operation of the motherboard 102 is possible. Instable situations may occur, and the power supply 300 or graphics display card 200 can be replaced to solve such problems.

The following chart 3 and chart 4 respectively show examples in which the computer device 100 uses power supplies 300 with different power consumption. The examples in Chart 3 are similar to those in Chart 2, so they will not be repeated here. It is worth noting that in Figure 4, since the power consumption that the power supply 300 can provide is 800W, which is enough to bear the maximum power consumption of the motherboard 102 and the first power consumption of the graphics display card 200, therefore regardless of the first power consumption Regardless of the size, the motherboard 102 can operate normally (operating in performance mode or normal operation mode).

[Chart 3] First power consumption (W) Maximum power consumption of motherboard (W) Power consumption of power supply (W) Difference (W) operating mode 150 200 500 350 Performance mode 300 200 500 200 Normal operating mode 450 200 500 50 Energy saving mode 600 200 500 -100 Energy saving mode

[Chart 4] First power consumption (W) Maximum power consumption of motherboard (W) Power consumption of power supply (W) Difference(W) operating mode 150 200 800 650 Performance mode 300 200 800 500 Performance mode 450 200 800 350 Performance mode 600 200 800 200 Normal operating mode

Next, please refer to FIG. 3 , which is a block diagram of a computer device 100 according to another embodiment of the present disclosure. In this embodiment, the power supply 300 does not provide the device identification data DID to the controller circuit 104 . Correspondingly, a QR code 302 is provided on the casing of the power supply 300 , and an external electronic device 10 captures the QR code 302 to obtain the device identification data DID of the power supply 300 .

Furthermore, the computer device 100 may further include a wireless transmission circuit 112 disposed on the motherboard 102 . The processing circuit 103 can obtain the device identification data DID from the external electronic device 10 in a wireless manner (such as Bluetooth, WIFI or infrared) through the wireless transmission circuit 112, and the processing circuit 103 can obtain the second power consumption according to the device identification data DID. Therefore, the controller circuit 104 can then compare the first power consumption and the second power consumption to determine the operating mode of the motherboard 102. The specific operating steps are similar to those in the previous embodiment, and will not be described again here.

Next, please also refer to Figure 4. FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a method S400 for increasing the stability of the computer device 100 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In step S402, a graphics display card 200 is installed on the motherboard 102, where the processing circuit 103 is provided on the motherboard 102.

In step S404, a power cable 400 is provided, wherein the power cable 400 has a plurality of power supply lines 460 and a plurality of data lines DT1-DT4. In step S406, a power supply 300 is provided, and the power supply 300 supplies power to the graphics display card 200 through these power supply lines 460.

In step S408, the processing circuit 103 obtains the first power consumption of the graphics display card 200 through the data lines DT1˜DT2 of the power cable 400. Finally, in step S410 , the processing circuit 103 determines the operating mode of the motherboard 102 based on the first power consumption and the second power consumption of the power supply 300 . The operation modes of the motherboard 102 are as shown in the aforementioned diagrams 2, 3, and 4, so they will not be described again here.

In summary, the present disclosure provides a computer device 100 including a motherboard 102, a graphics card 200, a power cable 400 and a power supply 300. Since the computer device 100 may be a computer purchased and assembled by the user, the graphics card 200 and the power supply 300 may not completely match. Therefore, when the computer device 100 is just turned on and enters the BIOS, the controller circuit 104 determines the operating mode of the motherboard 102 based on the first power consumption and the second power consumption.

It is worth noting that based on the design of the present disclosure, when the controller circuit 104 determines that the difference between the second power consumption and the first power consumption is less than the second power threshold, the controller circuit 104 controls the motherboard 102 to operate in the energy-saving mode. At this time, some non-essential electronic components (such as indicator lights) on the motherboard 102 may be turned off so that the motherboard 102 still has enough power to turn on the computer. That is, even if the power supply 300 is not able to fully bear the maximum power consumption of the graphics card 200 and the motherboard 102, the computer device 100 can still be booted into the operating system, allowing the user to perform low-power tasks such as word processing without As for being unable to boot.

The ordinal numbers in this specification and the scope of the patent application, such as "first", "second", "third", etc., have no sequential relationship with each other. They are only used to distinguish two items with the same Different components with names.

Although the embodiments and their advantages of the present disclosure have been disclosed above, it should be understood that anyone with ordinary skill in the art can make changes, substitutions and modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. In addition, the protection scope of the present disclosure is not limited to the processes, machines, manufacturing, material compositions, devices, methods and steps in the specific embodiments described in the specification. Anyone with ordinary knowledge in the relevant technical field can learn from the disclosure It is understood that processes, machines, manufacturing, material compositions, devices, methods and steps currently or developed in the future can be used according to the present disclosure as long as they can perform substantially the same functions or obtain substantially the same results in the embodiments described herein. Therefore, the protection scope of the present disclosure includes the above-mentioned processes, machines, manufacturing, material compositions, devices, methods and steps. In addition, each claimed patent scope constitutes an individual embodiment, and the protection scope of the present disclosure also includes the combination of each claimed patent scope and embodiments.

10:External electronic devices

100:Computer device

102: Motherboard

1021:Slot

1022:Slot

103: Processing circuit

104:Controller circuit

106:CPU

108:Platform path controller

110:Storage circuit

112: Wireless transmission circuit

150:Display screen

200: Graphics display card

300:Power supply

302: QR code

400:Power cable

410: first connector

420: Second connector

430:Third connector

460:Power supply cord

DID: device identification data

DT1: first data line

DT2: Second data line

DT3: The third data line

DT4: The fourth data line

S400:Method

S402, S404, S406, S408, S410: steps

This disclosure can be clearly understood through the following detailed description and accompanying illustrations. It is emphasized that, in accordance with standard practice in the industry, various features are not drawn to scale and are used for illustration purposes only. In fact, the dimensions of the various features may be arbitrarily exaggerated or reduced for clarity of illustration. Figure 1 is a block diagram of a computer device 100 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Figure 2 is a schematic three-dimensional view of a first connector 410 on the power cable 400 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a computer device 100 according to another embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a method S400 for increasing the stability of the computer device 100 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

100:Computer device

102: Motherboard

1021, 1022: Slot

103: Processing circuit

104:Controller circuit

106:CPU

108:Platform path controller

110:Storage circuit

150:Display screen

200: Graphics display card

300:Power supply

400:Power cable

410: first connector

420: Second connector

430:Third connector

460:Power supply cord

DID: device identification data

DT1: first data line

DT2: Second data line

DT3: The third data line

DT4: The fourth data line

Claims (9)

A computer device includes: a motherboard with a processing circuit; a graphics display card inserted into the motherboard; a power cable with a plurality of power supply lines and a plurality of data lines; and a power supply configured with Power is supplied to the graphics display card through the power supply lines; wherein the processing circuit obtains a first power consumption of the graphics display card through the data lines of the power cable, and the processing circuit is configured to operate according to the The first power consumption and a second power consumption of the power supply determine the operating mode of the motherboard; the power cable includes a first connector, a second connector and a third connector, and the third connector A connector is connected to the power supply, the second connector is connected to the graphics card, and the third connector is connected to the motherboard. The computer device of claim 1, wherein when the processing circuit determines that the difference between the second power consumption and the first power consumption is greater than a first power threshold, the processing circuit controls the motherboard to operate in a performance mode. The computer device of claim 2, wherein when the processing circuit determines that the difference between the second power consumption and the first power consumption is less than or equal to the first power threshold and greater than a second power threshold, the processing circuit controls the motherboard Operate in a normal operating mode. The computer device of claim 3, wherein when the processing circuit determines that the difference between the second power consumption and the first power consumption is less than the second power threshold, the processing circuit controls the motherboard to operate in the energy-saving mode. The computer device of claim 4, wherein the computer device further includes a display screen, and when the motherboard operates in the energy-saving mode, the processing circuit controls the display screen to send a warning message. The computer device of claim 1, wherein the processing circuit is configured to receive device identification data of the power supply, and the processing circuit obtains the second power consumption based on the device identification data. For example, the computer device of claim 1, wherein a QR code is provided on the power supply, and an external electronic device photographs the QR code to obtain a device identification data of the power supply, and the computer device further includes a A wireless transmission circuit is provided on the motherboard. The processing circuit obtains the device identification data from the external electronic device through the wireless transmission circuit, and the processing circuit obtains the second power consumption based on the device identification data. The computer device of claim 1, wherein the power supply is electrically connected to the graphics display card via the first connector, the data lines and the second connector, and the processing circuit is electrically connected to the third connector via the third connector. Sexually connected to one of the first data lines and a second data line among the data lines. A method for increasing the stability of a computer device, wherein the method includes: installing a graphics display card to a motherboard, wherein the motherboard is provided with a processor circuit; provide a power cable, wherein the power cable has a plurality of power supply lines and a plurality of data lines; provide a power supply, and the power supply supplies power to the graphics display card through the power supply lines; the The processing circuit obtains a first power consumption of the graphics display card through the data lines of the power cable; and the processing circuit determines the host based on the first power consumption and a second power consumption of the power supply. The operating mode of the board; wherein the power cable includes a first connector, a second connector and a third connector, the first connector is connected to the power supply, and the second connector is connected to the graphics display card, and the third connector is connected to the motherboard.

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