NVIDIA Introduces ESA - Enthusiast System Architecture
by Wesley Fink on November 5, 2007 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
How ESA Works
ESA will not use a new control bus, but will instead communicate over a standard USB interface. ESA sits on top of the existing USB specification and all that's really necessary is software to listen for and potentially adjust any ESA-enabled devices. Other software is already sitting on top of USB, so ESA is fortunately not breaking any new ground in how it works. The standards already exist and NVIDIA has already submitted ESA to the USB-if HID subcommittee for discussion.
As you can see, ESA is both a hardware and a software interface. Components that report ESA data and allow control must be ESA compliant. Software that reports and controls ESA components can exist either as a standard application running on top of an OS, as part of the BIOS, or it can load before an OS - or any combination of these approaches. For those familiar with USB it is OS independent, operating before the OS loads, and thus ESA can eventually be OS independent.
Software ties ESA together. As you can see in the upcoming utility that will be introduced with the 780i chipset, ESA compliant power supplies, cases, water coolers, and many other component classes can be monitored and controlled by the NVIDIA software. However, any hardware or software vendor - or a talented enthusiast - could write ESA software as ESA is an open standard. As the impetus for ESA, NVIDIA certainly has the lead in supporting ESA at this time, but if the standard is widely adopted you will see ESA components and hardware appearing from many directions.
ESA Certification
To provide consistency in ESA compliance, current ESA supporters have set up ESA certification by an independent test lab. Allion is a leading IT testing organization and is the testing lab for ESA. Allion will evaluate devices for compliance with the ESA standard and cross device compatibility.
At the very minimum, a device seeking ESA certification will have to implement the monitoring capabilities of the ESA standard - though not every type of device will need to monitor the same options, so for example one PSU may only elect to report certain voltage outputs. As an enthusiast tool, of course, every company developing ESA compliant components is also encouraged to provide control functions for the hardware. We see such things as power supplies that allow users to tweak voltage outputs and control PS fan speeds (and therefore noise) through software.
Components - like motherboards, power supplies, cases, and cooling devices - that meet ESA compliance and compatibility standards can use the ESA logo in their advertising and packaging. This will make it easier for computer enthusiasts to find components that will work with their ESA system.
ESA will not use a new control bus, but will instead communicate over a standard USB interface. ESA sits on top of the existing USB specification and all that's really necessary is software to listen for and potentially adjust any ESA-enabled devices. Other software is already sitting on top of USB, so ESA is fortunately not breaking any new ground in how it works. The standards already exist and NVIDIA has already submitted ESA to the USB-if HID subcommittee for discussion.
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| Click to enlarge |
As you can see, ESA is both a hardware and a software interface. Components that report ESA data and allow control must be ESA compliant. Software that reports and controls ESA components can exist either as a standard application running on top of an OS, as part of the BIOS, or it can load before an OS - or any combination of these approaches. For those familiar with USB it is OS independent, operating before the OS loads, and thus ESA can eventually be OS independent.
Software ties ESA together. As you can see in the upcoming utility that will be introduced with the 780i chipset, ESA compliant power supplies, cases, water coolers, and many other component classes can be monitored and controlled by the NVIDIA software. However, any hardware or software vendor - or a talented enthusiast - could write ESA software as ESA is an open standard. As the impetus for ESA, NVIDIA certainly has the lead in supporting ESA at this time, but if the standard is widely adopted you will see ESA components and hardware appearing from many directions.
ESA Certification
To provide consistency in ESA compliance, current ESA supporters have set up ESA certification by an independent test lab. Allion is a leading IT testing organization and is the testing lab for ESA. Allion will evaluate devices for compliance with the ESA standard and cross device compatibility.
At the very minimum, a device seeking ESA certification will have to implement the monitoring capabilities of the ESA standard - though not every type of device will need to monitor the same options, so for example one PSU may only elect to report certain voltage outputs. As an enthusiast tool, of course, every company developing ESA compliant components is also encouraged to provide control functions for the hardware. We see such things as power supplies that allow users to tweak voltage outputs and control PS fan speeds (and therefore noise) through software.
Components - like motherboards, power supplies, cases, and cooling devices - that meet ESA compliance and compatibility standards can use the ESA logo in their advertising and packaging. This will make it easier for computer enthusiasts to find components that will work with their ESA system.
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nullpointerus - Tuesday, November 6, 2007 - link
I know this is off-topic, but off-hand I do not know of any other way to reach AT staff.Most people in the Video forum were optimistic and open-minded about DirectX 10 and the performance/IQ claims made by Microsoft, yet most of the new games and demos introduced this year have a huge performance hit with little or no perceived IQ improvements. Hellgate London is the only game I've heard of where the performance benefits are said to be realized. Every other DX10 game/demo has been disappointing.
Unfortunately, every game seems to have different sets of issues related to DX10, leading to a variety of conflicting theories with no solid evidence.
It would be great if Anandtech published a realistic DX10 article describing the cause of the performance hit and highlighting any IQ improvements in upcoming/shipping games.
kobymu - Monday, November 5, 2007 - link
Fixed :)
erwos - Monday, November 5, 2007 - link
The return for nVidia is:1. Prestige.
2. Major influence on a new standard.
It's hard to write negative things about new standards, generally because they're invented to solve problems. Criticizing them for not having the software/hardware stack completely lined-up and out the door is ludicrous - these things take time. Would you prefer to be completely blind-sided by a new stack of things you've never heard of before coming out tomorrow?
Have you ever been involved with formulating a new standard for anything? There's nothing unusual going on here.
Regs - Monday, November 5, 2007 - link
I don't care about the graphics.I do care if the interface is easy to use and the program is written and supported accurately enough that it won't make my system unstable.
We all have different systems, drivers, software, and Os's. If they still struggle to uniform games to work stable enough on all our systems, then I have major worries about programs that intend to plug-in and control such vital operations such as cooling, voltage control, and others.
defter - Monday, November 5, 2007 - link
Read the article, ESA is an open platform. You are free to write an own small, fast, non-bloated application that utilizes ESA.mlau - Monday, November 5, 2007 - link
"open" can mean anything these days -- just look at Microsofts "OpenXML": it's theusual binary dump of their office formats with XML tags wrapped around (and the name
is pure marketing genius: combine two of the most recognizable buzzwords in the IT
industry and voila!)
emboss - Monday, November 5, 2007 - link
Indeed. PCI is an "open standard" yet you have to pay four figures to (legally) get a copy of it. Not to mention that there are many other "open standards" that have licencing fees.Given that NVidia only have a "contact us" link for getting hold of it, and given NVidia's history of secrecy, I wouldn't be at all surprised if one or both of these situations applied here. I've fired off an email but I'm not holding my breath ...
emboss - Thursday, November 8, 2007 - link
FWIW, NVidia have still not gotten back to me about it. Seems to indicate that their "open" standard is as open as Windows. What a surprise.