[geeks] Re: PC motherboards - now with integrated tube preamps!

[Gavin Hubbard]

At 13:32 24/03/2003 +0000, you wrote:
>
>> I was reading a CeBit show report at aceshardware.com and I came across
the 
>> following picture:
>> 
>> http://www.aceshardware.com/articles/x86/CeBit2003/AopenK8Tube.jpg
>> 
>> Source article:
>> 
>> http://www.aceshardware.com/read.jsp?id=55000242
>> 
>> Yes - a PC motherboard with an integrated vacuum tube preamp! I thought
at first 
>> that it had to be a windup, but April 1st is still a week away.
>> 
>> Does anyone else think that integrating high-voltage circuitry into a 
>> low-voltage system is just asking for trouble?
>> 
>No. Asking for trouble was using an Intel/AMD/whatever chip and Windoze.
Actually
>there have been numerous circuits (amateur radio equipment) that used mixed
>circuitry and I don't know of any more failures than other equipment.  The
only
>thing I would be concerned about would be the heat (you could toast the board
>after a period of time, especially around the tube socket).    Bob    

I should have explained that I see no electronic problems with the board
(provided they isolate the plate transformer). I used to build 250kV
rectifiers on PCBs and I have a lot of respect for their voltage isolation.

However in a typical PC all of the potentially HV circuitry is nicely
contained in a finger & tool proof box. Presumably this motherboard has a
350-400 volt DC circuit to energise the tube plates. I'm a little concerned
about what a badly mounted board, or screwdriver in the wrong place might
do to an unsuspecting enduser.

Regards,

Gavin