Any eGPU solution for Microsoft Surface Pro?

Microsoft Surface Pro comes with i5 ivy processor and integrated intel HD4000, it would be nice if any eGPU solution worked on it so i can replace my laptop with Surface. Any idea?

 

Only accessible port is the USB 3.0 one. No eGPU solution for that. Only real other possibility is a wireless mPCIe solution proposed by a wilocity rep here or if can make a cutout for the wifi slot then use a wired mPCIe solution.

Microsoft Surface Pro is otherwise a standout, higher performance tablet:

Processor: Intel Core i5 (Ivy Bridge)
Weight: 903 grams
Thickness: 13.5 millimeters
Display: 10.6-inch ClearType Full HD (1080p) capacitive touchpanel
Battery: 42Wh
I/O: microSDXC, USB 3.0, Mini DisplayPort, 2x2 MIMO antennae
Software: Windows 8 Pro
Accessories: Touch Cover, Type Cover, VaporMg Case & Stand, Pen with Palm Block
Capacity: 64GB / 128GB
Availability: "Three months after" the Windows 8 launch this fall
Pricing: To be determined

 

Not there yet, but Acer W700 comes with Thunderbolt. I'm with you. Tablet + E-GPU has great potential.

 

Thanks Nando, hopefully wireless mPCIe solution will available soon.

 

So mean W700 able to do eGPU?

 

Yes, using it's Thunderbolt port + Thunderbolt eGPU enclosure such as MSI GUS-II or BPlus TH05. Anandtech sees the W700 as the start of huge potential primarily because it can consolidate tablet, notebook and desktop functionality (storage, eGPU) in one unit. Very impressive. Enough for ultraportable owners like myself to reconsider their next purchase (2570P, X230, MBA, etc).

REF: AnandTech - Acer's Iconia W700 Ivy Bridge Windows 8 Tablet: The Start of Something Big .

Thunderbolt opens up multi-GPU CUDA processing possibilities as well. Imagine a Windows equivalent FASTRA-II supercomputer driven by your tablet

 

you can get windows 7 tablets on ebay for less then $400.
there's already many slate tablets around with great cpu's and windows 7 and usb3.0.
GIGABYTE - Notebook / Slate & Device - Slate & Device - S series - S1081
this one even has a 2.5" 9.5mm slot. instead of crappy pci-e SSD's
also there's much more powerfull convertible tablets on the market.
The only thing I see different is the thunderbolt port.

People are talking about it's great to have an ivy bridge cpu thinking it's very powerfull and sh**t but it will probably pack just a crappy, though better then atom, i3-330UM with a MAX TPD of 18W.
cpu would bottleneck the thunderbolt egpu. imo you couldn't play crysis even on medium details.

as you can see here:
Mobile Processors - Benchmarklist - Notebookcheck.net Tech
it isn't much better then an Atom cpu and it consumes way much more power.
It's an over hyped product.

Thunderbolt cool. Too bad it's not worth to use an egpu with it with such a crappy CPU.

 

Don't know where you are getting your information from, but are you seriously comparing a low voltage IvyBridge with lowly Atoms? Even comparing a generation old SandyBridge low voltage i5-2437m would be a disgrace. I mean Atom is that low in the chain. You'll feel the slow down even in web browsing while i5-2467m will be perfectly fine.

Another thing, that Gigabyte tablet has a Atom, so it is crap IMO. Where are you seeing Windows 7 tablets at $400? Are you talking about the 3 year old Core2Duo ones, or are you talking about Atom ones again?

Please.. Surface is not an Atom crap. There is a huge difference between Atom and even the first i3. Atom is at the level of Core2Duo L7500 (1.6GHz) - a low voltage cpu from five years ago.

 

a UM cpu isn't powerfull enough for anything more then an atom cpu already does resonably. also battery life is going to be less then an half and the cooling system will need to be big. with an atom you don't even need a fan. actually you don't even need an heatsink. and it consumes so little power that it can last for a day. try that with a 17W TDP cpu.

 

Certainly, the atom will be more efficient but keep in mind the 17W TDP is at max loading. Run a UM at it's lowest multiplier by setting max CPU to be 5% in windows and it will sip very little power.

We can use their Passmark scores for a performance comparison. The latest dual-core 32nm atom is about the same performance as a U7700 from 2007. The Ivy Bridge UM CPU is 3.5-5.3 times faster and compares favorably to previous gen full powered i3/i5 CPUs and is not far off from the higher turbo-boosted full powered i5 CPUs. It's certainly no lightweight. Can see for yourself:

N270 Atom @ 1.60GHz = 303
N2800 atom @ 1.86Ghz = 723
Core2Duo U7700 @ 1.33GHz = 750
i5-3317U @ 1.70GHz = 2516
i5-450M @ 2.40GHz = 2522
i3-2310M @ 2.10GHz = 2621
i5-3427U @ 1.80GHz = 3830
i5-2540M @ 2.60GHz = 3831
i5-3320M @ 2.60GHz = 4481
i5-3360M @ 2.80GHz = 4677

 

Obviously you haven't used the ULV/LV CPUs or you have experience from 4-5 years ago. If you have experience with Atom/AMD C-50 equipped netbook, you will know that even basic web browsing with multiple tabs lag because the lack of CPU power (with 2-4GB RAM). Try the same thing on a ULV/LV CPU, you won't feel that lag any more. These CPU will perform at least 70% performance of the regular voltage ones while Atoms are so crappy it's not even worth mentioning.

Also, you can't run an Atom without a heatsink. I had a single core Atom N440 equipped Sony Vaio W, it was always warm/hot with the fan running all the time, and used about 6-7W when idle. I can get my thinkpad X220 with regular voltage core i7-2620m as low as 7W idle. i5-2467m LV CPU is also on similar level, except that the ceiling (max allowed TDP) is smaller. So it's not that bad as you think.

 

don't known if you come from another planet but I use a netbook and Iexperience no lag at all. and I've it without an heatsink. and I get 10hours of battery life. just stop it. microsoft doesn't need more fanboys.

 

Haha. Okay, if you have no problem (no lag) with an Atom and don't need anything more powerful, good for you. 10 hours battery life sound amazing. I hope that's not with a bulky battery hanging out in the rear.

I will be a MS fanboy or not after I see the build quality and reviews of Surface. I am okay with intel's low voltage cpu's that goes in Ultrabooks at the moment, but no thanks to Atom.

 

Thanks for sharing this. I was kind of worried that the surface wouldn't be sufficient power-wise but this thing is actually, at minimal, going to be on par with the vpcz1190x that I'm typing on right now.

 

That score on the i5-3427U is bogus. Check how many sources the score is coming from. Only 2 sources. They could have been dipped in liquid nitrogen to keep them turbo boosted for the whole time the benchmark was running.

See how Sandybridge i5-2467m scores, 2391 with 204 samples. Compare that with regular voltage ones, i5-2410m which scores 3363 with 2609 samples. That will be the difference between ULV and normal voltage cpus, even in IvyBridge.

The newer ULV will not be as fast as the past generation regular voltage SandyBridge cpus. Typically, ULV cpu's are also more constrained by design and short on thermal room, so they tend to not be able to turbo boost for long. I'd say ulv cpus performance are only 50-70% of regular voltage cpus, but that's still good for everyday use and snappy performance. Of course, leagues better than any Atoms.

 

Um... Is it weird if one gets confused from those replies?
Are you saying that operations that requires the use of EGPUs, as this subforum is supposed to answer to, show no lag with just Atom CPUs?

Or do you believe that Atoms and lv CPUs both ''sucks'', and can't improve performance of EGPU, or other heavy operations, against all evidence from benchmarks and consumer replies?

Intel isn't a group of fools that can't even control their own merchandise line-up. If LV CPUs did not have any advantage against Atoms, then why would they manufacture it, and why would people buy it?

Well, It may have less power-efficiency, and a ‘’piece of junk’’ compared to other, regular i5 and i7 mobile CPUs in terms of performance. But it’s a far better junk than Atoms, and I’d say, in operations that tax heavily on resources, LV would definitely be better than Atoms.


P.S. Can any Atom’s internal GPU do optimus setting? I thought that it was impossible, except for those that have GMA 3150…

 

Hello,

I'm from the future. It turns out that even after 251 samples, the i5-3427U is still showing approximately the same quoted scores(3692 cpu mark). Intel has really packed some power into these ulv's. The i7 ulv actually gets over 4k cpu mark.

 

I registered just to bump this thing. I really fancy a Surface Pro but this is the only way it makes economic sense for me- I can sell my tower, minus the gpu, and have everything run through this. Whip it out and take it with me, keeping the same firefox etc sessions. Kill all the birds with one basket full of all the eggs, effectively.

Any rumours on the wireless PCIE solution or anything? There's nothing remotely like Surface Pro but with thunderbolt or alternatives & a better processor is there?

 

The only hope for a tablet with Thunderbolt port went to hell when Acer axed the Thunderbolt port on their upcoming W700. Try 2013 though.

 

If you really want an eGPU solution for the Surface Pro bug Microsoft to make a version with Thunderbolt. I don't see any option for more than 1x PCIe unless they do that. The CPU performance probably won't be fantastic either, heat is a serious concern on something like this.

The Surface has great potential, but I don't think the first version will do everything we (enthusiasts) want it to.

 

Hello man from the future,
I'm from even more future than you came from, and from my time, the number of samples shows only 11 for i5-3427u with score of 3725. Ulv could be powerful but that is only with adequate cooling. Most Ultrabooks and thin tablets lack cooling solution so performance drops a lot. You should take a look at samsung series 7 slate with i5-2467m running in nitrogen cooled vs normal air cooled (throttles the cpu). This kind of shows the problem with these super thin and light systems. I don't think Surface could be far off.

Gaming with Surface pro? I'd say forget about it. I would love to use it for Onenote only, and maybe some office work and as a media consumption device since Win8 is darn good at it now.

Imagine your cpu is throttled because the heat, you only get 1.2GHz cpu. Would that be enough to run a game with a super powerful egpu? I don't think so.