MSI's GUS II: External Thunderbolt GPU

The porpose of these topic is to gather all the information about GUS II and to make MSI to sell the product.

For those who don't known, MSI GUS II is an external thunderbolt enclosure that has a pci-e slot. Thunderbolt is great because it offers a much higher bandwidth then current solutions, possibly eliminating any bottleneck.

Why GUS II? Because it's the cheapest (about 150$) and the only solution proved to be working and not just a design or vaporware or insanely expensive. MSI already has the product, all they have to do is to produce it and sell it.

If you are worried about the lack of thunderbolt notebooks, don't be. Thunderbolt is here to stay, it's Intel that sets the rules. In the future all notebooks will support it. Just like it happened with usb3.0, msata etc. There's already many announcements of future notebooks with thunderbolt and don't worry about the supposed high prices. They will be priced at the same as other notebooks. A thunderbolt implementation costs at maximum 50$ in the overall cost. Lenovo S430 that will be available in June 2012 that has thunderbolt starts at 749$ for example.

GUS II has it's limitations. It's not a DIY product, you cannot choose many components like the enclosure etc but it's a fully working solution. It can't handle more then 150W but I'm sure if we had an external PSU it will sure handle other cards.


So what can we do to make MSI sell the product?
There are 2 ways of making them aware of their opportunity. Media exposure and potential profits.
If we can get a large amount of people to comment in their facebook page and foruns and by contacting them, I doubt they won't sell the product.
We can also threat to boycott all MSI products until they finally sell it.

If you could post here and on facebook and on their foruns and by contacting them by email and phone it would be a great help for all of us.

https://www.facebook.com/MSI.ComputerUS
http://forum-en.msi.com/
Pre-Sale Question before you buy

MSI Computer Corp. (L.A. office)
Address: 901 Canada Court, City of Industry, CA 91748
Tel: 1-626-913-0828
Sales Department: 1-626-913-0828 Press 1
[email protected]
Marketing Department: 1-626-913-0828 Press 2
[email protected]



PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION:
https://www.change.org/petitions/ms...-ltd-sell-us-the-msi-gus-ii-we-want-to-buy-it

 

lol

people who read nbr forums = <0.5% of their customer base
people on nbr that care about gus ii = ~3% of nbr population
people who care enough and would actually boycott = ~5% of the above

impact on sales in the best case scenario = ~0,001%

good luck with that

 

Yup. It'll be better to just ask them nicely

 

But objective isn't to boycott MSI is to create awareness. I couldn't care less about MSI or other company. I just want their ready made product available so I can buy it.

It's better then nothing. At least I try instead of doing nothing.
And if you 2 help me we are 3 and if you 2 get 2 more and so on and so on...

 

Strong rep power/age correlation, OP.

 

Count me in

EDIT: I asked on facebook, about product updates

 

So you're expecting them to somehow notice a one-thousandth-of-a-percent decrease in sales and attribute that to not releasing GUS II?

It's not better than nothing. It's about as pointless as it can get. You have a better chance of contacting them directly, but I really doubt anything would change even then. They're not idiots, they've done their research and decided that the product is simply unprofitable at this time. If it was profitable, it would be available today.

 

I emailed MSI the other day, they said it's still "in demo" and to "check bad on the site in future" ie. no news.

 

Perhaps they will release it after Thunderbolt laptops are available.

 

I would imagine that but MSI just released new notebooks WITHOUT thunderbolt... though they were the first to release a desktop motherboard with thunderbolt.
and I think they have no plans for future notebooks with thunderbolt too.
imo we should make a buyers list to try to push things forward.

 

While I respect your tenacity, I don't think you're going about this the best way. Rather than polarizing your potential supporters with this boycott, you could start a survey/petition and mobilize the egpu subforum userbase.

Petition I'd sign, boycott seems silly.

 

let's change things then.
https://www.change.org/petitions/ms...-ltd-sell-us-the-msi-gus-ii-we-want-to-buy-it

 

Good stuff. Another way of getting more momentum if have the gear to make it happen . . .

x4 2.0 demo on Macbooks by working around the Thunderbolt chip

With Intel dragging out release of Thunderbolt eGPU enclosures due to chip accessibility, I'm going to suggest"

 

signed 10 char

 

Boycott!!1

 

no way they release it any time soon. The market just isnt there yet. They might not even be able to meet that price level right now considering how few they would be producing.

 

Great job! I'll sign in, and tell my friends to do so too

 

glad that at least someone in this thread has sense.

reality check... MSI won't even consider producing it until it has a sales projection of somewhere in the ballpark of tens of thousands of units, and it would probably still be not enough to reach the price target. and what you have so far is... 11 non-binding e-signatures on some website.

low demand -> no profit -> no production. there is nothing you can do.

 

Last time I checked, they said they wouldn't sell the Chassis and connector alone. Rather a combo with one of their cards. And yes, I have said this once, wait until atleast '13 when Intel chipset/mobo supports TB natively, that's when you will see more TB peripherals. This is still like the very early stage of USB 3.0. Intel has not even released their DK to the public, only to a handful of companies.

Side question: Put your feet in their shoes, would you want to make more money selling laptops with dGPU ?
Sent from my wholly molly new iPad using Tapatalk

 

Then why did they spend loads time and money developing such a product? Moreover presenting it to the public a fully working system at a worldwide event.
Just because they like spending money?

I'm not going to cross my arms. and do nothing. Not when there's a fully working system that I would love to buy. A system that can change the world. Just imagine the huge amounts of energy saved just because people can now use much power efficient notebooks instead of desktops. Imagine the waste that can be saved. A desktop consumes a lot more resources.
Not to mention the obvious advantages that we all known.

I've done all this. At least I try to do something. What have you done so far? Instead of ranting and complaining try to do something useful.
We can get thousands of signatures.

 

it doesn't take them (namely MSI here) loads of money to develop the GUS II. The PCIe application has been widely experimented (Vaio PMD, not much different). They just have to put things together under Intel DK.
"system that can change the world. Just imagine the huge amounts of energy saved just because people can now use much power efficient notebooks instead of desktops" there is a reason why the majority of power users still want a desktop regardless of other alternative. No offense, but speaking of energy, and changing the world, you thought way off..
Sarge_ and I are not here to complain or rant. Forgive me, it's just let's be a bit more realistic with what you're trying do and say. I wish you luck with your approach (probably speaking for Sarge_ here too)


Sent from my wholly molly new iPad using Tapatalk

 

if you just want to bash and don't want to contribute just don't post in this topic.
you are not helping.

 

Our contribution was pointing out using logic, reason and fact that this attempt of making MSI release GUS II sooner is a complete waste of time. But hey, have fun.

 

really helpful. want to contribute some more?

 

Signed! 10char

 

As unfortunately expected the MSI GUS II is just vaporware just like MSI GUS I and many other similar solutions.
MSI GUS II is different because they have several working prototypes and it's ready for production.

But today I've got the very sad confirmation that MSI has no plans for production of MSI GUS II.
If we want such a product we really need to take action. We need much more signatures.

 

Can you please quote the info you received where MSI confirm no production plans?

 

I asked directly to one of the MSI US Sales Manager and this is what he answered:

We should then receive updates on the first/second week of June.

Simone

 

MSI Sales Manager:

imo they will produce it if they see that they can make money with it.

 

MSI and Asus released their first Thunderbolt mainboards yesterday, so we can expect some news after the computex. MSI isn't the only one working on external docks, so something more could arise in the next future

 

There are and will be on sale in late summer or late fall, one of them charges you 900$


Sent from my wholly molly new iPad using Tapatalk

 

we just need 1 working prototype in the right hands. I'll totally reverse engineer it if I grab one. components to make one are cheap. also many companies can produce custom pcb's (very cheaply). they just need the specifications.

 

it's a technology that will be useful and profitable one day, but the user base isnt there right now to make production viable for MSI or any other manufacturer. Once there is mainstream thunderbolt adoption on laptops, we will see these products starting to retail, but until then, there is no incentive for manufacturers to produce small numbers at what are likely prohibitive price levels.

 

do you have any idea of how many macbooks with thunderbolt were already sold? believe me. it's VERY profitable now.

 

Further Reply from MSI Europe:

So basically is dependant on the userbase.

 

"we still don't now when and if they will come to the market"


so if we get enough signatures we might have a chance.

 

Just to make clarity of the current situation.

My answer to their last message is quote below:

Their reply:

Anyway I still have to contact MSI USA rapresentative after Computex as agreed in our last chat, so i hope to have a final answer in that time.

To me sounds like a "no TB adapter till Q2 2013"...

 

It all depends on availability of the DSL3x10 or DSL2x10 thunderbolt chips that enable us to build an own TB / PCIe adaptor board.

If we want to reverse engineer something in the meantime, we could go with a $169 Sonnet Echo Pro box or a $599 Echo Express box that will be released in June https://secure1.sonnettech.com/prod...d=402&osCsid=d06769aae9b8d1845a36957d519eb3af

I bet one can easily unsolder a TB chip from an Echo Pro and reflow it back on an custom PCIe prototype PCB. I'd be perfectly willing to contribute to such a project.

 

Hi,

I'm also waiting for the GUS II and it will change the notebook market if it will ever be released.

But that is also the problem. Im pretty sure that they get a lot of pressure from all the notebook manufactures and also from their own NB department, because it would drastically decrease their sales of new performance notebooks.

I hope that someone will find another solution for thunderbolt.

 

I doubt that many of the people who bought those macbooks bought them for the Thunderbolt port. And for those who even use the port, most of them probably would just use them for monitors.

 

There are zoo many more benefits that an egpu can give other than gaming. Even though not many buyers bought it thinking "hey, I'm going to buy a TB egpu", if they learn about the benefits, many would jump on. I personally have told many 2011 mbp users at my school about the setup, and they said that they would buy it in a heartbeat.

 

And what benefits are those? Other than 3D Modeling/CAD?

 

much better power efficiency/performance
low cost
ability to have small, light and cheap notebooks with comparable desktop performance
easy and cheap way to setup multiple monitors
cheap and easy way to upgrade a system
increase notebook longevity

and all the benefits that a desktop gpu has.

 

Sunix to show off Thunderbolt dock at Computex by VR-Zone.com

VGA solution? can we hope a thunderbolt egpu from sunix? at least a usb3.0?

 

Eu somehow gonna get the s430 first, 1K USD with dgpu(Useless).

Get these thunderbolt thing out already, sick of my laptop fan screaming when using GPU...

 

^ you expect the external GPU will not scream as well ? ^^


Sent from my wholly molly new iPad using Tapatalk

 

My GTX670 with Arctic Cooling Accelero Mono Plus is completely silent in my enclosure, with 55°C under load temperature. Dreaming about a "silent eGPU is not so absurd

 

yes.
Charts, benchmarks 2012 VGA-GPGPU, 25 - Noise level Load
Charts, benchmarks 2012 VGA-GPGPU, 24 - Noise Level Idle

it can even be absolutely silent 0db



Sapphire Technology Web Site


you can even add your own cooler. even watercooling or other solutions. there's even aftermarket fanless or very low db vga coolers
http://www.arctic.ac/en/p/cooling/vga/430/accelero-s1-plus.html?c=2182

 

new photo from the back. it looks so great...

 

Nothing running electricity will be 0 db, but yes these solutions can be less than the ambient room noise level since it be much more effectively cooled than notebook solutions.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk