MSI's GUS II: External Thunderbolt GPU

sure that's true but you can make a system that you can't hear even if you are just like 1cm apart from it. like 0.001db.
I had an almost 0db desktop. 0 fans or moving parts. I couldn't even hear the HDD inside the case.

 

vrzone's Intel Thunderbolt Briefing at Computex - New motherboards and devices! GUSII snippet:

 

This is more of an ot not picking but Db is a logarithmic system, and there isn't sensitive enough sound equipment to measure that low noise. Generally anything under 20-25db is considered silent since that is the ambient room noise.

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Gigabyte M2432 laptop with GeForce GT 440 graphics card dock hands-on -- Engadget

 

Of course there are quiet cards and ways to make it quiet, but can you fit it into the enclosure ? No.


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LOL, what is a enclosure in NBR people eye ? It wont matter huh.

 

I'm sure we are talking particularly about the GUS II. And there is a reason why they didn't introduce the connector only without the enclosure


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That is so great! it's the first notebook with docking station with an egpu solution that uses a desktop graphic card. previous solutions used mxm cards. that means it can be eventually hacked to use other cards. But I wonder about the interface but it can be even better then thunderbolt.

drivers are already available.
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3959#dl
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4052#kf

 

It has a proprietary connector and IMHO and the GT440 is a crappy card; it is equal to a GT555M so far from being a "real" desktop card (in fact is often provided by OEM inside their PCs).
Considering the size it's able to manage only single slot cards and to me sounds like a complete OEM product with no sign of the standard PCIe connector

Nothing to do here

 

Im getting my hopes up again but a single slot will severely limit the gpu options, not that the power supply wouldnt.


this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150612


From a quick look at newegg I could only find the 7750 from XFX as the only current with enough power gpu that comes in a single slot config. If you go higher than that or even the same 7750 they are generally dual slot

 

It gonna depends if it is space restriction or hardware restriction.

 

if it can be hacked to have another desktop graphic card, it will could transform into the fastest notebook on earth depending on the docking station connector.

I don't known why people complain about single slot solutions. that's the most easy problem to solve.

 

The problem is that the GT440 is an OEM card, so inside the dock, the GPU could be also soldered instead of having a standard desktop connector 16x (AFAIK none has teared down the dock yet).

With 28nm production, single slot solution cooler can be easily managed.

 

let's hope it's not soldered or if it is that it can be unsoldered and that drivers will work for other cards.
but I'm much more worried about the docking station interface throughput

 

I find a external with cable more appealing to a dock though.(Assume same performance). Keep heat and noise away from my face.

 

of course that's MUCH MUCH better but unfortunately you can't go to a store and buy such a solution can't you? at least until someone or MSI realises the potential market and releases such a product.
At least this gigabyte product really exists and it even has drivers and everything. that's very unusual. this thing might work.

 

If you can hack a PSU together there will be single slot GTX670 cards around.

 

now that is much more interesting

 

just add an external psu and let the device open to make more space and you can put any graphic card in the world in it.
this is a non issue.

potential problems are:
-unremovable soldered graphic card
-lack of driver support / unable to use other cards
-low bandwith of the docking station connector

AnandTech - Computex 2012: MSI GPU Technologies


"GUS is what part of the world has been waiting for - an external GPU housing. Data transfer comes through a Thunderbolt cable to provide 10 Gbps bandwidth, and MSI state they should be selling this housing with a GPU up to 150W, so 7870, 7850 and 6850 models to begin with in Q3/Q4 if demand is high enough and Thunderbolt takes a hold in the market."

 

This sounds like a "go and buy a thunderbolt notebook with hope!"

Anyway Q3/Q4 is far enough to wait directly 2013 with several other competitors. The first supplier that will provide the kit will grant better sales.

 

they said they would sell by the end of April. I hope it's just a delay.

When buying a thunderbolt notebook people have to be careful about the thunderbolt chip...

 

The T430s is for sale in NA already.

By the way, I feel they are saying "Buy a thunderbolt machine and pray"

 

initial adoption is always problematic. High prices, low availability of products and the list goes on.

I bought this mbp for 2 reasons, it was readily available just walked out of the store with it (against the x220 that would take me 2-3 weeks to get one) and thunderbolt.

Im hopeful that soon enough we should have it available. they wouldnt show vaporware twice.

 

Yes but it wont work under OSX...

 

we don't known that yet.

actually the msi gus II presentations are made with a macbook. but I think they are runing windows.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvIU6oMnuEw
http://weekly.ascii.jp/elem/000/000/091/91714/

 

not really relevant, since if you are playing a game you should be playing in windows anyway.

To get the drivers to work on OSX is going to be a nightmare that they are only going to endure possibly only once, if at all.

 

on the other side we have the sonnet solution that only has OSX drivers and doesn't work on windows or linux.
if intel provides thunderbolt drivers, like they do for their chipsets and sata controllers, it won't be an issue. problem is imo that these solutions require special drivers from the egpu manufacturer.

 

so it looks like Bplus finally decided to show their TH05 thunderbolt egpu prototype. But we haven't seen yeat any working solution like the msi one. Not that I doubt that it works.



Anyway competition is GREAT for the consumer and it would be nice if prices dropped. a thunderbolt pcb with connectors and all that is really very cheap to manufacture and companies make huge profits out similar adapters.

So I'll insist on this topic and petition to force MSI to release such a product even if Bplus or someone else releases one. The MSI product is ready for the consumer, they just have to make more and sell it.
But let's not forget that as of today no one can buy a thunderbolt egpu yet. It's all vaporware.


Today the petition reached 100 signatures.


I suggest everyone to comment on Bplus facebook too.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bplus-Technology-Co-Ltd/205378296203030



http://forum.notebookreview.com/e-g...51-diy-egpu-experiences-1046.html#post8592745
MSI GUS II close up and inside pictures










how awsome is that?
they have updated the demosntration with an AMD 7850. It's basically the best performing gfx hunder 150W. I see no reason why it shouldn't handle other more power hungry cards with an external psu connected to the card.

 

one more possible egpu to join the competition.

HighPoint Unleashes Thunderbolt T Storage Controller Boards | techPowerUp

 

I think we can slowly stop worrying about these products not making it to the market .

 

I may be mistaken but that looks like a pcie x1 slot

 

No, its x4.

 

yeah but 4x is the thunderbolt max speed. but anyway there isn't any product available and they might do a x16 version runing @4x. it might be possible. that's why I said possible. lol
let's hope for it. more competition the better.

 

thanks I gotta gget my eyes checked

 

It seems they're not open ended

 

You can either make it open ended or you can cut the graphics card. Both ways work.

 

cutting a graphic card is a bad solution imo.

I wonder if there is any performance penalty compared to a full size slot using thunderbolt.

 

Not at all, at least if the electrical connection is always 4x even if the physical one is 16x

 

the opposite device we all need:

source: First Look: ASUS ThunderboltEX PCIe Upgrade Card by VR-Zone.com

 

So the 7850 can work with the MSI GUS II? At full power? Because that is one hell of a card.

 

the 7850 works without even needing an external PSU. the demonstration unit used a 7850. it only has a 130W TDP. MSI GUS II max TDP is 150W.

but if you remove the top of the enclosure and if you use an external psu, then even a Radeon HD 6990 with 375W TDP would work. as well as any other pci-e graphic card in the world will work even if it has a 9999W TDP. you just need to provide the space and the power and that's very easy and it takes seconds.

 

If the 7850 works without any need for modding, I am SUPER excited for this to hit the consumer market (whenever that may be). Hopefully the fact that the TH05 has plans to launch in July kicks MSI into full speed production.

 

Im more interested in pairing this with a 660 or a 670, due to optimus.

 

I'm more interested in getting a real product in my hands.

I got to admit, 7850 sounds so great. but whitout optimus...too bad nvidia doesn't make better priced cards.

 

the idea of optimus is to increase the bandwidth and plug and play connectivity.

the 660 should work without any mods, and it should be priced closer to the 7800 series as well

 

Why would you need Optimus for an eGPU? I know the only time I would be plugging it in is when I game and therefore Optimus is unnecessary.

 

Optimus compression that improves eGPU performance significantly is only enabled on x1 PCIe links and with an integrated Intel primary GPU. x2 or higher links disable optimus compression so won't give you any boost. Until today we were not able to unlock this compression for other internal dedicated GPUs and wider links. All that will be important in a TB eGPU buyer's guide is how the GPU performance scales from x16 to x4 (depending on TB implementation, but should be x4 by default). I don't have any numbers on that but you will find some AMD / NVIDIA scaling comparisons in the internets.

 

there are many numbers around. performance is about 85% at worst cases. average is 90%. it's really great. almost bottleneck free.

 

Currently (speaking about the latest drivers) Optimus would not provide any benefit about the "bandwidth", because the compression is enabled only if a x1 width connection is detected.

 

if optimus was enabled on thunderbolt we would just see a about 5-10% performance increase.
AMD cards (at this moment) are more valuable for the money, so that difference isn't really noticed. they also have other advantates like AMD eyefinity. being able to connect 3 monitores with a single card. to do that with nvidia you need a 680 that is not cheap, or multiple cards.