MSI's GUS II: External Thunderbolt GPU

Today the deal breaker is given by the opportunity through Optimus to redirect the signal on the internal screen. That feature to me is enough to pay a premium price for a nVidia card (also the drivers to be honest). Anyway if the solution will grant the possibility to redirect the signal without further "magic" an AMD card will be suggested for a new setup

 

Plug N Play and working on the internal screen and it's a 100% buy for me.

 

Nvidia Multi-monitor supported GPUs and connectors

 

So is there any such product actually out in the market and affordable/ reasonably priced? Or its still all .. Hope-Ware.

 

For thunderbolt, I don't believe so.

 

What about non-thunderbolt?

 

vaporware.
working prototypes available. pics of products. many promisses. no real product yet.
but there isn't many notebooks with thunderbolt too.

 

Now that even some Windows 8 tablets are coming with Thunderbolt, MSI needs to establish themselves as the leader in EGPU solution.

 

There are several, but I am no expert on them.

 

performance is very crippled due to high bottlenecked interfaces. that's why thunderbolt is great, because it has a much much higher throughtput that enables pci-e 4.0 speeds which translates from 85% to 100% (no loss) of performance.
also because it's a connector with a cable means you don't have to open your notebook to connect things to an internal mini pci-e. but imo that's a minor issue.

that's why we are all looking forward for a thunderbolt solution.

 

Netstor rolls out Thunderbolt-powered PCIe and storage expansion options for Macs -- Engadget

Could this be used to plug in an egpu?

 

It depends on the drivers. I don't think it would work.

 

Hmmm...

Wondering why they haven't released it yet.

They must be having driver/ software / hardware issues usinging it with a laptop with an already dedicated GPU inside it.

They'd need to figure out how to get it to output to an internal monitor while switching both the dedicated GPU and Intel HD off.

Sony didn't have to worry about that with the Vaio Z because there was no dedicated GPU running only the HD.

Another problem is probrobably the situation where you unplug the e-GPU suddenly. If you did that with the Vaio Z you'd get a blue screen of death.

 

because they suck thats why.
they are probably focusing on making somekind of specially design enclosure so they can justify when they sell the device for 2k to mac users.

just forget it. we don't need this . let's just wait for hwtools or msi device that will trully work and be affordable.

 

Signed.
I hope it helps guys!

 

Because it not goona make much money or even lose money at this moment.

Consider the amount of people who game -> amount of people who need a eGPU -> amount of people who have a TB notebook -> amount of TB notebook even available.

The number is sooooo small.

Please dun say people gonna do dedicated rendering with a eGPU.

 

no it's not small. that's just an excuse. I for example work for a company where we need this device and that is willing to buy at least 10k units.

 

Company name. Name or it didn't happen

 

Tell your company to write MSI a letter

 

I can't say what company it is. But it's a company that develops medical imaging systems worldwide.
but that's just one company. I'm 100% sure the demand for such a product is huge and that is profitable.

I've even made some contacts in order to get funding to setup a company to develop such a product.
I had very positive feedbacks but the funding was too high and it wasn't granted unfortunately.

 

I'm just curious, but what thunderbolt notebooks have you been anticipating? How do you feel about the tablet movement and Windows 8, and how such is changing the whats available in laptop? How does one pronounce your username?

 

I'll take a stab at this question. The tablet movement is a move by the industry to "play catch up" in some sense in response to Apple's iPad. Hate on Apple all you want, but they've been consistently setting industry standards, whether it be for the better -in the case of the iPhones, Retina Display (high resolution screens), sleeker designs or even thunderbolt; or whether it be for the worse- non-easily repairable laptops, non-removable batteries, lock-down systems both on the hardware and software side.

However, while Apple is credited with setting the trend, I PERSONALLY feel that they can rarely maintain the standard. Take a look at iPhone vs. Android, objectively Android is doing far better in sales than the iPhone and is developing at a far faster pace/rate than Apple. Maybe I'm wrong, but it does seem that way, and it's only logical because Apple caters to the premium market, and not to everyone including your average joe. Notably however is that Apple will always be a major player in tech, especially in these coming years, but they'll always have to be innovating or be the risk takers and put themselves out there first. If not, they'll lose their edge. Look at all the Windows manufacturers, they're still playing catch up in terms of keyboard, touchpad, screen, build quality and even connectivity (ports and whatnot with thunderbolt).

I think that the mainstream market (non-gamers, casual users who simply use web browsing, facebook and whatnot) will eventually migrate to the tablet. And Windows 8 is right in targeting that market segment. I also think that desktop gamers will eventually migrate to laptops +egpu instead of gaming laptops. I think gaming laptops will eventually be a thing of the past. And the only ones using desktops are going to be professionals in their respective fields who require such computing power. Watch Intel in the coming years. Although they've never been a player in graphics (always getting a bad rep for integrated gpu) but the HD4000 is living proof that Intel can do graphics. Give them a couple of years to flesh out the technology, integrated graphics will soon become a force to be reckoned with, slowly phasing out dedicated graphics in the mainstream/gaming arena, not the professional field however.

Anyways, that's just my ramblings. I can't tell you how to pronounce his name after all that though ha.

 

Go read other topics about thunderbolt notebooks. There have been some announcements but they are still a few. we don't have a thunderbolt egpu yet too. thunderbolt will become mainstream. why? because intel wants it. and intel owns the market. they didn't developed thunderbolt for egpu's or something they just wanted to create a faster interface.

Go read Moore's law. pc's will become smaller and smaller and will consume less energy in the future as the number of transistors grow.
tablets like it or not are here to stay. in the far future all pc's wil be tablets.
In a few years you'll be able to play crysis at full hd maxed out in your smarthphone.
The question is that if there will be software to take advantage of such processing power.
Also cloud solutions are being developed so that will became mainstream too.
Desktops are going to start to disapear because notebooks will be very price competitive and have similar performance.

Nowadays the tablet movement won't change anything. we had tablets 10years ago and nothing changed. windows 8 will increase the tablet numbers. but beware because windows 8 ARM really sucks because it doesn't run x86 programs. on the other side there's android for x86.
it's still in it's infancy and it will take a while for more powerfull cheap tablets to appear.

In less then 1 year you can buy a cheap sub 500$ notebook with thunderbolt that you can upgrade a cpu and add a thunderbolt egpu and have better performance then most desktops at about the same price. this will drastically reduce the e-waste, eletrical consumption, manufacturing waste and price.

There's only one problem with portable electronics, the battery life. battery technology didn't improved or improved very little in the last 15 years. since cpu and gpu power consumption maintains or even increases every generation the battery life remains about the same.
the only improvements are made thanks to the multicore architecture, LCD's and others, not in the battery itself.
if battery life improved as cpu's increases processing power nowadays we would have batteries that lasted for weeks.

my username is spelled "riskinhos".

 

Signed the petition, I would like to connect a GTX 670 or a 680 to a laptop someday.

 

it seams I guess the future. that or they have seen my post lol

9:00 AM - June 28, 2012
Microsoft said tablets will outsell desktop PCs in 2013, partially thanks to Windows 8 devices.

source: Microsoft: Tablets Will Outsell Desktop PCs in 2013



Actually, there's a problem with these calculations. They don't count the thousands unbranded or not very known brand china made tablets that sell like hotcakes for even less then $100. or even x86 windows 7 based for less then $350.
But the thing is that nowdays tablets still have a limited processing power and even the most powerfull ones can't be compared to even low powered notebooks and are very expensive.
A tablet (slate type) is very similar to a notebook. it has minor changes.
in the future they will be much more powerfull and cheaper.

the thing is how the input methods will change. in smarthones the change was obvious from keys to touchscreen.
But in notebooks/tablets I really don't known what will happen. I don't see people typing on a piece of glass. it just doesn't work. maybe convertible tablets will be the future but those have been around for many years, though the adoption was never massive and even nowadays it remains a niche.

 

I foresee more neck pain and finger injury.

 

There's Swype. I think that's the future of typing on smartphones/tablets. It's quite easy to pick up and speeds up your tapping/typing significantly.

 

Neither PCs, not laptops, nor tablets offer a truely "complete" ergonomic experience. Tablets are great when on a couch or casual working/ reading or maybe when taking written notes on a table.

There is a balance.. that needs to be found. The one ring to rule them all.

 

would you write a book on a glass surface? forget it. it won't happen. physical keyboards ftw

 

Ha good point, definitely wasn't expecting that. Hmm, maybe voice? I could see someone trying to compose an essay or a book by voicing it out. If typing is required then maybe a projection of the keys can be activated through the tablet? I remember seeing that somewhere before, a laser projection of the keys and it will shine on a surface in which you type, where heavy typing over an extended period of time is required.

 

I've had an external bluetooth laser keyboard like those. it's a piece of crap. even worse then touchscreen. people even complain about the new slim design keyboards of ultrabooks. imagine having a notebook with no keys to press.
that only happens in smartphones because space is a major issue. it's a tradoff. more screen less keyboard. more keyboard less screen. with hybrids sliding keyboards that means bulky size.

 

Update on the TH05. It definitely won't be landing in July. It gets sent out for "certification" some time in July after which mass production can start, but they don't know how long the certification is going to take.

 

Crap -___-
Hopefully at least we'll get it by the GW 2 launch..

 

My guess for the TH05 is October at the earliest. Hopefully GUS II comes out before then.

 

-.-" who cares about certicication. I couldn't care less about a certification sticker. just sell me the dam product already...
we should try to ask them for selling prototypes without certification.

the first one to launch the product wins the jackopt

 

Im also a bit disappointed that there are not much laptops released with thunderbolt

 

They probably need certification from Intel to sell the product and I agree with you, the first one to launch the product wins the lottery.

 

actually the needed certification was the reason why the Asus G75VW didn't initially shipped with thunderbolt and will only be added to future models.
future doesn't look bright for thunderbolt. you need special chips from intel, you need certification.
with usb 3.0 is very different, all you need is to respect the specifications and anyone can make a device. that's why they are cheap.
maybe in the future some random chinese company can reverse engineer the thunderbolt interface and sell devices at a fraction of the current cost.

 

The certification has its good aswell.
It makes sure that the spec datarates are being reached, and that the drivers are able to do hot-plugging.
I just remember when I bought the first HP Elitebooks with USB 3.0 the datarates where so crappy just the half of the promised ...

But I admit that Intel might take a bit too accurate with that certification.

 

the certification means it works as promised in the specs, I have to agree with you thats one hell of a good thing.

thunderbolt has teams of developpers that go for each company with thunderbolt kits to teach people how to implement that. From the IDF comments they are being overworked.

Sincerely while Im also waiting for this to happen, I do prefer that they go for the cautious way.

interesting article about the TB cable

http://arstechnica.com/apple/2012/07/why-thunderbolt-cables-will-be-expensive-until-2013/

 

MSI GUS II is already Intel certified since many months ago.

https://thunderbolttechnology.net/sites/default/files/Thunderbolt-devices-computex.pdf

They really could just sell it if they wanted.
We can also see that the Bplus TH03 is also certified which is great. It seams that TH05 thunderbolt egpu is really on the way. let's just hope it doesn't take much longer.

 

How do you know that they are all certificated?

The Asus Laptops on the sheet f.e. weren't at the time of the computex due to the rigoros cetification of Intel.

 

because at that time Asus anounced it would ship thunderbolt versions in July.
notebooks are not manufactured from a day to another. it requires a lot of time. imo they wanted to ship earlier because the certification was delayed or ongoing. also intel has demonstrated msi gus II as one of the thunderbolt products. they wouldn't do it if it wasn't certified.

 

So you dont know if they are certified or not

 

I confirmed again from an inside source from MSI that the product was certified in Q1 2012 by Intel and that expected comercialization was pending on the adoption of thunderbolt in notebooks.
Since the number of notebooks with thunderbolt are just a few they decided not to sell the product but they might reevaluate the situation in a few months.
imo a bad move.

 

Well maybe when they finally get around to release it, they can stick a Nvidia GT650 in there and charge $300 for it. A reasonable price

PS: From all the rumor i heard, GT650 is just the GT640 with GDDR5 instead of DDR3, and slightly faster clock.

 

That would be too weak. In test sample there was HD7870, which is way way faster.

 

In a desktop it is faster, but when you factor in Optimus the nvidia would be a much better card for an egpu

 

GT640 and GT650 desktop versions are big failure from nvidia. Price is awful and perfomance is non existant.
Optimus for Egpu? What good does it do?

 

it does wonders. check the sticky.


"Bplus Technology Co., Ltd. ‎Stephen Seguin
We use Thunderbolt IC supporting PCIe2.0 x2.
We also know there is PCIe 2.0 x4 chip, however, too complecated for small and reasonable design.
Probably, we will release x4 version next year"

great. playing all this time with stupid enclosures and mini pci-e crap and they don't even consider a 2.0 x4 version. MSI GUS II does 2.0 x4!
what a piece of crap. really disapointing.



Let's just hope they get it into the market in this century.