Asus XG Station. Release date?

Anyone know when they are going to release this thing?

For those who don't know what it is...

Its an external graphics card. A geforce 7900 i believe. Connected through the PC card slot. Although it will not be able to use the full potential (since PC card slots can only use PCI-e x1 instead of x8 of desktops) of the said gfx card, the performance over the current market cards should be quite significant.

 

The performance was estimated to match that of a ATI Mobility X1600 or GeForce Go 7600. No more, but that is a huge step up for those who have integrated graphics.

It also required you to have an external monitor attached to the XG.

Sadly though, this has been rumored for over a year now I think. It is most likely safe to say the project was abandoned and Asus isn't coming out with it for whatever reason.

 

The exact release date is:

31 November 2007

(100% reliable source)

Oh, and check out whether you do not have any other engagement on this date.

 

Hmm, I wonder if the xg station can be used along side a dedicated card to double the performace... that did be sweet. 8600m + Go 7600 performance = go 7900 gs performance hopefully.=P

 

I take this is a joke since November only has 30 days in the month.

 

Typical Asus, whip up hype about a new and innovative product and then wait months or years for it to actually come to market. If ever. For those holding their breath and waiting for the Eee PC, take note.

 

there are plenty of "hands-on" articles about it on the net. even some with some really strange release dates... feb 2007?

release this thing already............................

 

Asus eee PC + XG station would be neat

 

Doubtful. It doesn't have a slot, and the processor would DEFINITELY be a gaming bottleneck .

 

yeah... obviously a joke plus sarcasm.

 

aparently MSI and ATi are working on a similar thing..I'm pretty sure they can release it right now..but they're probabbly thinking that the 7 series cards are getting old, and losing market so they probabbly wanna wait for something that's compatible with the 8/9 series..but that's just my opinion :S

 

I hope something like that comes out (9 series for on my G1S lol)

Would be great

 

i am pretty sure xg station won't be released in north america. it is meant for the asian market only. msi's offering is a lot bigger and the card has to be passively cooled... meaning you probably won't be able to use any aftermarket card unless you change the heatsink.

 

who said we have to buy in NA?

 

anybody knows if the Asus XG station is still coming out??
I don't hear a thing about it any more

(I really hope Asus is still planning to release this wonderful thing )

 

Since they have not yet released it, I'm assuming the product is dead in the water.

 

I think so too. I read in a german mag that it got cancelled

 

I really wanted to see this thing on the market, would be GREAT for all notebook users

 

Every two weeks or so I google "Asus XG station to see any improvements, I saw this LINK: http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/01/13/ces_asus_xg_station/
It basically says that its really close to production which is good

~Andy

 

and btw if they canceled the product they would have removed it from the Asus Website -_-

 

That's good!

I think it will have a higher performance outcome than we expect.
I personally believe that the amount of bandwidth that PCIe, even 1x offers is under rated and is sufficient to atleast run a high end card at about 40% of it's actual power. Mabe I'm wrong, mabe I'm extremely wrong, but this product would be not only be great for notebook users who want to game on a 13.3" with an integrated GPU at home, and still have a light laptop for the go, but will prove that PCIe 2.0 is unnessisary and over rated.

 

I've been waiting for this product for a year or more, even called Asus once to ask about it and the sales reps didn't know what I was talking about, I had to point it out ot them on their site.

This kind of thing is looooong overdue. I look forward to using it along with my Inspiron 1720. I got mine with a T7250 and GMA X3100 to save on battery life but really looked forward to getting one of these to game with.

All they need to do now is get it to work with a laptop's own LCD somehow and it will be perfect.

 

The problem with this is the estimated price is $500.00 to $1000.00, and with laptop prices dropping fast, you could just buy a newer better laptop with a better video card already in it.

Heck the 8800gts 512mb Gateway laptop was only $1150.00 at best buy a few months ago.


There is just to small a market for this product at such a high price.

and my friend purchased a 7600 Go 256mb laptop for $800.00 after $50.00 rebate a year ago. which would probably outperfrom this due to the bus PCI-E 1x bus limits.

 

Any news about it? Is it still coming out or not?

 

why would you spend ~200+ on an horrifically bad external graphics solution

 

Well if you don't have dedicated graphics at all? This might be a good solution.

Actually, ASUS had a press release on May 26 2008 about the XG Station launch

http://www.asus.com/news_show.aspx?id=11426

Although we have yet the see the actual retail product. ASUS is rumored to be working on XG station 2 that utilizes a higher bandwidth port (XGP?). This isn't a bad idea infact, if we can get PCI-E 16X bandwidth available as an external option, I would buy this! An external desktop card will always be faster than any notebook solution.

 

Isnt it impossible to get pci-e 16x speeds if your laptop doesnt have the port? I think that unless Asus and other hardware companies find some way to achieve equivalent bandwidth speeds using other ports, it'll be hard for most laptop owners to utilize this option. I'd jump off my shoes if they can get me an external 8800gtx hooked up to my laptop, but unfortunately they dont even have anything close to that

 

They are probably waiting for USB3.0. Right now its not feasible.

 

Any word on how fast USB 3.0 will run?

 

No, USB 3 won't be enough. You need major bandwidth for a graphic card to work at optimal speed, at least 4000-8000 MBps.

Unfortunately it looks like we will need to wait for PCI-E external port, ExpressCard 16x, or something like XGP for us to see anything substantial for the XG station concept to work.

If Asus or any other manufacturer were to create their own solution, I'd abandon my current notebook for it. The thought to having desktop power (optionally) when your home and having portability/battery optimized all in one is not a bad idea.

 

USB 3.0 is said to have 5Gbps, which translates to 640 MBps.

 

Umm i don't know if you guys were still wondering when this thing was going to be released but its on sale in many shops in Aus for about $400 AUD. Comes with a geforce 8600gt with 256mb DDR3. Maybe i'm posting old news!

I can't find any reviews or people who own one giving feedback on the net!

 

Interesting, well over here there is absolutely no news. Maybe you can post a link of it at an online store over there in aussie land?

 

http://www.shopbot.com.au/p-80897.html

Eat your heart out

 

Has it been tested yet?
Will it be coming to the U.S. anytime soon?
Will it be compatible with other notebooks?

 

thats pretty tight. gaming EEE PC's?

 

can you even use usb 3.0 with current laptops?

 

I didn't know that usb3.0 had been ratified yet?

Weird that this thing is widely available in Aus but not in US? I don't think there has been much press / advertisement about its release, a shame really.