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    External GFX Card, Asus Station

    Discussion in 'Gaming (Software and Graphics Cards)' started by aan310, Aug 9, 2007.

  1. aan310

    aan310 Notebook Virtuoso

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    Hi, i was wondering, when these external GFX cards stations come out. i belie e it called the XG station.
     
    aan310, Aug 9, 2007
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  2. imhungry29

    imhungry29 Notebook Evangelist

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    i dont believe there is a release date. did u try to google it?
     
    imhungry29, Aug 9, 2007
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  3. aan310

    aan310 Notebook Virtuoso

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    ya i googled it, but i got no info
     
    aan310, Aug 9, 2007
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  4. imhungry29

    imhungry29 Notebook Evangelist

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    well its pretty scares on info. i havent heard anything about it lately. i saw it in a magazine and then googled it and got very few results. ATI also has an external graphics solution for notebooks coming out. its codename "Lasso" but also has very little info on it. i would say within the next year or so but dont take my word for it. im no expert. :p
     
    imhungry29, Aug 9, 2007
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  5. Kolyan

    Kolyan Notebook Enthusiast

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    I dont think that you should be count too much on these products coming out, even though the do sound nice, i dont think that a card like the 7900GTX will be able to work at full power because of the limitations of the ExpressCard slot, the transfer speeds would be lower then the standard PCIe card.
     
    Kolyan, Aug 9, 2007
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  6. eyepwnuall

    eyepwnuall Notebook Consultant

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    Yes it cant be that good cause it connects via pcmia or usb?!?!?!
     
    eyepwnuall, Aug 9, 2007
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  7. unknown555525

    unknown555525 rawr

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    I don't know how it's gunna work much, but the slot your GFX card will be plugged into is 16x with a card that controls it, then it's linked from there to your ExpressCard slot.

    IF I remember correctly, ASUS said that it would be out in a few months at the last CES, and that hasn't happened yet.
     
    unknown555525, Aug 9, 2007
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  8. coriolis

    coriolis Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    Do a search in this forum, there are tons of threads about it.
     
    coriolis, Aug 9, 2007
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  9. ShadowoftheSun

    ShadowoftheSun Notebook Consultant

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    The problem is that no matter what PCI-E bus speeds the card can provide, you will be limited by the Expresscard slot. PCMIA and USB are way to slow to provide graphics (mainly why these products haven't been out before). IIRC, Expresscard provides a PCI-E x1 lane directly from the northbridge, so the transfer speeds are far higher, but you will still be limiting the graphics card.

    Take a look here, Tweaktown did a comparison of a 7300 GT at 1x link speeds and it's native 16x. In 3DMark, the card scores at between 1/3 and 1/2 the performance of the 16x link speed-equipped card. FEAR shows performance around 2/3 that of the 16x card. Basically, the card still performs decently, but it misses a considerable amount of its power as its limited by the link speeds.
     
    ShadowoftheSun, Aug 10, 2007
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  10. IIIM3

    IIIM3 Notebook Deity NBR Reviewer

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    A guy got a hold of one in the UK, and started producing his own version... which made ASUS have to REDO IT ALL!!! So it has become delayed, it was supposed to be out buy last march. Anyways, 600 bucks, then on top of that 200 for a decent graphics card... UGH too much money.
     
    IIIM3, Aug 10, 2007
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  11. iph03n1xi

    iph03n1xi Notebook Evangelist

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    $800? I would rather just get a new laptop then...
     
    iph03n1xi, Aug 10, 2007
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  12. aan310

    aan310 Notebook Virtuoso

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    ya, same here, i was thinking along the lines of $300 total, lol
     
    aan310, Aug 10, 2007
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  13. fifafreak18

    fifafreak18 Notebook Evangelist

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    It will depend on the card it comes with but i still don't think it will be that expensive. Asus isn't stupid, they know if they price it to high people will just go "I can buy a whole new laptop for that!". So yeah expect $300-$400.
     
    fifafreak18, Aug 10, 2007
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  14. hlcc

    hlcc Notebook Evangelist

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    higher end cards will be even more bottlenecked by the expresscard(aka pci-e x1)
     
    hlcc, Aug 10, 2007
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