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    External Graphics cards coming soon?

    Discussion in 'Gaming (Software and Graphics Cards)' started by eyuras, Jul 22, 2006.

  1. eyuras

    eyuras Notebook Consultant

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    eyuras, Jul 22, 2006
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  2. Savri

    Savri Notebook Enthusiast

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    that would be a dream come true...power plugged in at home...mobility and batery life on the go!

    Plus talk about extending the life of a laptop and futureproofing those little buggers...
     
    Savri, Jul 22, 2006
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  3. sheff159

    sheff159 Notebook Deity

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    Crysis would run great on my system as long as I could get a hold of a DX10 external card, that would be great. That article talked about it being a solution to low powersupplies. Really if your the kind of person getting something like that for a desktop your powersupply would likley already be adquite. I think this is an amazing thing for notebook owners. I have a powerhouse system, excpt for my card. Something like this would turn my notebook into a gaming powerhouse, and that would be great.
     
    sheff159, Jul 22, 2006
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  4. azntiger1000

    azntiger1000 Notebook Deity

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    That is actually pretty interesting. Where would we plug the external to? USB?
     
    azntiger1000, Jul 22, 2006
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  5. eyuras

    eyuras Notebook Consultant

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    "The devices would plug into a PCI Express slot that links a card (or up to 32 of them) into the interface."

    so youd have to have a PCI-Express capable laptop
    but if the thing does come out i want one !

    upto 32 of them, hmm mega sli!
     
    eyuras, Jul 22, 2006
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  6. azntiger1000

    azntiger1000 Notebook Deity

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    Hmm...I dont think my laptop has PCI express slot so I'm out.
     
    azntiger1000, Jul 22, 2006
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  7. Savri

    Savri Notebook Enthusiast

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    Most new notebooks have the PCI express card correct? What do you guys think the chances are this thing is legit and could actually be something we see on the market in the next year or so?
     
    Savri, Jul 22, 2006
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  8. eyuras

    eyuras Notebook Consultant

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    yeah most new notebooks have PCI express slots (few months old ones lol)
    i think its in the pipeline.. more than likely wont happen might have to if ati/nvidia dont use smaller chips (65nm etc)
     
    eyuras, Jul 22, 2006
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  9. Gautam

    Gautam election 2008 NBR Reviewer

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    why does the cable look like a 4-pin firewire (IEEE1394) connector??
     
    Gautam, Jul 22, 2006
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  10. HollywoodRoad

    HollywoodRoad Notebook Enthusiast

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    Isn't the picture fake?

    I think for a desktop the "external" cards would plug in to the PCI-express slot like they do now but have a port to plug an additional PSU outside the case instead of having it in a completely separate enclosure. Oh the possibilities...
     
    HollywoodRoad, Jul 22, 2006
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  11. ez2remember

    ez2remember Notebook Evangelist

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    I'm very sceptical... if its via usb2, firewire, or even express card slot I don't think it would be able to handle the bandwidth of graphics card so it will lag. Graphics card has huge bandwidth in the GB's.

    The transfer rates of usb2 is 480Mbits/s = 60MBytes/s and firewire is around 50MBytes/s.
     
    ez2remember, Jul 22, 2006
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  12. Notebook Solutions

    Notebook Solutions Company Representative NBR Reviewer

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    That is 100% correct ez2.

    Even AGP 2x is faster then the faster USB 2.0 or Firewire 800. We have PCI-E 16x these days. Imagine... buying a thing for 200 bucks giving you 0,00001 fps more.

    Charlie :)
     
    Notebook Solutions, Jul 22, 2006
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  13. ownedbyaridgeback

    ownedbyaridgeback Newbie

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    I got the impression that it was more "what if" and not really "what is". From what I've been reading and I'm no expert but I believe that there would be severe power problems and if it's an external graphics card would it be able to comminicate quickly enough to run the latest games.

    If it could do all that, then it would be wonderful but somehow even though it may be in the future I don't see current hardware being able to support it.
     
    ownedbyaridgeback, Jul 22, 2006
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  14. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    They are just suggesting the idea but its very interesting. There is also some talk of external hyper transport links for AMD cpus (for co-processors etc) but there is no reason a GFX card could not use it.
     
    Meaker@Sager, Jul 22, 2006
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  15. matt_h1

    matt_h1 Notebook Deity NBR Reviewer

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    Express Card slots in laptops are 2.5GB/S So that would provide enough bandwitdh, Id say you would have a PCI-E card for the desktop with a little socket on the back that that plugs into, It wouldnt be practicaly to have that box tied to your desktop permanently.
     
    matt_h1, Jul 22, 2006
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  16. Charles P. Jefferies

    Charles P. Jefferies Lead Moderator Super Moderator

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    You would need more than an ExpressCard slot to run an external graphics card, especially a high-end one.
     
    Charles P. Jefferies, Jul 22, 2006
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  17. jeffmd

    jeffmd Notebook Evangelist

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    Well..technicaly I guess.. yea. Current ExpressCard slots are PCI-E 1x, a PCI-E graphics card slot is 16x, so I doubt an express card slot would run as fast as current internal cards, even slower ones. Also I have to wonder how far away you can run wires and maintain speeds for a 16x PCI-E device.

    We should just mandate a modular design (like we do HD bays) for video cards (with included cooling solutions) so they can be swapped easily.
     
    jeffmd, Jul 23, 2006
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  18. matt_h1

    matt_h1 Notebook Deity NBR Reviewer

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    No you probally wouldnt be able to get a 7900GTX but you might be able to get a 7600 in there which would be a huge improvement for some.
     
    matt_h1, Jul 23, 2006
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  19. Ice-Tea

    Ice-Tea MXM Guru NBR Reviewer

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    TI has been experimenting with special cable drivers for PCI Express, but at this point, none of the PCI Express 'slot' solutions, be it the MXM, Clevo or any other graphics card form factor can drive cables.

    So, as already pointed out, this is a 'wouldn't it be cool' scenario, not so much a 'let's do it' thing.
     
    Ice-Tea, Jul 23, 2006
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  20. gethin

    gethin Notebook Evangelist

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    Given the advancments in technology i dont see this being impossible. If there is enough interest in external graphics cards then someone will find a way because it means big $$$
     
    gethin, Jul 23, 2006
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  21. Ice-Tea

    Ice-Tea MXM Guru NBR Reviewer

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    I think you are slightly underestimating the challenges of driving 32 twisted pairs @2.5GB/s. I'm not saying it can't be done, but it will require some additional, expensive hardware.
     
    Ice-Tea, Jul 23, 2006
    #21