External Laptop GFX card...

Has anyone have anymore info on this ? I know it was in the "front cover news" on the site. I just want to know if there is any more info on the new external card. Asus had one out in 2007 now Fijitsu and AMD/ATI How does it connect to the PCIx 2.0 on the laptop? And do you still need an external monitor>? Thisis just a little info blurp i found .

http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/04/amds-ati-xgp-external-laptop-graphics-platform-goes-legit/

 

Alot of news surrounding these new external GPUs had been circling around. I doubt that spending 400 dollars on a future x600 series card with a gimmick on it is worth it. A much better investment would be a new laptop in my opininon then spending 4x for a mid end card.

Though the FPS diffrence might be like 10 fps better. but well have to w8 and see how the first review for these ext. GPus go.

 

Agree with rot112, I'd rather buy a top end gaming laptop than spend it on an external GPU.

 

It connects to a unique port on the outside of the notebook. Similar to most HP notebook's expansion port in size. It uses PCI express 2.0 8x bandwidth which gives as much bandwidth as a PCI express 1.1 16x slot, so it's very fast.

From what I've heard about it, it will need an external monitor, but I don't think that's officially confirmed yet.

Because of this special external PCIe 2.0 8x slot, any video card you put on it will NOT be bottlenecked by the port, even an HD 4870x2 doesn't use that much bandwidth. AMD has stated before that the device that houses the external graphics card is very inexpensive and easy to mass produce. This should bring the box to a price under $100 so it actually doesn't seem like all that bad of an idea.

One technology that could revolutionize this, is LucidLogic's Hydra engine.
While it's origionally meant for desktops they say they can put thier tech in notebooks to allow external graphics that will work on the main notebook display. The hydra engine should be out sometime in 2009, and the notebook version is still just speculation.

 

hmm unkwon nice point. If it is just like 100 buck plus like 150 for the card then I will be the first person to personally review it.

But like i said sounds like those of us who have some doubts should just sit back and see.

 

Or you could just get a LG P310 13.3" w/ 9600M GT GDDR3

 

Great idea...

But I think people are forgetting that laptop manufacturers will jack up the price to add the special port...

 

Fujitsu SA3650 is rumored with a price of €999.

 

did he just say 1337?

lawl

 

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=193_745&products_id=8204

 

So far, this ATI XGP technology has only shown up in the Fujitsu GraphicBooster for their Amilo Sa 3650 laptop which is supposed to be released soon in Europe. The ATI XGP will be exclusive to AMD Puma notebooks and will require a special, proprietary connector. I really hope it will expand to many more notebooks soon. Too bad its AMD exclusive, I hope there'll be an Intel solution, perhaps from Nvidia.

You will be able to view the video on the notebook's monitor as well as an external monitor or both at once.

External graphics are a fantastic technology, the big benefit I like is the notebook will have much less heat because the GPU is external and because of this, you'll be able to overclock the GPU more than if it was in the notebook itself.

This tech is great to give small laptops the gaming ability of larger notebooks designed for gaming for one thing. I really hope that external graphics for notebooks will catch on next year and we'll see concrete products hitting the market. I don't think we'll ever see the XG Station released because it uses the Expresscard slot which provides too little bandwidth for gaming-grade cards. Perhaps with the Expresscard 2.0 standard to come out sometime in 2009.

 

I think for the foreseeable future this'll become common place since video card technology is getting bulkier and heavier instead of smaller and more portable. I think gaming notebooks already hit a design plateau if you want something powerful it'll have to be huge and the battery is another consideration. So this'll be a solution until someone "invents the wheel again".
But it's something you'll just use at home instead of lugging it around with the laptop. This is my prophecy.

I really wish I had the X305 q708 instead of the q701, but if they make a compatible external gpu that sells for $200 tops. I'll bite.

 

The proprietary connector kills it for me. Many laptops come with esata connections, which would be plenty for this need. The proprietary crap is just to keep the money in ATI's court. Kind of cool idea, lame implementation.

I hate big business.

 

Are you sure ESata provides enough bandwidth? If true, that's fantastic news and I'm sure someone will create a solution to benefit many more notebooks and thus receive far more profit than AMD will from their solution.

It stinks that the ATI XGP is limited to AMD notebooks but it does give them a nice selling point over Intel, especially since Intel definitely bests AMD in mobile processors (and desktops especially with Nehalem's launch).

The ATI XGP is the only reason I would consider getting an AMD Turion notebook, no offense to anyone.

AMD was wise to acquire ATI, if only AMD's processors were as good as ATI's GPUs, sigh........

 

Call me when I can drop a desktop card in it.

 

That's a bit of a debate/we'll have to wait and see. They claim the proprietary can get 4.0Gbps, but I heard elsewhere that it's less. an esata goes to 3.0Gbps. Neither are really pci-e 16x speeds. Maybe I'm just running my mouth. I just think this whole thing is a gimmick. It's true GPU's are getting big, but time usually makes most of our tech smaller. I'd rather have to game on a desktop. My laptop is for mobile use. I don't understand why everyone wants a laptop and expects it to perform as well as a desktop. If you want the real power, go for a desktop. What's the point in having a laptop just to strap it to some external device?

 

For cheapskates like me, who doesn't have enough money to own both a desktop and laptop.

 

um yeah, especially with the financial crisis. And Desktops and laptops are going to merge because portability is the future. Infact alot of talk for years now is that cell phones will replace pc's as the real personal computer. I think that's the goal but it's being hindered because again instead of getting smaller the available tech is just getting bigger.

 

Would be a great thing for me as a student
have all the portability and battery I need during the day and enough gaming power to chill in evenings..

but I must say that it needs to be able to use interal display... (saw somewhere that they plan to have it implemented by H1 2009)
once you switch to external display u need to have everything external, and the laptop then becomes just a big peace clutter on your desk.. Where will i put my beer then??

 

A. Cheapskates, build your desktop. You can build a pretty powerful desktop for pretty cheap. You could build a desktop for around the price of this extra external stuff.

B. You're fooling yourselves. Portability is great, but if you haven't noticed, computer tech generally starts big and goes small. Laptops will likely always have heat issues.

 

The way the market is right now though...

Powerful laptop + external video card + external monitor and whatnot, could easily be more expensive than cheap laptop + custom gaming desktop rig.

 

Cheapskates can build a desktop and buy a netbook for less than the cost of a mid-high gaming notebook (9600M GT range).

Desktop in sig: $780 with a 22" monitor (3dMark06 score of over 13,000)
Netbook: $300-$3.50

Total: $1,100

If you already have a monitor or want to buy lower end parts (That still outperform all but SLI gaming notebooks) you can easily build a system that will keep your total cost for 2 systems under $1,000. To go from middle range laptop to high end laptop costs you $500-1000. The cost to go from a mid range desktop to great gaming machine is $100-200.

Also, regarding eSata bandwidth, 3Gbps = about 375 MB/s theoretical bandwidth. PCI-E 2.0 8x slot = 4 GB/s (4,096 MB/s) theoretical bandwidth. There's no way eSATA is fast enough to run anything faster than a PCI video card, and I don't see you all jumping at the chance to use an X1300.

 

If they can get the external box around $100, and the external port is adopted by most notebook manufacturers AND is compartible with any notebook GPU chipset, then it is definiltey a great idea.

Even if it does require an external monitor, that's the whole point isn't it? Use it as a desktop at home, but take it on the road and lose some performance and functionality.

In addition, it would be nice to have an option if your latop it is 2-3 years old and want to get a little extra out of it. For $100 + video card, it's a worthy investment.

 

yeah true hwingnut

for people with older gpus in their laptos, something like this will save them alot of money on a new desktop, allowing them to squeeze as much out of their systems as they can.

Now HOW MANY FPS INCREASE WILL WE SEE IN GAMES WITH THESE ext gpus.

 

You're forgetting a few things.

A. 3-4 year old CPU's will be slower and could become a bottleneck.

B. As of yet, these external GPU's will be slower than if they were plugged into a pci-e 16x slot in a desktop.

You can't have it all. Laptops are slower.

 

lol you guys are all wrong. who said there will be a x600? are you out of ur mind? an XGP brings so much mobility and power

 

The Asus XG Station last I heard requires an external monitor, but the AMD one doesn't. It's a shame that Fujitsu is the only one right now that has an XGP to release and it's only meant for the Amilo sa3650. It's as if other companies are waiting until exclusivity for the connector expires and they can use it on Intel chipsets. Good for everyone else, but crappy for AMD.

Here's the Amilo GraphicBooster on display:
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