AMD developing new external graphics card interface

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/pos...ernal-gpus-may-soon-see-the-light-of-day.html

Looks pretty spiffy to me... especially being able to upgrade the graphics card separately from the machine, and not always having to bring the heavy graphics with you.

 

Every so often we see a new one of these being developed, and what always ends up happening is it is way too expensive for the benefit it gives you. I'm not holding my breath until we see the pricetag and real world performance. Though I do admit, it looks like they're doing it right this time. Now for laptop manufacturers to actually institute the interface.

 

Sounds like it just takes a PCI-Express x16 and makes it external. Not that that's a bad thing; it sounds so simple that I hope adoption is quick.

Too bad you can't install more than one video driver in Vista though, so such a system will probably need Windows 7; which thankfully will be released next year.

 

Hybrid graphics already exists in Vista. Maybe it will be a similar solution.

 

Next thing you know, instead of crappy intergrated graphics on a computer, it'll be crappy integrated graphics on a monitor...

 

If this really comes to fruition, I will immediately sell my laptop and get one, even if just to show support radical new technologies like this.

EDIT: If it has an AMD processor, that will not sway my decision for this. GPU > CPU

 

What i also want would be the ability to use any of my current desktop cards, and just slot them in a little breakout box, no new standard or 1/4 size at double the cost....

Also the biggest idea these people seem to miss, is allowing Notebooks to have a VGA/DVI/HDMI input. Wouldn't we all like a Notebook that when used at home in the same room as a desktop PC we could just unplug my videocard from my 24" LCD and plug it into my Laptops breakout boxes (or inbuilt) VGA/DVI/HDMI input.

Thus allowing me to view my powerful Desktop Quadcore workstation, on my laptop... I don't get why we my Asus can have VGA and HDMI output, but not to think that a single input would be worthwhile. It means for example my quadcore could play GTAIV now, but allow me to play it in my lap, even if i only had an integrated graphics chip.

Eventually i would like a UWB connecter to do this wirelessly from any PC in the same room. A box like this would be most useful IMO...

 

hmm interested in seeing if they can get a 4850 to run externally that would be great lol you woldnt have to ever worry about having the latest graphics card

 

That would probably upset many distributors since it means they cant charge you for upgrading an entire notebook. Besides, I think external graphics are better otherwise the notebook would get incredibly hot for high end cards. Also, as noted above, it opens the probability of using a desktop card with a laptop. True gaming on a laptop...

 

Second part is correct in that it's because of physical limitations (heat mainly). The first part is incorrect - have you not heard of MXM?

 

LoL.

 

you forgot to mention thats a fujitsu exclusive

 

Yeah I'm sure all the ladies will dig me now.

 

Fujitsu is the first one to use this ATI XGP technology, the technology itself will be exclusive to AMD Puma notebooks for now, which the Amilo 3650 is. AMD has an exclusive right to the proprietary connector for one year.

 

Although the technology is here, I have yet to see a mobile graphics card to be sold as an upgrade component. Do you have a link to such a retailer?

 

I think this is a great idea and will hopefully work out very well for AMD. It could make notebooks a more modular computing device and allow the flexibility it is missing.

 

MXM cards may be somewhat hard to come by because they haven't been implemented too much, however there are several laptops with upgradable video cards, including many high end dells and sagers.

 

Meh, even the laptops that can be upgrades rarely actually get upgrade options.

 

like asus C90s?

 

I've seen this idea before. Asus came out with a design a few years back very similar to that one, you plugged into laptop and overid the internal graphics card. There were videos showing demonstrations about it. Did it ever happen, no. With AMD it might happen but it will be tre expensive

 

Gaming on a desktop still owns the laptop again.

 

From reading about MXM on the internet it seems that notebook providers don't want people to know about upgradeable graphics, and for very obvious reasons.

How was AMD able to implement this without upsetting its partners?

 

The partners of AMD depend on AMD much less than AMD depends on their partners. If one company wants to get huffy and stop using AMD chips (which would be a HUGE move to ditch both AMD and ATI, possibly fatal for a company), AMD will still have plenty of others willing to buy their chips. AMD can do this because there no one big enough to blackball them over it.
The problem is, none of those companies will willingly implement this technology - they'll leave out the ports unless AMD makes a clause that requires it to be on a laptop with certain graphics or something.

 

I wonder if it's true?
http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10820&Itemid=34

 

That's a pretty interesting development if it's true. The price seems reasonable as well.

 

A member here named toyish already has it and has posted his first impressions in the post below.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=4246031&postcount=74

I wonder what they mean by officially launching it tomorrow when I hear its somewhat available in Europe. Perhaps they mean launching it here in North America?

 

Agreed with the first part. I think the most important thing here is the potential market of this new technology. Notebook sales have officially exceeded desktops in favour for the benefits of mobility and saving space. The major weakness in notebooks are its graphics.

From a competition point of view, external graphics is something so huge that notebook manufacturers should potentially be rushing to adopt otherwise it would place them in a disadvantaged position.

In my opinion, the reason why notebook manufacturers did not rush to adopt it was because it used mobile graphics. If only they implemented full-blown desktop graphics into these boxes.

Next logical step for XGP2? They could implement full-blown desktop graphics or create new cards which are significantly more powerful than desktop graphics but produce less heat than desktop cards. That's that one to wait for!