Asus XG Station to Have 7900GS!

http://www.vr-zone.com/?i=4426

With user-upgradable graphics!

It will connect to notebookes via the expresscard slot, but how will the 7900GS's power be limited by the bandwith?

 

It shouldn't be too limited. If you look at the picture that they provide, the XG Station is connected to the monitor, so that would make it so the external graphics can do more. This device is really stirring up some interest, I can't wait to really see it.

 

No, It will limit the power of the GPU.
The expresscard is a 1X PCIExpress.
My laptop with X1600 has 16X PCIExpress (1 lanes vs 16 lanes)
(It's likely that the user will suffer ultra-long loading time)

 

When's this due out?

 

Its supposed to be at CES, so we should learn a lot more about it next week.

 

Aww i thought it would improve your notebook graphics (like adding more power or something) but of course that would be too good to be true. i don't think it will sell because virtually you are creating a desktop...its gotta be cost effective or people will just upgrade their desktop GPU or buy a desktop lol. This thing is going to cost like $500 i can see that happening.

 

express card is basicly an external pci express port so (i dont remember exactly) but i think it runs at either speeds of x4 or x8 so u considering that the majority of mobos arent running true x16 in sli u probably wont see any performance gap
i had always wondered why the heck there were no external graphics cards for laptops what i now realize is that it was because pcmcia couldnt provide the proper bandwith and neither can usb also that if u were to use usb it would have to to go through the cpu first defeating the entire purpose of actually having an indavidual gfx card

o btw im new so hi everyone!

 

ExpressCard = PCI Express 1x
Graphics Cards = PCI Express 16x

However, we don't know what (if any) proprietary steps Asus has taken to mitigate this issue.

Even with bandwidth starvation, this would be a viable option for anyone with a GMA950 machine and an ExpressCard slot to have dedicated graphics available to them when at home.

For instance, you could have an extremely portable Asus W5Fm (12.1, GMA950, ~3.5lbs, 9 hours battery life with extended battery) and plug it into the XG Station at home to play games.

Even with the performance limitation due to bandwidth issues, for some people this would be a significant cost savings and convince improvement over maintaining 2 PCs. A good motherboard + CPU to drive a desktop graphics card would cost as much as this device - why bother when you have a Core 2 Duo 2.0ghz in your laptop?

 

so apparently one plugs a video card into the dock station from what ive read ....

Id like to see the station with the card plugged into it (to see what it looks like) as well as know what cards the dock will support.

Very neat

 

What about power supply??
Is this thing possible for all lappy???
Guess the price will be twice as much as common GPU

 

It will come with a dedicated power supply.
There's a few pictures of it around the net and you see it in all it's glory. There's tons of wires coming out of it and one of those is for a power supply.

As for Bandwith:
"ASUS has announced that it is planning a dedicated external graphics card system designed for notebook users, named the XG Station, which should allow users to experience high end graphics power to match desktops. The dock connects to the ExpressCard interface using an adaptor, meaning it can be easily unplugged from the system if it needs to be moved. ASUS has revealed it will work with any notebook featuring the ExpressCard system, which provides an equivalent to the PCI Express X16 slots desktops use. The XG Station itself features a PCI Express slot and is capable of running AMD (ATI), NVIDIA and Matrox graphics cards.

The unit itself is powered by an external power brick and features a customisable LCD display, which can display information including frame rate, fan speed and GPU temperature. A control knob on the front is used to control various settings including core and memory clocks, so it will potentially be able to overclock or underclock your graphics card. ASUS is expected to release this in the second quarter of 2007, although pricing is still unknown."

Pretty cool. You'd be able to get a very mobile pc with low graphics card and buy this puppy on the side and play games at home/where ever you don't need super portability.

With an big external hard drive, this thing for graphics and seperate monitor, it could replace a desktop for some.

I suspect a price of around 500 also... it's going to be expensive!

 

Ahhhhhhhhhh dammit. That just about confirms an out of reach price tag for most people, especially the prime target audience of those with a $900 IGP laptop. Hardcore gamers willing to shell out $500 for a GPU will go for those 8800 GTX cards, or just buy a 7950GTX laptop. Good luck Asus...

 

I disagree somewhat.

While I agree the price will limit buyers to the enthusiast. I disagree all enthusiasts buy 17 inch monster laptops.

This product will come in handy for those that choose to buy great quality laptops in the 14.1" and under range. Where even the creme of the crop (as far as video cards) are limited to Geforce 7700's in the 14's, while 13's and 12's aproach the pathetic (if you want to game).

I really hope this catches on, then we'll get more companies making similar products for some competition, which is always good for the consumer.

I'm quite excited about the potential this could have.

 

Crysis @ max detail on Macbook for teh win! Haha imagine that.