Corsair Xeneon 27QHD240 OLED monitor review
ASUS Radeon RX 7600 STRIX OC review
Corsair RM1200X SHIFT 1200W PSU Review
Intel NUC 13 Pro (Arena Canyon) review
Endorfy Arx 700 Air chassis review
Beelink SER5 Pro (Ryzen 7 5800H) mini PC review
Crucial T700 PCIe 5.0 NVMe SSD Review - 12GB/s
Sapphire Radeon RX 7600 PULSE review
Gainward GeForce RTX 4060 Ti GHOST review
Radeon RX 7600 review
AMD hints at standardization for external graphics cards
Personally I feel it's kicking a dead horse as the idea has been done over and over again. However on it's facebook page Robert Hallock (chief technical marketing AMD) is making a case for a standardization of external graphics cards.
The idea is that you can hook an external graphics card into a laptop. So if you are traveling, you do not need to carry arround the external GPU, but at home you could plug it in to play games. Let's just call this port external PCI-Express.
Hallock:
Alright, let's have some Real Talk about gaming on the go. Gaming notebooks are great for gaming, but nobody in their right mind wants to carry one all the time. Ultrathin notebooks are awesome to carry, but nobody in their right mind would confuse one for a gaming notebook.
But there's still a HUGE appetite for thin notebooks that can game. I also bet there's a bunch of gamers out there who, as they get into their 30s and 40s, wouldn't mind condensing their entire computing life down into one device that does it all. I ALSO bet that some people wouldn't mind giving up an mITX LAN rig if their notebook had the potential to serve that role with gusto.
External GPUs are the answer. External GPUs with standardized connectors, cables, drivers, plug'n'play, OS support, etc.
More info very soon.
It is not the first time AMD is attempting to do something like this, back in 2008/2009 we have already seen the ATi XGP, or ATI eXternal Graphics Platform (graphics booster). Which back then failed substantially. But sure, to get an open standard for this would give the concept more chance of succeeding this round.
If you want to have a nice flashback into the past, read our (pretty old) article about that right here.
fantaskarsef
Senior Member
Posts: 14644
Joined: 2014-07-21
Senior Member
Posts: 14644
Joined: 2014-07-21
#5238098 Posted on: 03/01/2016 03:59 PM
Well if this will be indeed cheaper to buy an expensive light and thin laptop and an external GPU compared to a traditional rig depends on what they'll charge for that. Normal rigs with the same hardware usually are cheeper than a latop with the same performance, no?
Well if this will be indeed cheaper to buy an expensive light and thin laptop and an external GPU compared to a traditional rig depends on what they'll charge for that. Normal rigs with the same hardware usually are cheeper than a latop with the same performance, no?
schmidtbag
Senior Member
Posts: 7442
Joined: 2012-11-10
Senior Member
Posts: 7442
Joined: 2012-11-10
#5238104 Posted on: 03/01/2016 04:03 PM
I think this is a pretty decent idea. The reason it failed before is because there was no way to get enough bandwidth to an external GPU, but today there is. You should be able to get a modern mid-range desktop GPU to work through Thunderbolt (or a PCIe 3.0 1x slot) just fine without much of a performance loss at all.
Gaming laptops have always been poor investments. Their price:performance ratio compared to desktops is worse and they have thermal issues (and if they don't they're hardly portable). An external GPU makes it so you can have a very generic and affordable laptop while being able to play games better than a gaming laptop. Don't forget that it allows decent upgradability. Seeing how Intel hasn't made a CPU worth mentioning since Sandy Bridge, there's a good chance that whatever hardware you get for the laptop will stay relevant for longer than the GPU.
Keep in mind an external GPU on a laptop would offer better power savings when mobile. There are less components involved.
I think this is a pretty decent idea. The reason it failed before is because there was no way to get enough bandwidth to an external GPU, but today there is. You should be able to get a modern mid-range desktop GPU to work through Thunderbolt (or a PCIe 3.0 1x slot) just fine without much of a performance loss at all.
Gaming laptops have always been poor investments. Their price:performance ratio compared to desktops is worse and they have thermal issues (and if they don't they're hardly portable). An external GPU makes it so you can have a very generic and affordable laptop while being able to play games better than a gaming laptop. Don't forget that it allows decent upgradability. Seeing how Intel hasn't made a CPU worth mentioning since Sandy Bridge, there's a good chance that whatever hardware you get for the laptop will stay relevant for longer than the GPU.
Keep in mind an external GPU on a laptop would offer better power savings when mobile. There are less components involved.
fantaskarsef
Senior Member
Posts: 14644
Joined: 2014-07-21
Senior Member
Posts: 14644
Joined: 2014-07-21
#5238106 Posted on: 03/01/2016 04:06 PM
I wonder how an external GPU would still take it's toll on a laptop's CPU (which usually are rather power consumption orientated), the needed battery life for that, and again, thermals of the laptop itself. Haven't got experience with such high powered external devies, anybody here that already tried something like this? Maybe an external capture card or something?
I wonder how an external GPU would still take it's toll on a laptop's CPU (which usually are rather power consumption orientated), the needed battery life for that, and again, thermals of the laptop itself. Haven't got experience with such high powered external devies, anybody here that already tried something like this? Maybe an external capture card or something?
schmidtbag
Senior Member
Posts: 7442
Joined: 2012-11-10
Senior Member
Posts: 7442
Joined: 2012-11-10
#5238108 Posted on: 03/01/2016 04:09 PM
If it is based on PCIe technology, it shouldn't have much of an impact on CPU usage. If it's based on USB 3.x, that could be a problem, though I'd be more concerned about latency at that point. I highly doubt this can be powered through the laptop - something like this is most likely going to be plugged into a wall.
I wonder how an external GPU would still take it's toll on a laptop's CPU (which usually are rather power consumption orientated), the needed battery life for that, and again, thermals of the laptop itself. Haven't got experience with such high powered external devies, anybody here that already tried something like this? Maybe an external capture card or something?
If it is based on PCIe technology, it shouldn't have much of an impact on CPU usage. If it's based on USB 3.x, that could be a problem, though I'd be more concerned about latency at that point. I highly doubt this can be powered through the laptop - something like this is most likely going to be plugged into a wall.
Click here to post a comment for this news story on the message forum.
Senior Member
Posts: 143
Joined: 2015-05-25
Well, i think this is perfect, the end of the needed desktop for gaming.
Having a thin, light very portable laptop/notebook/ultrabook, etc... when you get home plug it on your external graphics card and it turns in gaming rig.
Less space occupied, less money spent, i think this is the future.
Only uber enthusiastic gamers will have the need to have a giant desktop with water cooling overclockink 4 GFX cards...
For the majority this is perfect.