SlyMaelstrom
08-30-2009, 12:14 AM
With products on the market like the ViDock 2 and ATI's XGP, the dream of achieving desktop level graphics on a portable computer is closer to a reality with just a few limitations. One of which has me asking questions...
The current technology allows for external graphics interfaces to connect to the laptop via the PCIe x1 lane on the ExpressCard slot of the notebook. While this does, of course, restrict bandwidth to the point that high-end graphics cards are pointless... it still allows uses to connect mid-range cards to achieve better rendering capabilities than say an on-board Intel chip. These external graphics limitations do, in fact, make the technology inferior to some internal graphics set-ups that high-end notebooks offer. However, they do allow users who desire a greater level of portability (like a 12.1" with an 4500MHD) to get the improved graphics when they need it. This is the category I fall under...
When it comes to portable computers, I desire something very portable with moderate graphics capabilities... this offers me greater battery life, less traveling hassle, and an overall lower cost. The shorthand is the fact that I also do a lot of digital rendering with applications like 3DS Max or Premier... and trying to render anything with a reasonable amount of ray-tracing iterations is almost impossible on a 4500MHD. My solution to this was going to be external graphics, but, alas... this comes with the hinderence of needing to hook up an external monitor. Fine for when I'm using the thing as a docking station, but what if I want to do some rendering on the road and want to throw my ViDock in my back with me? It's not doable.
This leads me to the question of why this limitation exists... as I understand it, the PCI Express technology allows for a synchronous bi-directional bandwidth through the PCI Express lanes. Now I understand that the way graphics cards work is they take data in through the PCIe and output it through the DVI or HDMI outputs... however, my question is... is it possible to send the output back through the PCIe (and into the internal display) with nothing more than a modified driver or is the hardware just not set up to do that even with the appropriate software? Secondly, if it's not possible... do you think that as this technology evolves, GPU manufacturers might build in the capabilities of sending the data through PCIe, into the internal display buffer to be rendered on the laptop screen?
The current technology allows for external graphics interfaces to connect to the laptop via the PCIe x1 lane on the ExpressCard slot of the notebook. While this does, of course, restrict bandwidth to the point that high-end graphics cards are pointless... it still allows uses to connect mid-range cards to achieve better rendering capabilities than say an on-board Intel chip. These external graphics limitations do, in fact, make the technology inferior to some internal graphics set-ups that high-end notebooks offer. However, they do allow users who desire a greater level of portability (like a 12.1" with an 4500MHD) to get the improved graphics when they need it. This is the category I fall under...
When it comes to portable computers, I desire something very portable with moderate graphics capabilities... this offers me greater battery life, less traveling hassle, and an overall lower cost. The shorthand is the fact that I also do a lot of digital rendering with applications like 3DS Max or Premier... and trying to render anything with a reasonable amount of ray-tracing iterations is almost impossible on a 4500MHD. My solution to this was going to be external graphics, but, alas... this comes with the hinderence of needing to hook up an external monitor. Fine for when I'm using the thing as a docking station, but what if I want to do some rendering on the road and want to throw my ViDock in my back with me? It's not doable.
This leads me to the question of why this limitation exists... as I understand it, the PCI Express technology allows for a synchronous bi-directional bandwidth through the PCI Express lanes. Now I understand that the way graphics cards work is they take data in through the PCIe and output it through the DVI or HDMI outputs... however, my question is... is it possible to send the output back through the PCIe (and into the internal display) with nothing more than a modified driver or is the hardware just not set up to do that even with the appropriate software? Secondly, if it's not possible... do you think that as this technology evolves, GPU manufacturers might build in the capabilities of sending the data through PCIe, into the internal display buffer to be rendered on the laptop screen?