View Full Version : Working external Gpu for laptops
Xel'Naga
02-17-2009, 08:10 AM
Fujitsu
Siemens Amilo Sa3650 laptop
with Graphics Booster (http://www.xtremecomputing.co.uk/review.php?id=444&page=1)
http://www.xtremecomputing.co.uk/images/review/FSC_Amillo_Sa3650_XGP/fsc_amillo_sa3650_xgp_35.gif
spicypixel
02-17-2009, 08:20 AM
As soon as they have a range of XGP that all are interoperable (cant imagine why they wouldn't be considering its just a PCIe link) that multiple types of laptop can use this will really take off.
Is this really news? It's been for sale for 3 months (http://geizhals.at/deutschland/?phist=364155).
Anyway, I like it, but someone have to make a dual slot PCIe x16 box for it.
Or even better, put a Lucid Hydra port on every permium laptop! :D
Has the potential to be brilliant if everyone makes good use of it.
Imagine a 13-15" laptop with an igp like 9400m, you come home and plug it into a 295 with a 24"+ lcd. Best of both worlds.
ToTTenTranz
02-17-2009, 09:09 AM
Has the potential to be brilliant if everyone makes good use of it.
Imagine a 13-15" laptop with an igp like 9400m, you come home and plug it into a 295 with a 24"+ lcd. Best of both worlds.
That's exactly what this laptop is, a 13" laptop with a HD3200 IGP, to which you can connect an external HD3870.
However, given we are already half the way to the 3rd generation after the HD3870, I believe the card in the XGP module should have been replaced already.
Maybe AMD is waiting for the RV740 to be completed.
Hmmm, maybe the reason they're not putting a bigger/better GPU in is bandwidth. Some of the original external graphics solutions for laptops used Expresscard (like PCI-E x1 or something) and they ran out of bandwidth with even the slightest upgrade.
Frodin
02-17-2009, 02:54 PM
I love the idea, but damn, someone needs to develop a higher bandwidth interface for these things.
ToTTenTranz
02-19-2009, 03:31 AM
Hmmm, maybe the reason they're not putting a bigger/better GPU in is bandwidth. Some of the original external graphics solutions for laptops used Expresscard (like PCI-E x1 or something) and they ran out of bandwidth with even the slightest upgrade.
Not really..
You're talking about Asus' solution, which used the ExpressCard bus (PCI-E 1x).
The XGP bus is PCI-E 2.0 8x (equal to PCI-E 1.0 16x). There's no current graphics card that would be limited by that bus.
I see that 80W power brick as more of a bottleneck, unless the laptop is able to feed another 75W through the XGP bus (which I find hard to believe).
Not really..
You're talking about Asus' solution, which used the ExpressCard bus (PCI-E 1x).
The XGP bus is PCI-E 2.0 8x (equal to PCI-E 1.0 16x). There's no current graphics card that would be limited by that bus.
I see that 80W power brick as more of a bottleneck, unless the laptop is able to feed another 75W through the XGP bus (which I find hard to believe).
Okay, thanks, now I'm wondering why none of the reviewers have upgraded the card yet.
ewitte
02-19-2009, 07:39 AM
This is sweet. Not even just for playing games. You could leave the external GPU next to the TV and pop the laptop on for HD video. Or even gaming on an HDTV.