MSI Shows External Graphics Card w/ATI
Here's a good way to beef up your laptop's graphics.
MSI plans to showcase its upcoming Graphics Upgrade Solution (GUS) at Computex next week, an externally-housed ATI Radeon HD 5670 1 GB card that connects to a notebook's ExpressCard slot. MSI's solution is one of many external options in the works--both Gigabyte and Shuttle recently displayed their offerings at CeBit back in March. As seen at the show, Gigabyte has chosen the docking station approach whereas Shuttle's I-Power GTX mini will use a special GTX connector.
As for MSI's solution, the company has tweaked the limitations of the ExpressCard connection by using a thicker, shielded copper cable and "improved" associated electronics. This supposedly allows for "over 70-percent" of the theoretical bandwidth as opposed to the 50-percent or less seen with other external solutions. MSI said that the next generation of GUS devices will take the simpler route by using USB 3.0, however the current model will still provide a nice performance boost over integrated graphics.
While this option may sound encouraging for gamers, there are a few positives and negatives associated with the technology. The external device will need a separate power source, and could prove cumbersome when traveling. However that's only a minor setback given that it can provide up to three additional video outputs. This means that consumers can set up a 4-display array using the output from the laptop (or use the laptop's LCD) and the three ports provided on ATI's card.
MSI said that the upcoming GUS will be offered in two forms: without the ATI card for just $99 to $109, or with the Radeon HD 5670 card for $169 to $229. As it stands, the device can't support cards more advanced than the Radeon HD 5670, as the GUS has a maximum power draw of 84 watts and does not have a 6-pin power adapter.
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Legend. I like how its integrated into the ExpressCard, so many laptops have these and i've never found a use for mine....Maybe until now?
cool.
Picture the desk... at home you have your mulitple monitors, speakers, external graphics card, external hard drives, k/board and mouse. All of which can't be used when you take your laptop away.
I've always wanted to be able to build my own laptop like a desktop but due to lack of standardisation and cooling problems etc.....
I think this is a great idea.
I was wondering when someone was going to make an external graphics card for laptops (and small form factor pcs). If they could standardise connections across the whole industry and publicise it they might be onto a winner. Loads of people use laptops as their main computer ( and then never take them out of the house ). If it wasn't too expensive the option of boosting graphics for the occasional gamign session would certainly sway my buying decision. However it should be every laptop manufactureer and every graphics card not just an amd msi thing.
Couldn't they just use multiple USB connectors via different controllers, or would this present an issue? Doesn't USB present a noticeable overhead?
Started looking around for external graphics cards that would work on my Macbook laptop(Fall 2006 edition) and they all require a PCI interface.
Needless to say but mac laptops don't have a PCI interface.
Is anybody aware of a an external GC that only requires preferably Firewire or USB?
Thanks in advance.
look at the situation now - the ATI solution I see has a proprietary connection only so only will work with laptops that come with the right connector? is this a cash offer to steal the ease of users for the profit of one company? yes it is - or so it seems. ATI sold us out when they had something we would all buy