ASUS Unveils External Graphics Card

Silenus · January 9th, 2007

Now this could come handy to laptop users.

Quote:

ASUS introduces the world's first external graphics card for notebook users

ASUS today introduced a dedicated external graphics card for laptops -- the XG Station. The XG Station is an external graphics card that allows laptop users to enjoy high end graphics performance while plugged in. As the XG Station is an external graphics it can be unplugged when portability is needed.

The XG Station connects to any notebook’s ExpressCard slot and provides a PCI Express x16 slot for graphics cards. Since ASUS has opted to equip the XG Station with a standard PCI Express x16 slot, the station can be equipped with any PCI Express based graphics card: AMD, NVIDIA or even Matrox. ASUS launched the default XG Station with an NVIDIA 7900GS powered graphics card.

The XG Station is powered externally. A separate power brick plugs directly into the adaptor.

An integrated LCD display and control also grace the XG Station. The display is customizable and can display information such as frame rate, fan speed, GPU temperature and more while the control knob can change various settings of the XG Station such as the core and memory clocks.

Expect ASUS to release the XG Station in Q2'07 this year. Pricing of the XG Station is unknown at the moment.

The XG Station adaptor only interfaces with ExpressCard interfaces at the moment, but will work with with PCIe ExpressCard interfaces installed in a desktop PC.

Source Dailytech.

leo9986754 · January 10th, 2007

That thing seems too big for notebooks.

TheCloudOfSmoke · January 10th, 2007

Thanks for the info Silenus. I asked about something like this a while ago but unfortunately where was nothing like it on the market. Now there's hope for the graphics in my crappy laptop. I'll keep an eye on this thing.

I agree though, it does seem kind of big for a laptop.

skoreanime · January 10th, 2007

Hmmm, seems interesting, but I don't really see it being viable. The big bottleneck is gonna be the ExpressCard interface. It's a heck of a lot slower then actual PCI-E slots.

shafeen · January 10th, 2007

yeah good news i would uy one if it becomes cheap and my lappy supports it

leo9986754 · January 11th, 2007

It would probably be another year until stuff like this gets cheap.

Quote:

Asus gives laptops a graphics jolt
Posted by: Matthew Elliott

Looking to upgrade the weak graphics of your otherwise rockin' laptop? Before you rip apart the machine to get to its innards in what will most likely result in a failed attempt for more frames per second, take a peek at the Asus XG Station. That's X for external, and G for graphics--the world's first external graphics-card solution for laptops. The XG Station connects via an ExpressCard slot and houses a x16 PCI Express graphics card and a sound card that supplies 5.1 Dolby audio. Asus will ship the XG Station with a GeForce 7900GS card, and there's no reason why you couldn't swap in an 8800 GTS. An 8800 GTX card, however, is too long to fit inside the unit.

The XG Station's control panel provides a variety of system information, from GPU clockspeed, fan speed, and temperature to volume and frames per second. The large dial to the left of the display lets you adjust the settings, including cranking up the GPU's clock speed. With a couple of USB 2.0 ports onboard, you can leave your game keyboard and mouse connected to the XG Station for an instant game docking station--just add laptop.

Asus gave a quick demo of the XG Station, which we mentioned briefly over the weekend. While a laptop without an XG Station chugged through a game, the same laptop connected to an XG Station provided very smooth gameplay on a huge LCD hooked up to the GeForce card's DVI port. Asus told us it's still working out the pricing details, but expects a 7900GS-equipped XG Station to go for roughly $599 when it's released in April.

From CNet

skoreanime · January 11th, 2007

Reading a bit more into it... and it seems that if you don't read closely, you'll be misled. The article states that the unit hosts an x16 PCI-E (Which is I believe 8GB/s data rate? ) video card, the GeForce 7900GS. The ExpressCard slot data rate is peaked at 3GB/s I believe.

Can't find any tests out there to prove it but, I believe laptops with the 7900 series in them already outperform these. Not that I'm bashing XG Station, I've been waiting for something like this. Every laptop owner who has an ExpressCard slot and are running on Intel GMA's (shudder) will find this very, very interesting I'm sure.

January 10th, 2007	#3 (permalink)
TheCloudOfSmoke Menthol Flavored Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: In your butt. If I'm not there, I'm in Maryland, USA. Posts: 2,901	Thanks for the info Silenus. I asked about something like this a while ago but unfortunately where was nothing like it on the market. Now there's hope for the graphics in my crappy laptop. I'll keep an eye on this thing. I agree though, it does seem kind of big for a laptop. __________________ http://thecloudofsmoke.deviantart.com/ http://thecloudofsmoke.deviantart.com/gallery/ Last edited by TheCloudOfSmoke; January 10th, 2007 at 07:53.

January 10th, 2007	#5 (permalink)
shafeen if ur wealthy,i am single Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: india Posts: 1,483	yeah good news i would uy one if it becomes cheap and my lappy supports it __________________

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January 10th, 2007	#2 (permalink)
leo9986754 Registered User Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: United States Posts: 694	That thing seems too big for notebooks.

January 10th, 2007	#4 (permalink)
skoreanime Insomniac in training... Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Canada Posts: 3,878	Hmmm, seems interesting, but I don't really see it being viable. The big bottleneck is gonna be the ExpressCard interface. It's a heck of a lot slower then actual PCI-E slots.

January 11th, 2007	#7 (permalink)
skoreanime Insomniac in training... Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Canada Posts: 3,878	Reading a bit more into it... and it seems that if you don't read closely, you'll be misled. The article states that the unit hosts an x16 PCI-E (Which is I believe 8GB/s data rate? ) video card, the GeForce 7900GS. The ExpressCard slot data rate is peaked at 3GB/s I believe. Can't find any tests out there to prove it but, I believe laptops with the 7900 series in them already outperform these. Not that I'm bashing XG Station, I've been waiting for something like this. Every laptop owner who has an ExpressCard slot and are running on Intel GMA's (shudder) will find this very, very interesting I'm sure.