External Graphic card for LapTops = EH?

[FatRakoon]

Ok, can anyone settle this one for me...

Now, I dont pretend to know bugger all about LapTops, cos I dont.

But, a guy down the road keeps boasting at just how powerful his LapTop is against my DeskTop....

Now, among the things he has really got on my goat about it with, is that he has a PCMCIA Graphics card that is every bit as fast as an X1950

Now, I keep telling him that PCMCIA Graphic cards dont exists and even if they did, the PCMCIA port simply cannot possibly give anywhere near enough data to even run a basic Card never mind something along the lines of an X1950, but he is adamant!

So, can anyone verify whether this is possible.

As an extention to this post, can anyone tell me... Just to shut him up... What is currently the most powerful LapTop for playing High-end 3D Games?

Thanks all.

 

[Tute]

I heard a while back about an external graphics card module thing for laptops, so you could plug in a full size card and away you go.

Didn't hear about it for ages after that though, although i'm almost certain it would only run at PCIe x1 so it would suck in that respect.

 

[James J]

Laptops at this time cannot get anywhere near the speed of desktop PC's due to the power requirements of the highest level cards. Hes talking out of his anus mate

 

[Tute]

http://www.trustedreviews.com/graph...-Makes-First-External-Laptop-Graphics-Card/p1

 

[Rroff]

The PCMCIA port GPU does exist - tho not sure if its available for retail or not... however I do know that the performance is roughly 1/4 that of the same card running in a PCI-e x16 slot...

however there are mobile 7900 based laptop GPUs which are quite powerful including the mobile 7950GTX which is faster than an x1950pro and possibly faster than a 1950xt and the mobile 7900GTX which is one half of a 7950GX2 and will give the x1950 pro a good run.

 

[Duff-Man]

The easy way to settle it would be to get him to run 3dmark 05 and 06, then upload his scores to the ORB.

You can then do the same, and you will trash his laptop score.

I don't knopw for sure, but I think the GF 7900 go series would probably be the fastest laptop GPUs (which wouldn't match your x1900). There is a GF8 mobile series now, but this only extends to 8600-class cards. Of course, given the programmable pixel pipes and the inherent loss of efficiency over fixed pipes, a full 8800-class GPU would be far too power hungry for a laptop.

PCMCIA cannot effectively handle the bandwidth required for a high-end graphics card.

 

[FatRakoon]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

Hmm... That Express port? - Is that like PCI Express? ( As I said, I know sod all about LapTops )

I would like to point out here, that the guy did say PCMCIA and not PCIE / PCI / Expansion port.... Unless again, Im lost?

It would be very interesting, but also, I feel a total useless option too in many ways... The whoel idea I would have thought of havign a laptop is that it folds away and can be put in the drawer or wherever till you need to use it again... It sort of defeats the object really to have external Graphics, and of course, this would also mean another Screen too, and so in the end it would take up as much space as a desktop...

Anyway, it does however seem that on one hand the hardware is available and it will be fairly fast too, but it still ( unless I have missed something ) it falls far short of what a half decent PC can and does do!

3DMark...

Yes, definitely... I have asked him to do a screenie at least of 3DM03/05 at the very least, but nothing has come up yet.

Will see what happens now... Iw ill have a look at that Asus thingy and see if I can dig out any more on this kind of thing and see where I go from there!!!

Again, thanks a lot you guys.

 

[Crowze]

The 'new' PCMCIA, Cardbus, is effectively an external PCI slot, no chance of running anything better than a 6200-class card from it. I once tried to use a 9250 PCI with an old Dell laptop and docking station with a PCI slot, but it wouldn't provide enough power .

Apparently the new PCI-E 2.0 standard will also include an external connector for laptops and the like, so it will be possible sometime.

 

[Will_3rd]

iirc you can get an external GPU using the expresscard 34 slot

think someone has got their standards mixed up

 

[PoliticallyCorrect]

the nvidia cards in laptops are like the "go" versions, they are clocked down a lot lower to limit heat disipation.

overall it will cost more than that of a much faster desktop, imo there is no point as gaming on a laptop is a bit impractial.

-Jonny

 

[Rroff]

Typically laptops come with either the intel 945 or similiar adapters which are about as good as a 5950 ultra at best, the x300-x800 range (theres also an x200) which go from about the same as the intel upto about the performance of a 6800GT and the 7x00 series (and a couple of 6100/6200 models) which includes some odd models like 7400 and 7700 which are similiar performance to their desktop counterparts - at the high end there are some which will beat or match an x1950 pro as I said the GO 7950GTX is quite a mean GPU for a laptop and will be right on the heels of a x1950xt.

 

[FatRakoon]

Ok, its sounding like LapTops can really be capable then?

Still it kind of defeats the whole idea of having a LapTop though doesnt it?

All interesting stuff but of course, I would like to see real-world benchmarks rather than a mouthy phart making out that my Conroe Gamer box cannot beat his Celeron Laptop

 

[Darkwave]

Sorry, but this thread just reminds me of this.

He is my neighbor, Nushuktan Tulyiagby. He is pain in my ********.

I get a window from a glass, he must get a window from a glass.

I get a step, he must get a step.

I get a clock-radio, he cannot afford. Great success!

 

[Rroff]

Ok, its sounding like LapTops can really be capable then?

Still it kind of defeats the whole idea of having a LapTop though doesnt it?

I'd imagine that the mobile 7 series GTX cards would drink the laptop battery dry in minutes if you tried to game without AC power, not to mention the heat heh...

Even the most high end laptop* is only gonna match a good conroe + x1950 system at best - and cost loads more to do it... and I've serious doubts that any mainstream laptop or even most gamer laptops would even come remotely close...

*HOWEVER... I just saw a laptop that has a mobile 7900GTX SLI setup - thats gonna thrash your x1950 hehe can't link to it as it would breach the rules here...

 

[Uriel]

http://www.asus.com/news_show.aspx?id=5369

The ASUS XG station provides full bandwidth PCI-E x16 via the expresscard slot. Not the most portable solution but it theoretically allows any desktop GPU to be used with a compatible laptop.

Edit: the version shown comes with a 7900GS but they're planning a barebones version too.

 

[caeteez]

I say ask him to show you it all. If he lives down the road, try and get a peek at it. If he tries hard to not show you, he is more than likely BS'ing you.

 

[Rroff]

http://www.asus.com/news_show.aspx?id=5369

The ASUS XG station provides full bandwidth PCI-E x16 via the expresscard slot. Not the most portable solution but it theoretically allows any desktop GPU to be used with a compatible laptop.

Edit: the version shown comes with a 7900GS but they're planning a barebones version too.

thats the thing I meant - not PCMCIA - the only performance data/benchmarks I've seen of it show it only performs about 1/4 the speed of the same card in a desktop machine - but that could have been due to any number of issues...