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External graphics cards

bramski

bramski

bramski

Associate
Joined
16 Jul 2005
Posts
351
Location
Glasgow
I was just reading an article about Asus releasing a dual GTX285, it has 4GB of ram and is absolutely huge. It got me thinking. why hasn't anyone released an external graphics card with it's own enclosure and PSU, similar to a desktop hard drive. Does it have something to do with the way GPUs work? the way they are connected to the motherboard? the sheer amount of raw data that is being transferred? is it impossible ? I'm just curious :)
 
well yes I think it linked to how it connects to the mobo, you need the bandwidth of a pci-express slot and I am not sure how (if at all) feasible connecting via a cable might be.
 
It just doesn't seem worthwhile, i woldn't want to have another box with more fans, when i can just install internally.


D13 said:
well yes I think it linked to how it connects to the mobo, you need the bandwidth of a pci-express slot and I am not sure how (if at all) feasible connecting via a cable might be.
Click to expand...

WIKI said:
PCI Express External Cabling

PCI Express External Cabling (also known as External PCI Express or Cabled PCI Express) specifications were released by the PCI-SIG in February 2007.

Standard cables and connectors have been defined for x1, x4, x8, and x16 link widths, with a transfer rate of 250 MB/s per lane. The PCI-SIG also expects the norm will evolve to reach the 500 MB/s as found in PCI Express 2.0. The maximum cable length hasn't been determined yet.
Click to expand...
 
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if it included some kind of adapter that extends the pcie slot to the back of the tower ready for the external device to plug into i can see why it wouldnt work
 
They are floating about out there! Fujitsu do an external 3870 for laptops here, I am also sure that I have seen a 48XX series on my travels but can't seem to find the link. On top of that I had a quick look and couldn't see stock anywhere, I guess there isn't a big the market for them.
 
Last time I saw one it was a 78/9XX series card, housed in what looked like a hard drive caddy. It was bright orange iirc.
 
I have seen pics of high-end raid cards plugged into a PCI-E slot with ribbon cables attached into another 16x slot, they were very short though.
 
Asus had plans for the 'XG Station', I was expecting big things but it never materialised.

Was initially due to use a 7900GS so that suggests how long ago the idea was conceived.

(This was for laptops btw and connected by the PCMCIA slot I believify)
 
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