- #External gpu enclosure alienware upgrade#
- #External gpu enclosure alienware portable#
- #External gpu enclosure alienware pro#
- #External gpu enclosure alienware Pc#
- #External gpu enclosure alienware professional#
#External gpu enclosure alienware portable#
We're also looking forward to the release of Sonnet's new Puck, which could be the first truly portable eGPU that you can carry around with your laptop.įrom £299 (inc.
The case houses a single PCIe (16x) slot, and is available with either a 350W or 550W power supply - although the price difference is minimal.
#External gpu enclosure alienware professional#
However, the Breakaway Box uses a standard Thunderbolt 3 interface, so it's compatible with Windows PCs as well, and Sonnet has tested the enclosure with a range of professional graphics cards such as Nvidia's Quadro range and the Red Rocket-X for video editing. That support is still in its beta phase, during which time Apple is promoting Sonnet's eGFX Breakaway Box as its 'official' eGPU option for developers. As a result, it recently announced plans for the macOS to support external GPU enclosures for the first time. VAT or $3,392)Īpple's belated discovery of VR - and the public scorn of developers such as Oculus - has led it to admit that the graphics performance of the Mac range isn't up to scratch.
#External gpu enclosure alienware pro#
In fact,Ĭubix also states that the Xpander is compatible with old Mac Pro tower systems going back to 2008.įrom £3, 577 (inc.
#External gpu enclosure alienware Pc#
That means that it requires a desktop PC with an available expansion slot - although, of course, those are far more common than PCs with Thunderbolt. The Xpander eschews the Thunderbolt interface used in more conventional eGPU enclosures, and relies on a dedicated PCI interface card that needs to be installed in the host PC. As well as the standard AMD and Nvidia graphics cards, the Xpander is also compatible with Intel's 'supercomputer' Xeon Phi processors, making it suitable for high-end scientific applications too.īut that sort of power isn't designed for laptops. Rather than housing a single GPU, the bulky enclosure of the Xpander provides no less than four PCIe (16x) expansion slots, with a 1200W or 1500W power supply, and its own internal cooling system. They have other advantages too, as they can be shared by multiple users in an office, and can also provide a variety of additional features for laptops that may have limited connectivity, such as a USB hub, Ethernet interface, and even spare drive bays for extra storage.īoasting 'unlimited GPU acceleration', the Cubix Xpander Desktop Elite is very much aimed at professional graphics work, such as video editing and photo-realistic 3D rendering for CAD and VR applications. As a result, there is now a wide range of eGPU enclosures on sale, mostly using Thunderbolt 3 interfaces, and designed to tackle everything from gaming, professional video-editing and VR development, right up to super-computer-level scientific simulations.Įxternal GPU enclosures aren't cheap, especially as you generally have to buy the actual graphics card separately, but they are still a more affordable option than simply buying a brand new PC or Mac. However, the arrival - and recent growing popularity - of Thunderbolt 3 means that there's now an industry-standard interface that can provide sufficient bandwidth to cope with the vast amount of data processed by the latest GPUs. In the past, though, most eGPUs were proprietary devices, typically designed as a dock for use with laptop PCs from a particular manufacturer, such as Asus or Sony. And, of course, gaming is a key market for eGPUs, as 3D games and VR titles require ever-greater levels of graphics horsepower.
#External gpu enclosure alienware upgrade#
The increasing popularity of non-upgradeable all-in-one desktop systems, such as Apple's iMac, also means that there are plenty of creative and professional users who need to upgrade their office computers for the current generation of graphics, video and VR software. Using an external GPU also means that you can still use your lightweight laptop on the road, and then simply fire up the eGPU to provide desktop levels of performance when you're back in the office. That's increasingly the case with slimline ultraportables that barely have room for a few USB ports, let alone a high-end graphics card and cooling fan.
The advantage of an eGPU is that it allows you to boost the graphics performance of a laptop or desktop PC that might not provide a more conventional upgrade path. In fact, the first version of the Asus XG Station was released back in 2007, as a way of enhancing graphics performance on its range of gaming laptops. External graphics processing units - or eGPUs - have been around for many years.
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