Tuesday, May 30th 2017
Sapphire to Launch External Graphics Enclosure - Powered by Thunderbolt 3
At its Computex 2017 showcase, Sapphire showcased (ahem) an upcoming e-GFX enclosure. The unit delivers its display signal through a Thunderbolt 3 port, which is being hailed as "The USB-C that does it all", with up to 40 Gb/s connections, dual 4K @ 60Hz support, charging capabilities, and support for the USB and DisplayPort interfaces.
The unit makes use of what appears to be a SFF PSU (it isn't clear whether or not a PSU comes bundled with the chassis), and space for a dual-slot high performance graphics card. The side of the enclosure presents an airflow-enabling grill, so that your graphics card can pull in fresh air from the exterior. There's also what seems to be an Ethernet port and 2x USB 3.0 ports, which means this enclosure can be used as a hub, or as an extra charger for your other pieces of tech. Aesthetics-wise, this unit uses the tried and true black and white contrast, with a black design language on the front and back, and a smooth white contour on the top and sides of the enclosure. I enjoy the understated design here, with no extremely hard and "gaming" screaming angles, and the neutral color scheme and LED design doesn't look half bad. It remains to be seen whether that blue LED lighting is too strong so as to be distracting, but if it's not, it stands as a good complement to the overall design. Expect this unit to be released sooner rather than later, though no details on pricing or specifications were at hand.
The unit makes use of what appears to be a SFF PSU (it isn't clear whether or not a PSU comes bundled with the chassis), and space for a dual-slot high performance graphics card. The side of the enclosure presents an airflow-enabling grill, so that your graphics card can pull in fresh air from the exterior. There's also what seems to be an Ethernet port and 2x USB 3.0 ports, which means this enclosure can be used as a hub, or as an extra charger for your other pieces of tech. Aesthetics-wise, this unit uses the tried and true black and white contrast, with a black design language on the front and back, and a smooth white contour on the top and sides of the enclosure. I enjoy the understated design here, with no extremely hard and "gaming" screaming angles, and the neutral color scheme and LED design doesn't look half bad. It remains to be seen whether that blue LED lighting is too strong so as to be distracting, but if it's not, it stands as a good complement to the overall design. Expect this unit to be released sooner rather than later, though no details on pricing or specifications were at hand.
18 Comments on Sapphire to Launch External Graphics Enclosure - Powered by Thunderbolt 3
But what makes these thunderbolt eGPU boxes so expensive?
Besides, if a boxed gpu gives around the same or slightly better performance as/than a built-in mobile gpu, I migjt as aell get a rx580/gtx1060 laptop with a fast (ryzen) cpu and have a portable system for my living room or a 3440x1440p monster in my study, without having to wait for new mobile gpu's.
For most cases a standard pc or mini-itx build will do, though.
Ask me how I know?
Also I will believe AMD released something when I see it. They can't even release Vega 6 months later and as of today we leave H1 which was the promise. How many Vega cards can you buy right now? Oh wait zero.
40Gb/s (Tb3) vs 128Gb/s (Pci-E 3.0) is still too huge. Plus the 40Gb/s is only theoretical bandwidth, the overhead and splitting the port with USB and DP will even half the bandwidth...
It'll be fine. For most games we are talking a single digit drop in performance at best.