ATI is working on an external GPU enclosure

Jan 12, 2010 09:45 GMT  ·  By
ATI is working on an external GPU enclosure to provide notebooks with upgradeable graphics
   ATI is working on an external GPU enclosure to provide notebooks with upgradeable graphics

While notebook PCs are generally strong enough to match some of the high-end desktop systems, they have little to no performance upgradeability. Desktop users can enhance their systems with new components in order to play new games, which gives such systems a generally longer life cycle. Notebooks, on the other hand, have no such capability, since their graphics solution cannot exactly be changed at the user's whim.

An answer to this problem lies in the creation of an external graphics card enclosure. Such a product could make use of the PCI Express and MiniPCI-e cards already used in laptops to provide future mobile computers with the possibility to improve their system graphics. AMD, with Acer's assistance, seems to have made some progress in this area.

DailyTech was present at the Advanced Micro Devices CES presentation of a running demo of an external GPU case, which can run Mobility Radeon 4000 and 5000 products. The demoed device ran one of the company's brand-new, Juniper-based, high-end reference cards and was attached via PCI Express 2.0 (8-lanes in the current form) to an Acer Ferrari laptop. The notebook's built-in AMD 3200 HD “proved underwhelming,” but the demo showed the external GPU running Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. on three screens without any problems.

The external GPU enclosure was built with a DVI connection, HDMI out, two USB ports and three display port adapters. The product was powered by an external power connector with a 35W adapter and seemed to somewhat resemble the GraphicBooster from Fujitsu-Siemens. This product was introduced in Europe last year for the Amilo notebook line.

External GPU support is theoretically possible through a full PCI-e pinout. While one lane ExpressCards aren't sufficient for this, the aforementioned PCI Express and MiniPCI-e card slots are.

Details on the ATI XGP technology may be found on AMD's website.