ATi XGP - External graphics card for NoteBooks / Laptop
A couple of years back, ASUS announced the XG station. Which was meant as an external heavy duty graphics card solution for NoteBooks / Laptops via express card connectors. However it never made it to the mainstream retail market.
Where as now its AMD which is carrying the dream forward with their latest ATi XGP platform. It would be only usable on specially developed notebooks equipped with external PCIe 2.0 connector.
The platform would use externally powered and cooled ATi HD 3800 series cards under CrossFireX to provide rich multimedia experience. Enabling users to play high definition games / HD - Blu-Ray movies or editing video simultaneously under a multi display setup.
No information given on pricing or availability dates yet.
What is an External graphics card ?
Those who may be wondering as what’s up with this external graphics devices, for their information, do note, heavy duty hardware generates a lot of heat and eats power also, thus notebooks / laptop usually doesn’t come with heavy duty cards like what you may have under your performance desktop configuration.
Therefore, these external solution would allow you to use a performance graphics card as a plug and play external device. Just like your USB mouse. So when you are at home and thinking for heavy gaming, you may just plug in your external graphics card and enjoy. where as at office and while you are mobile, your notebook would just use your internal less power hungry and cooler internal graphics solution to power your less graphics hungry applications such as word processing or internet usage !!!
jigar said
am June 18 2008 @ 7:55 am
hi
i to purchase external graphic card for my 4710 core 2 duo t5300 lappi can u suggest me the best external graphic card for animation purpose and for my external screen (monitor)
Debsuvra Ghosh said
am July 13 2008 @ 6:42 pm
Does it work for both Laptops and Desktop PCs ? If it does, then one can save the cost of buying a discreet Graphic Card (A must for today’s OS) for both PC and can use it for both purpose.
But as it probably connects via slower USB 2.0 connetions, I doubt it has the capability to feed the drastically heavy graphical bandwidth needs of today’s games.
aizat said
am July 24 2008 @ 5:32 pm
hye…before diz, i never heard about external graphic card. now, i use acer notebook that already give intel graphic media acccelerator 950. so, if i want to use external graphic card, can u suggest me what type the best external graphic card??? and where if i want to buy it
Choto Cheeta said
am July 24 2008 @ 7:54 pm
Hello,
Unfortunately “The device connects to specially designed notebook using the uniquely crafted external PCI Express© 2.0 connector designed and developed with JAE Electronics, Inc. Once the device is plugged in ATI XGP technology is activated.”
http://ati.amd.com/technology/xgp/howdoesitwork.html
So, I am sorry to report, it wont work on a notebook which doesnt have this feature
thank you
manny said
am July 31 2008 @ 5:59 pm
Folks,
This ATI graphics box, along with other docking stations from Village Tronic, Belkin, and MCT, use the ExpressCard(r) slot on the laptop. This slot has replaced the PC Card slot (aka, “PCMCIA slot”) in almost all new consumer notebooks. Both USB 2.0 AND PCI Express are available in the slot. This is what these docking stations use.
So, this is not a “specially designed” connector for Asus. It is an industry standard and avaialble from all of the major connector vendors.
See http://www.expresscard.org for more information.
Note: I am associated with the PCMCIA (www.pcmcia.org) which owns ExpressCard(r) technology.
Manny Pitta
Peggy said
am August 1 2008 @ 6:47 pm
I have a Winbook Series A100 with a PCMCIA slot. Would this work for me? Need to update my graphics card. Also how much is this external card.
Thanks,
manny said
am August 2 2008 @ 7:01 pm
Looks like the Winbook came out a while back so it only has the old PC Card slot. I am aware of a product, from Village Tronic (www.villagetronic.com), called VT Book, that fits into a PC Card slot and adds two monitors to the system. BTW, you can already support a second monitor on your system using the 15-pin VGA port that is already there. This would add two more.
Of course, it is not high performance graphics. You would would however, be able to support some applicaitns that do not require a lot of horespower, such as standard office applications.
Manny
novice said
am August 5 2008 @ 3:49 am
hey Manny
i have HP Pavilion DV 6000 (1.6 Ghz dual core, 2.5GB RAM). i has a PCMCIA slot. it also has a thing labelled “exansion port 3″
1. do you think an extenal graphics card will work for me?
2. will it improve the performance of vista aero further?
3. will it take some burden off the CPU coz at 1.6 Ghz it is my current bottleneck besides graphics?
manny said
am August 11 2008 @ 5:03 pm
Looks like “expansion port 3″ is for a docking station or port replicator that is custom made for the dv6000. The card slot on the dv6000 is probably an ExpressCard slot. I didn’t look at all of the models, but HP is no longer supporting the PC card slot (aka, “PCMCIA” slot) in their latest consumer notebooks.
The only way that I can say with confidence that a specific ExpressCard product will work with a notebook PC is if they are listed as compliant on PCMCIA’s ExpressCard web site (www.expresscard.org). The dv6000 is not listed, nor are any of the graphics modules. That’s not to say that they will not work - just that they have not been submitted for testing.
Manny
Varun said
am August 16 2008 @ 4:51 pm
Hey guys
i brought Sony Vaio CR35G/R with Intel Core2Duo Processor T8100 2.10 Ghz 2Gb Ram but with only 128Mb ATI Radeon Graphics…i would like to know whether i can upgrade my graphics card?? plsssss reply
suraj said
am August 20 2008 @ 4:01 am
i m having laptop which has nvidia geforcce 8400 gs,
i want to upgrade so please help me out
my lapi model is lenovo3000 y410 mod:-775745Q
Choto Cheeta said
am August 20 2008 @ 9:17 am
Hello Suraj,
Sorry to inform you, but your model wont support the external graphics card mentioned here.
Also you cant upgrade the laptop 8400 GS to any thing else without the help of your vendor Lenovo !!!
Thanks.
Mick A said
am August 20 2008 @ 10:33 pm
I have a Toshiba A210 2GB ram 200GB HD with a really naff graphics card and didn’t realize this was a mistake when I bought it. I am now producing online programs on Second Life where we use this laptop together with a desktop 4GB ram, 350GB HD with Ati Sapphire 4870 512mb DDR5 graphics. This is to run 2 avatars at once using broadband. Problem is the Toshiba is tosh and just grumbles to a halt and usually crashes after 15 mins even though we are not using the lappie to move anything but rather accepting IM’s at the time of educational workshop. The sound card still works but the graphics freezes. I figured there might be something out on the market place where we could somehow enhance this graphics card or even swap it out for a different one, being re-soldered onto the motherboard. Is this possible or am I moving in the wrong direction? Does anyone have any ideas here please?
Nelson said
am September 2 2008 @ 5:34 am
cani use this external graphic card to my laptop
the series goes like this
Lenovo 3000 wi fi (Model no 776136q)
jai said
am September 8 2008 @ 4:31 pm
Hi,
i have a hp520 notebook it has Intel(R)core(TM)duoT2300@1.66ghz 980mhz processor with 512RAM.It has only inbuilt graphics.it is not enough to play high graphic games. what kind of external graphics card i can use. plssssssss reply….:-)