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why dont they make external video cards?

post #1 of 21
10/5/07 at 12:53am
Thread Starter 
it may be the dumbest thing to ask, but why havent there ever been gpus when you could just plug it in and out, look like a small usb hd or something lol,thatd be sweet, no mother board bs or anything just plug and play, maybe someday?? im sure there is alot of reason but i just though id ask, it would be rather neat.
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post #2 of 21
10/5/07 at 12:59am
http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=5602

Been around for almost a year now?
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post #3 of 21
10/5/07 at 1:32am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Krayziepop View Post
http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=5602 Been around for almost a year now?
You mean "rumored" for a year now? It still has not been released...
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post #4 of 21
10/5/07 at 1:40am
Thread Starter 
thats kool i always wondered about that, must not be too special if i hadnt heard about them or at least came across it in a read somewhere, thanks for the link krayziepop
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post #5 of 21
10/5/07 at 1:58am
Ok, poor choice of wording there. My bad!

Of course, just like any good (or in this case potentially good) piece of hardware, there is always some muck up on release dates... this one's at least four months late, with no indication of coming out soon. Even I am curious to see if it will be worth a damn, or if its yet just another good idea with unfortunate bad support...

I am sure this forum will buzz about it, when and if it comes to light anyway, so its not like we are likely to miss it
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post #6 of 21
10/5/07 at 2:41am
i remember reading somewhere that there is a major bottleneck for this setup because of bandwidth limitation of the expresscard slot which is no where near as fast as the pci express slot on the mobo...
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post #7 of 21
10/5/07 at 2:52am
Thats the fear. 1X PCI-e is all the expresscard slot supports. Not quite sure where that puts the system just yet... but if its rather worthless, I don't see why they would continue development.

Then again, they are months behind a release date and no word of where the product is... perhaps it wound up in the recycle bin.
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post #8 of 21
10/5/07 at 3:04am
yea it's prolly dead
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post #9 of 21
10/5/07 at 3:39am
Quote:
Originally Posted by nvgear View Post
i remember reading somewhere that there is a major bottleneck for this setup because of bandwidth limitation of the expresscard slot which is no where near as fast as the pci express slot on the mobo...

Precisely.... I always thought starting with PCMCIA days that one day we would have a video card that would fit in a slot LIKE that.....

looks like the ExpressCard doesn't have enough bandwidth... but one day... ONE DAY...I'm sure we will have a card slot power enough.

There isn't a ton of add-ons for the ExpressCard slot and not too many I can think of for PCMCIA that were extremely useful....but when bandwidth needs start screaming I think it will come.
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post #10 of 21
10/5/07 at 3:47am
IMHO by the time the external cards BW issues are resolved next gen cards will be available that are beyond the BW capabilities of any new interface that is created... It will be a vicious cycle that will most likely only lead to sub-standard external solutions for the foreseeable future.

I think laptop mfg's will be reluctant to assist in such a program anyways unless they are offered a sizable financial incentive. If any laptop could be outfitted with an external high-power video solution for a reasonable price it would seriously hurt the current niche market for performance laptops & make even the cheaper base model laptops potential powerhouses. I don't see laptop mfg's going along with that right now.
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post #11 of 21
10/5/07 at 4:00am
Quote:
Originally Posted by mycrx View Post
it may be the dumbest thing to ask, but why havent there ever been gpus when you could just plug it in and out, look like a small usb hd or something lol,thatd be sweet, no mother board bs or anything just plug and play, maybe someday?? im sure there is alot of reason but i just though id ask, it would be rather neat.

there is one out now, but it's REALLY expensive... http://www.nvidia.com/page/quadroplex.html
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post #12 of 21
10/5/07 at 5:31am
I think cause there is no external port fast enough for pci-e. USB 2.0 sucks, IEEE sucks, definately not even CLOSE to PCI-e speeds.
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post #13 of 21
10/5/07 at 8:08am
Maybe once we get expresscard at 4x or 8x, it'll become viable. Until then, no point.
Besides, a home gaming desktop isn't exactly *that* expensive.
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post #14 of 21
10/5/07 at 8:10am
Another reason you don't see external graphics solutions is the pitfalls of using metal wires carrying electrical signals. Elminating all the crosstalk and EMI/RFI to get a perfectly clean signal is a big challenge and a costly one at that. The Express card to PCMCIA adapter I beta tested for Duel systems has to have alot of shielding in it's cable, making it VERY stiff and a bit difficult to manage.

There are other companies that do have external PCI Express enclosures. They're $500 or more WITHOUT a video card. Not to mention the fact you have to have an external monitor to display what's on the external video card.
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post #15 of 21
10/5/07 at 8:48am
here is a new 1 ,,,, i didnt read much about it but its coming soon and i think u can order from now ... its basiclly a desktop video card (any video card) connected to a laptop ,,,here is the link



http://www.magma.com/products/pciexp...ox1/index.html
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post #16 of 21
10/5/07 at 9:13am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Djembe View Post
there is one out now, but it's REALLY expensive... http://www.nvidia.com/page/quadroplex.html
Sign me up for two of the S4 series please. I think it would be lovely to tote that into a LAN party...
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post #17 of 21
10/5/07 at 9:15am
well u have the link so go a head and buy it if u want ,,,for me not now i have 512 mb 7950 gtx ,,,,but later
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post #18 of 21
10/5/07 at 10:11am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Djembe View Post
there is one out now, but it's REALLY expensive... http://www.nvidia.com/page/quadroplex.html
Well the Quadro Plex is for professional use and you definitely aren't gonna be hooking it up through firewire haha. Its like putting a HD in an enclosure but still using a SATA cable to connect it. Also note that price is not of the essence with the quadro plex and I imagine this greatly aids in signal transmission.
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post #19 of 21
10/5/07 at 12:07pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by saifthamer83 View Post
here is a new 1 ,,,, i didnt read much about it but its coming soon and i think u can order from now ... its basiclly a desktop video card (any video card) connected to a laptop ,,,here is the link http://www.magma.com/products/pciexp...ox1/index.html
You see the max spec Video card that can handle is 55 watts lol, not exactly a powerhouse unfortunately
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post #20 of 21
10/9/07 at 2:37pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Djembe View Post
there is one out now, but it's REALLY expensive... http://www.nvidia.com/page/quadroplex.html
HAHA when you look at it on its side it looks like a BFG "zOMG hes got the BFG!" "Nay, its the Quardo Plex!" "......He named his BFG?"
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