Arthur Posted October 30, 2014 Posted October 30, 2014 Finally an external graphics card chassis that you can actually buy! Apart from the proprietary PCIe interface that only works with the Alienware 13 gaming laptop, this looks incredibly cool. The idea of an external PCI-Express chassis for video cards is practically as old as PCI-Express itself. However over the years the idea has failed to reach the consumer market as a complete product, even with the introduction of standardized external PCIe interfaces such as Thunderbolt. Various prototypes have been shown, but in practice the only way to acquire such a rig has been to build it yourself, combining an ExpressCard slot and its pokey PCIe 2.0 x1 link with an external PCIe chassis. Thankfully it looks like the PC industry is finally going to turn the corner on the concept thanks to Alienware. Today Alienware is introducing their own PCIe video card chassis, the Alienware Graphics Amplifier. Alienware’s amplifier is a fairly typical take on the concept – there are only so many ways to build an external PCIe chassis – however Alienware has been able to put together something that is clearly tuned for video cards. The chassis itself houses a PSU and a single x16 PCIe slot for a video card, along with a quartet of USB 3.0 ports for any other I/O needs. Notably, Alienware has designed the amplifier to be able to handle double-wide video cards up to 375W, which is quite a bit more power than professional grade external PCIe chassis, and this means it can conceivably run just about any self-contained video card on the market. That said, like many small form factor computers the amplifier is also clearly designed for video cards with fully exhausting blowers, so it’s going to be best paired with reference model video cards since blowers are nearly non-existent in custom cards these days. (Source)
eyetea Posted October 30, 2014 Posted October 30, 2014 Not exactly portable though is it? What do you mean, not portable?
Domino Posted October 30, 2014 Posted October 30, 2014 Hmm, I bought something similar for our sales guys to use multiple monitors at tradeshows ~4 years ago http://www.magma.com/expressbox-1
Arthur Posted October 30, 2014 Author Posted October 30, 2014 Hmm, I bought something similar ~4 years ago Magma's ExpressBox (and Sonnet's Echo Express) aren't designed specifically for graphics cards though. With Dell's solution the external GPU can send the data back to the laptops internal display. www.anandtech.com/show/8653/alienware-graphics-amplifier ... it’s interesting to note that in their development process Alienware has been able to solve some of the technical issues around an external video card in the process to better integrate it with the host. The video card in an amplifier can be used to drive both external and internal displays, meaning that it’s possible to use the amplifier to drive the 13’s built-in display and still reap the benefits, even without an external monitor. The overall non-portability of the 7lb+ amplifier and the USB ports strongly drives the amplifier towards being used as a docking station with an external monitor, but if you want to use it to drive the internal display that is going to be a viable option. Alienware 13 Review: The First Future Proof Gaming Laptop « Gizmodo
LiamH Posted October 30, 2014 Posted October 30, 2014 $300 without the graphics card though. I would rather buy a normal laptop/tablet for on the go and a high end gaming PC for home for the same price as this laptop + external gfx card
Sunnyknight Posted October 31, 2014 Posted October 31, 2014 No.... just.......... no. That looks hideous.
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