http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/ Engadget Comments for http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/
Heres the reason why:

ExpressCard bandwidth = 2.5 Gbit/s
8x AGP bandwidth = 2 GB/s

For those who don't know there is 8 bits in a byte. Kids, this should be common computer knowledge. For those who can't do math, 2.5 gbit/s = .3125 GB/s or 320 MB/s. There won't be much or any gains with this if you have even decent dedicated graphics. If this thing does have a 7900gs in there, it won't even come close to what it should in terms of price / performance.

Unless this is priced really reasonably (i.e., between $50 - $120), this won't sell.]]>Mar 13th 2008 11:18AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/May 28th 2008 12:30PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/May 30th 2008 3:57PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/May 30th 2008 4:05PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/Jun 2nd 2008 11:29AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/Jun 13th 2008 7:14PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/Sep 23rd 2008 3:47AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/NVIDIA GeForce 8600GT

Built for Microsoft Windows Vista

NVIDIA SLI Technology ready

Full support for Microsoft DirectX10 and Shader Model 4.0 enables stunning and complex special effects

OpenGL2.0 support

Single dual-link DVI outputs support 3840 x 2400 at 30Hz resolution displays


I/O Specifications
Audio connector
- Microphone out
- Headphone out
USB *2
TV-out
Dual DVI-I


Graphics Engine NVIDIA GeForce 8600GT

Video & Color Engine ASUS Splendid HD
Bus Standard PCI Express 2.0
Video Memory DDR3 256MB
Effective Memory Size 256 MB
Effective Memory Bandwidth 128-bit
Engine Clock 540 MHz
Shader Clock GHz

Memory Clock 1.4 GHz ( 700 MHz DDR3 )

RAMDAC 400MHz
Memory Interface 128-bit
CRT Max Resolution 2048 x 1536
DVI Max Resolution 3840 x 2400
D-Sub Output Yes x 1 (via DVI to D-Sub adaptor x 1 )

DVI Output Yes x 2 (DVI-I)

HDTV Output (YPbPr) Yes
HDCP Support Yes
TV Output Yes (YPbPr to S-Video and Composite)
Audio Output 1 x Headphone out
1 x Microphone out
Adapter/Cable Bundled 1 x DVI to D-Sub adaptor
1 x HDTV-out cable
1 x Power cable
1 x Express Card cable
Software Bundled ASUS Utilities & Driver

]]>Oct 3rd 2008 9:45PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/
It would be a cakewalk to make this driver. ]]>Oct 12th 2008 10:13PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/Jan 15th 2009 4:51PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/Feb 5th 2009 3:23AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/Jan 8th 2007 7:56PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/

http://blog.dotshell.net]]>Jan 8th 2007 7:56PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/Jan 8th 2007 7:58PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/Jan 8th 2007 9:40PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/Jan 9th 2007 12:39AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/Jan 8th 2007 9:54PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/
1. Is external monitor required to be used with this product? Will it work with the LCD that is built-in to the notebook?

2. Is any PCIe graphics card usable as an upgrade? Or does it take proprietary card only?

3. What game was used to do the comparison?
]]>Jan 8th 2007 8:35PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/Jan 8th 2007 9:12PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/Jan 8th 2007 8:53PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/
So many questions, what's the purpose of the second DVI connector? Is it Windows-only? Will it work on non-ASUS computers?]]>Jan 8th 2007 8:54PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/Jan 8th 2007 11:17PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/Jan 8th 2007 8:59PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/what's the purpose of the second DVI connector?
>>Dual monitor setups one would think.

Is it Windows-only?
>>Very curious about that too!
Will it work on Macs?!? \(0.0)/]]>Jan 9th 2007 9:58AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/Apr 26th 2007 1:52AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/Jan 9th 2007 2:16PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/Jan 8th 2007 10:56PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/It uses the ExpressCard slot (the successor to PC CARD). This makes sense since ExpressCard is based on the same PCI-Express standard used by current desktops.

For those complaining about the size: this is meant more as a docking station for at home. Leave your speakers and dual monitors hooked up to it all the time, and just slide the ExpressCard into your notebook. When you're ready to go to class (if you're a student) or to a client's, just pop out the ExpressCard and you've instantly got your small notebook back.

What I want to know is if this will work with only certain model Asus notebooks (and which ones), or if it's a universal product only requiring an ExpressCard slot.]]>Jan 8th 2007 11:20PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/Jan 11th 2007 8:14PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/Jan 8th 2007 11:10PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/Jan 8th 2007 11:12PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/Jan 9th 2007 6:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/
--neg]]>Jan 9th 2007 6:14AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/Don’t believe that asus would release something that wouldn’t improve the performance; the question is if the performance increase is worth the eventual price tag.

This would be so sweet if it worked with the macbook.
]]>Jan 9th 2007 6:54AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/]]>Jan 9th 2007 7:19AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/Jan 9th 2007 11:33AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/http://www.slashgear.com/asus-xg-station-steroids-for-your-laptop-video-card-073362.php (don't know how reliable they are)

It will have 2 PCI-X slots, will overclock with the knob and will come with a ASUS EN7900GS

I really want it!]]>Jan 9th 2007 5:52PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/
Assumming it uses standard cards and all, I wonder about the heat and noise issues. I guess modding the fans is always an option.

Definitely looking foreward to this if it performs well.]]>Jan 10th 2007 3:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/Jan 9th 2007 12:28PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/
Compared this to AGP 8X (a dedicated bus as well) with more than 2GB/s in bandwidth or PCI-E 16X which support 8GB/s.

So what we have here is only slighly better than a normal PCI-interface. How many among you would hook up a high-end graphics card on a PCI-bus? Toms hardware did some tests on how available bandwidth affected performance. http://www.tomshardware.com/2004/11/22/sli_is_coming/page10.html

Remember that this test is more than two years old and todays high-end cards would be even more bandwidth-starved.

I don't say this is a pointless solution, far from. I just don't want people to expect that they will be able to hook up some 8800GTX to see blazing framerates. Still, a proper implementation should be able to score at least 5000@3DMark05.]]>Jan 10th 2007 5:13PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/from wiki

"The ExpressCard has a maximum throughput of 2.5 Gbit/s through PCI Express"

i.e. better than AGP8X possible on a laptop, sweet

looks like the thing is to be released in US in May 2008 $600]]>Feb 29th 2008 1:59PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/ 2.5Gb/s .... Its GIGABYTES dumbass]]>Mar 6th 2008 3:37AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/Oh, and anyone have first-hand experience with Asus laptops? how good is build quality, screen, etc...? (please email at alex.donzel@gmail.com.nospamthanks)]]>Jan 16th 2007 4:20PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/Jul 19th 2007 1:09AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/"Equipped with Express Card interface, USB 2.0" so I guess you can use usb 2.0 as well ]]>Mar 17th 2007 1:47AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/I have an idea of how to connect the XG station to your laptop and play it on your laptop screen. Let me know if you think I'm just bogus. ;) If you laptop has two card slots, (say one ExpressCard slot and one PC Card slot) couldn't you simply use one to output to the XG station and then use a TV Tuner card to input the video back to your laptop so that you wouldn't need an external monitor???
Or, if you don't have two card slots in your laptop, couldn't you do the same thing with an external PC Card drive?

]]>Mar 25th 2007 8:14PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/i've contacted Asus and they can't even find the product in their system, half the people i've spoken to over there don't even know what it is.

they said i had to call Asus sales so i called them and was only given the option to leave a message ... FOR SALES!!! wtf?? they should be like yes how can we take your money today?

if anyone knows where to buy one let me know, i've got $600 set aside for it ... it's alot cheaper than a whole new gaming PC so i'm all for this thing]]>May 22nd 2007 11:34PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/Jul 5th 2007 10:23AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/Aug 31st 2007 1:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/08/hands-on-with-the-asus-xg-station-external-gpu/
The question I have is where in hell is this product? The announcement says Q2 of 2007 and we're nearly at the end of Q4 already... unless they're not using US fiscal year... then we're still like what, 3 months away? Ugh.
]]>Sep 16th 2007 8:38PM