Asustek's XG Station ripped apart

It appears that, like many of you, the folks at 4Gamer were skeptical of Asustek's claim to bring high-end graphics capabilities to any ExpressCard-equipped laptop with its XG Station rig. So, like any reasonable person, they decided to rip into the device to see just what's going on. As you can see above, they did indeed find a full-size PCI Express graphics card packed inside -- an Nvidia GeForce 7900 GS, specifically (just one of the options available) -- which itself is mounted on board with a readily accessible PCI-E slot. That would seem to at least open up the possibility of replacing the card down the line, even if you can't just buy a barebones unit right off the bat. Unfortunately, there's still no word on pricing or availability, so it looks like you'll have to live with those integrated graphics for a little while longer.

[Via The Inquirer]

[Chris M @ Apr 5th 2007 9:12PM]

Don't see why it wouldn't work- you've got PCI Express as the interface to the enclosure, and then to the system you've got Expresscard. All the handling of the device's drivers and such should be done on the computer; not on the enclosure. If so, they limited themselves to updating the enclosure via firmware updates and what -it- can support.

I think the real issue lies beyond development; and as all good answers, it lies in profit. Why sell a barebones system when they can mark up an already overpriced graphics card and a hunk of aluminum? That's merchantability for ya.

Chris

[scott @ Apr 5th 2007 11:51AM]

"still no word on pricing or availability, so it looks like you'll have to live with those integrated graphics for a little while longer."

I heard a couple places that it was going to be $600...
http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/lofiversion/index.php/t12396.html
http://www.cnet.com.au/laptops/accessories/0,239035630,339273021,00.htm

[Samuel McConnell @ Apr 5th 2007 11:57AM]

I wouldn't be skeptical - ExpressCard is nothing more than PCI Express and USB 2.0 in a handy little slot.

[Ayle @ Apr 5th 2007 12:54PM]

......Crap since the fan is that slim this mean that you cant replace it with says a 8800gtx or a X1950XTX.....

[John Laur @ Apr 5th 2007 1:01PM]

Was there ever any doubt that this was just a desktop graphics card inside an ExpressCard PCI/E bridge enclosure?

The real issue is that the ExpressCard is only PCI Express 1x, so even if you do upgrade the card in the future you may already be pretty much capped on performance in many applications by the expresscard bandwidth.

[Ayle @ Apr 5th 2007 1:31PM]

But you'll still get better performances than with a crappy gma950.....

[Nova @ Apr 5th 2007 1:13PM]

Genious. Hope the price will be low...

[ksmith @ Apr 5th 2007 1:54PM]

http://www.tomshardware.com/2004/11/...ing/index.html

Tom's Hardware took a look at the performance hit of running reduced PCI-E lanes back in 2004. They found that even a GeForce 6800 saturated a x1 lane. Throwing a 7900GS is overkill.

The rumor is that there's a v2.0 on the way that will support multiple PCI-E lanes. I'm guessing it'll use some sort of proprietary connector, meaning that maybe only Asus laptops will be able to use it. I guess we'll just wait and see. But really, does a gadget fiend know how to anything by wait and dream?

[Anonymous @ Apr 5th 2007 1:48PM]

Not being able to buy this thing barebones has lost Asustek the sale as far as I'm concerned. I should be able to buy this and put a card I already have inside it, and not have to pay an insane markup for the same card (just because it's inside the enclosure *Just like with External HDD's*)

Give me this thing barebones, charge a decent price, and you've got yourself a sale.

[Ayle @ Apr 5th 2007 2:42PM]

Wrong link...

[ksmith @ Apr 5th 2007 4:53PM]

My bad.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2004/11/22/sli_is_coming/index.html

[c3789 @ Apr 6th 2007 10:58AM]

for one the fact is that Asus has found a way to help those with shared memory ( me included ) i dont see any reason to complain about the bandwidth of expresscard slots and i have no doubt that Asus will release a bare bones version that would hold a any brand 8800 or older

[Xaijin @ Apr 6th 2007 3:43PM]

If you look in the game benchmarks, the difference is 1-2 fps between x1-x2. 2 FPS difference in Doom 3 (x1 vs x16) and 5 FPS difference in UT2k4 (x1 vs x16).

Something isnt right with their benchmarks. The difference is huge between game benchmarks and 3D Mark.

[Nickolas @ Jun 28th 2007 4:07PM]

refer to the above concers over bandwidth i have some bad news.
an ExpressCard does only support 1x at 2.5-5.0 Gbps (if your lucky)
whare as a 16x pci express card can use up to 80 Gbps (40 gbps minimum)
which means the gtx8800 is well out of the question, sory for the bad news, i will gladly accept any evidence to the contary, i got some info from this link below.
http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/Redbooks.nsf/RedbookAbstracts/tips0456.html?Open
my rason for wanting the xg station was i need to upgrade to the 3.0 shader model apart from that i have a very high spec laptop.
3.6 ht p4, 2gb ram, 100gb hdd,256mb x600 ati 16x,wifi,bluetooth,17" screen, all worthless when you want to play a game that requires SM 3.0
lets just hope that thay come up with a standerd laptop pci xepress card you can upgrade in the future.