Nathan Davis11 February 2007, 2:50 PM
If manufacturers pick up a newly defined graphics specification, laptop and desktop computers alike are about to get their very own line of external video cards.
If manufacturers pick up a newly defined graphics specification, laptop and desktop computers alike are about to get their very own line of external video cards. Or perhaps even sound cards.
Anything that plugs into current PCI-Express expansion slots, really. How about an external SATA RAID card?
This is not some proprietary hack job punching its way through a lowly USB port. Developed by the
PCI-Express Special Interest Group, this is a fully fledged PCI-Express-based standard that routes a jack to the scary outsides of your computer.
This likely means that ASUS will no longer be alone in the high performance laptop graphics arena. At CES last month, ASUS showcased its own external PCI-Express rendition of a video card, the
XG Station, although whether this is based on a similar standard is unknown.
The PCI-Express External Cabling specification defines standard cables and connectors for links with 1, 4, 8, and 16 lanes. Those with 2, 12, and 32 lanes are not mentioned.
"This specification helps the industry create new products that will take PCIe technology out of the box – enabling PCIe solutions for IO expansion drawers, external graphics processors, tethered mobile docking, communications equipment and embedded applications," says PCI-SIG's top cheese, Al Yanes.
"... this is a great opportunity for OEMs to take products to new levels with PCIe technology," he adds.
How is power supplied? Frankly, we don't yet know, considering the
specification paper is conveniently inaccessible. Presumably it will supply the usual passive amount of power and that which requires more juice, such as a typical high performance video card, will make use of a power brick.
In the case of an external video card on a laptop, you will probably only plug it in when you have access to mains power, choosing to suffer through solitaire, or perhaps calculator, when in transit.
According to
DailyTech, Yanes believes products are being developed right now and expects final units to hit the shelves within a year.
With an inherently feisty PCI-Express bus channelled out of the computer, it'll very be interesting to see what manufacturers do with it.
Video cards in monitors, anyone?