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ATI to release External Graphics Platform Puma XGP
I was un-aware of Nvidia and ATI’s interest in laptop graphics solutions. Nvidia have announced that they are to release 13 mobile based GPU’s, quite a few then!
ATI have hit back already and released their product at the Computex show. The graphics device will supply an external PCI-E 2.0 platform for graphics performance enthusiasts alike, ie Gamers.
You can see the product imaged to the right. The slim lined box features an ATI Radeon 3800 GPU. It can be connected via a 4.0 Gbps PCIe 2.0 connection.
The XGP support CrossFireX functionality and will work along side your existing internal graphics device. The external graphics will accelerate 1080p high definition videos. The XGP has HDMI and DVi based ports, it can support up to four displays and even has USB 2.0 ports.
Now as you guessed it, How is the external graphics device going to communicate with the laptop device. Well unfortunately the XGP uses a special PCIe 2.0 cable. That means for compatibility issues the laptop aka Puma must use this PCIe interface connection. This to me seems like a problem because Nvidia will also be doing the same. The result being another competition between vendors! Which one will we choose? Will all laptops come with these customised PCIe 2.0 connections? Its a shame that the designers couldn’t use existing technology but I cant see USB 2.0 being a viable option.
