Today, Sapphire is launching its latest external graphics solution – the GearBox 500 Thunderbolt 3 PULSE AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT eGFX. As the name implies, this is an external GPU system with its own power supply, and an RX 6600 XT 8GB GPU to go with it to bring a graphics power boost to many laptops, or low-power systems.
Designed for users that need the performance boost to run bandwidth intensive applications, the GearBox 500 eGFX Enclosure’s light weight and slim design is highly portable and can host up to a 350W PCI-Express x16 Graphics Card from either Nvidia or AMD. In this case, Sapphire has equipped this with its own PULSE RX 6600 XT graphics card with Dual-X cooling technology and a metal backplate.
You can see the full specifications in the table below:
PC Connectivity |
Thunderbolt 3/4 using 40Gbps cable |
|
Enclosure Dimensions |
300mm x 138mm x 204mm / 11.8” x 5.43” x 8.03” (L/W/H) |
|
GPU Support |
GPU Type |
Single / Double Slot, PCI-Express x16 Graphics Cards |
GPU Max. Dimension |
266 mm (L) x 125 mm (H) / 10.5″ (L) x 4.9″ (H) |
|
GPU Max. Power Support |
350 Watts |
|
Graphics Outputs |
Depends on the capabilities of installed graphics card |
|
PCI-Express Bus |
PCI-Express 3.0 x 16 in x4 mode |
|
Input |
Thunderbolt™ 3 (USB-C for connection to PC) |
|
Outputs |
2 x USB 3.0 |
|
Internal Power Supply |
500 Watts |
The GearBox 500 eGFX Enclosure comes equipped with a maximum 40 Gb/s Thunderbolt 3 port that can connect to laptops or small form factor computers to enable faster graphics performance. It comes with PD Charging (Power Delivery Charging) which is capable of fully charging a laptop of up to 60 Watts. Furthermore, the GearBox 500 eGFX Enclosure features Gigabit Ethernet to enable high speed internet via the LAN port, and dual USB ports that provide additional connections for USB devices, like USB sticks or peripherals.
The GearBox 500 eGFX is available on its own as a standalone enclosure, or with the Sapphire Pulse RX 6600 XT. We do not have UK pricing or availability information at the time of publishing.
KitGuru Says: What do you all think of Sapphire's external GPU solution? Would you use something like this for a mini PC or laptop?