It looks like AMD may be looking into the development of external graphics cards with hopes on standardizing the technology. External GPUs have been floating around for a while though quite a few PC makers like Alienware, Razer and MSI have jumped on board with their own external GPU solutions over the last year.
AMD is well known for pushing open standards as it has done with FreeSync recently so the next step could be to help develop an open standard for external graphics card technology. According to a report from Videocardz, AMD's solution would benefit from standardized connectors, cables and easier OS integration with plug and play style drivers.
AMD is hoping that this technology will appeal to ultrabook or thin and light laptop owners as these devices can lack the required graphics horsepower to drive modern PC games. Hopefully, an open standard external GPU solution could end up working out cheaper than current offerings on the market as well, with options from the likes of Alienware or Razer costing hundreds of dollars.
So where did all of this buzz surrounding AMD and external graphics card technology come from? Well it all originated from a Facebook post penned by Robert Hallock, one of AMD's higher-ups. In this post, he teased that AMD would be doing this right and have more information to share soon.
KitGuru Says: As someone that travels a fair bit, often leaving my gaming rig behind in the process, I would be very interested in an external GPU solution for a thin/light laptop. Are any of you currently gaming on a laptop? Would you like to see more options for external GPU solutions?
I have a wonderfully thin and light 2-1 as laptop these days. An external GFX that could be plugged in would be awesome when having to spend several nights in a row in a hotel away from my desktop
this is what xbox was talking about.
so this is what is going on with the xbox one.i said a new console on a shorter life cycle or a external gpu for it that uses usb 3.0. eeing this article kind of confirms that.a it makes sense now about the hardware up grade xbox is talking about doesnt it?
id pay $200 for an external gpu addon for the xbox one.that would be a great ide