ZOTAC is usually pretty reasonable about pricing. I'd go out on a limb with the idea of their GPU dock undercutting the current competition or, at the very least, coming in at the lower end. So maybe you'll still need to give up your kidney and some blood, you can probably keep the arm.
case & PSU is $60, the right price for these is about $99-139ish, and they should dock with a single cable for USB keyboard/mouise + GPU/monitors/audio pass-thru.
I think that a more interesting product at this point (considering that everybody is introducing their own enclosures) would be an external *GPU*, rather than an external GPU enclosure. For example, if you took a mobile-class 1070 and built a custom board/chassis for it, you could have something that might end up the size of a 3.5" hard disk and still offer a massive upgrade over the integrated graphics in your notebook or SFF computer, while still being pretty darned portable itself.
I am very interested in these eGPUs as my video work has me moving around a lot, so being able to team a more powerful GPU with my notebook for later stages of editing would be great. I love the idea of something custom built with a GPU to keep the size and weight down. Sure you may have to upgrade the whole thing when you want to upgrade GPUs, but so be it.
Depends on your use case, I guess. I'd personally like to see an eGPU enclosure with dual drive bays so that I can make better use of Windows Shared Spaces.
If regular people could buy MXM cards, this would be an interesting way of doing things. Could still create external enclosures roughly the size of external SSDs that you could slip the MXM cards into, to allow for upgradability. Much more portable that way.
It's good to see this market finally moving. The AKiTiO is now $210 at a few suppliers online, edging closer to the mass adoption sweet spot. In reality, none of these components should be exceptionally expensive, but the low production amounts and desire to recoup design costs quickly has left the prices high.
With more and more laptops coming with integrated GPUs, PC gaming seemingly having a a bit of a resurgence, and eGPU support rolling out fast, I could see a real market for these enclosures if they hit the $100-150 range.
I think USB Power Delivery is the "killer app" for this type of enclosure. It has the potential to not just be an external graphics housing, but a fully loaded one-cable-to-connect desktop dock for your laptop. You can plug in your monitor, keyboard, mouse, and peripherals to the enclosure. Then all you need is a single USB Type-C cable to your laptop, no separate PSU brick required. If you're in the target market and shelling out money on a high-end GPU, you probably still want a high-end wired keyboard and mouse, and this lets you have everything you want with one cable. Convenience is worth money to me.
This of course assumes your laptop supports charging over USB. And that it complies with the USB Power Delivery spec. Sadly some laptops that use USB Type-C for charging (I'm looking at you, HP!) only work with first-party power adapters and won't charge from third-party USB Power Delivery sources, which is bull****.
Why do so many of these enclosure manufacturers give you only ONE thunderbolt port? Since there seems to be no such thing as a Thunderbolt hub, any device with only one port will terminate the chain.
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Duwelon - Wednesday, January 4, 2017 - link
Let me guess, it will cost a kidney, an arm and a pint of blood for the pleasure.BrokenCrayons - Wednesday, January 4, 2017 - link
ZOTAC is usually pretty reasonable about pricing. I'd go out on a limb with the idea of their GPU dock undercutting the current competition or, at the very least, coming in at the lower end. So maybe you'll still need to give up your kidney and some blood, you can probably keep the arm.Scabies - Wednesday, January 4, 2017 - link
"the market of such devices seems to be getting crowded"You take that back, there's plenty of room for something that works well and costs less than another laptop
flyingpants1 - Wednesday, January 11, 2017 - link
case & PSU is $60, the right price for these is about $99-139ish, and they should dock with a single cable for USB keyboard/mouise + GPU/monitors/audio pass-thru.Guspaz - Wednesday, January 4, 2017 - link
I think that a more interesting product at this point (considering that everybody is introducing their own enclosures) would be an external *GPU*, rather than an external GPU enclosure. For example, if you took a mobile-class 1070 and built a custom board/chassis for it, you could have something that might end up the size of a 3.5" hard disk and still offer a massive upgrade over the integrated graphics in your notebook or SFF computer, while still being pretty darned portable itself.Mitch89 - Wednesday, January 4, 2017 - link
This!I am very interested in these eGPUs as my video work has me moving around a lot, so being able to team a more powerful GPU with my notebook for later stages of editing would be great. I love the idea of something custom built with a GPU to keep the size and weight down. Sure you may have to upgrade the whole thing when you want to upgrade GPUs, but so be it.
BrokenCrayons - Thursday, January 5, 2017 - link
Yup, pre-assembled eGPU solutions based on mobile graphics processors would be very nice.erwos - Wednesday, January 4, 2017 - link
Depends on your use case, I guess. I'd personally like to see an eGPU enclosure with dual drive bays so that I can make better use of Windows Shared Spaces.phoenix_rizzen - Friday, January 6, 2017 - link
If regular people could buy MXM cards, this would be an interesting way of doing things. Could still create external enclosures roughly the size of external SSDs that you could slip the MXM cards into, to allow for upgradability. Much more portable that way.Zak - Wednesday, January 4, 2017 - link
I have a gut feeling that Nvidia may announce an external Thunderbolt GPU. But don't quote me as a source on that :) This was coming for a while.Cygni - Wednesday, January 4, 2017 - link
It's good to see this market finally moving. The AKiTiO is now $210 at a few suppliers online, edging closer to the mass adoption sweet spot. In reality, none of these components should be exceptionally expensive, but the low production amounts and desire to recoup design costs quickly has left the prices high.With more and more laptops coming with integrated GPUs, PC gaming seemingly having a a bit of a resurgence, and eGPU support rolling out fast, I could see a real market for these enclosures if they hit the $100-150 range.
DanNeely - Wednesday, January 4, 2017 - link
are you sure you're looking at the right model? I can't find the AKiTiO Node (TB3) for sale anywhere, but found their old TB2 model around that price.Cygni - Thursday, January 5, 2017 - link
Oh I was just talking about the external graphics market in general, not specifically the TB3 model.sheltem - Wednesday, January 4, 2017 - link
Geez, some of these TB eGPU enclosures are bigger overall than my RVZ02 (3.43" x 14.96" x 14.57")!shelbystripes - Thursday, January 5, 2017 - link
I think USB Power Delivery is the "killer app" for this type of enclosure. It has the potential to not just be an external graphics housing, but a fully loaded one-cable-to-connect desktop dock for your laptop. You can plug in your monitor, keyboard, mouse, and peripherals to the enclosure. Then all you need is a single USB Type-C cable to your laptop, no separate PSU brick required. If you're in the target market and shelling out money on a high-end GPU, you probably still want a high-end wired keyboard and mouse, and this lets you have everything you want with one cable. Convenience is worth money to me.This of course assumes your laptop supports charging over USB. And that it complies with the USB Power Delivery spec. Sadly some laptops that use USB Type-C for charging (I'm looking at you, HP!) only work with first-party power adapters and won't charge from third-party USB Power Delivery sources, which is bull****.
DanaGoyette - Friday, January 6, 2017 - link
Why do so many of these enclosure manufacturers give you only ONE thunderbolt port? Since there seems to be no such thing as a Thunderbolt hub, any device with only one port will terminate the chain.