Aorus Announces the GTX 1070 Gaming Box eGFX Adapter
by Ryan Smith on June 1, 2017 2:00 PM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
- Gigabyte
- AORUS
- Thunderbolt 3
- eGFX
- Computex 2017
To date, the designs we’ve seen for Thunderbolt 3 eGFX chassis have all been just that – an empty chassis. This lets the user install any GPU they want, but it also means the chassis needs to be sized to accept particularly large video cards. So for Computex Gigabyte’s Aorus division is turning the tables a bit by offering the GTX 1070 Gaming Box: an eGFX adapter that contains a built-in/preinstalled GeForce GTX 1070 video card, allowing them to cut down on the size and complexity of the adapter significantly.
While exact dimensions were not available at press time, the GTX 1070 Gaming Box appears to be about half the length and height of the Razer Core and the Alienware Graphics Amp, the current market leaders in this nascent space. Undoubtedly, the Gaming Box benefits from having its card built-in and, because Aorus makes video cards, the company has an edge up on the competition.
The back of the Aorus GTX 1070 Gaming Box is filled with ports you can use to connect to monitors and other peripherals, including four USB 3.0 ports, two DVI-out connectors, one HDMI out and a single, full-size DisplayPort connection. There's also a Thunderbolt 3 port that you use to connect to your laptop.
Notably, the smaller size of the Gaming Box means that unlike any other graphics amp we've seen, the Gaming Box is itself reasonably portable. In fact, it comes with an attractive padded case you can use to take it with you on trips.
The integrated nature of the Gaming Box also means that the eGFX adapter is also a bit more reasonably priced. Aorus will be selling the box for $599, a roughly $200 premium over a stand-alone GTX 1070 card. This works out to roughly $100 cheaper than even some of the cheapest eGFX chassis on the market, further bringing down the overall cost of going with an eGFX solution.
The Aorus GTX 1070 Gaming Box is due out this summer.
Avram Piltch contributed to this report
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IdBuRnS - Thursday, June 1, 2017 - link
It might be $100 cheaper but the upgrade path is severely limited with the smaller size.I'll gladly pay $100 more if it means I can swap whatever future card in that I want.
dave_the_nerd - Thursday, June 1, 2017 - link
It looks like it just uses one of those stubby "ITX" cards. There's a few of those every generation.I like it. Add in a couple of 2.5" SATA bays and it's the laptop dock I always wanted.
HomeworldFound - Thursday, June 1, 2017 - link
The card is the Gigabyte GTX 1070 Mini ITX OCIdBuRnS - Thursday, June 1, 2017 - link
I don't know much about the availability of ITX-sized GPUs but I'm at Newegg and there are only 2 GPUs that are 200mm or less and are at least a GTX 1070.I guess it's still better than nothing but I guess, for me, I'd rather have something a little less limiting is all.
HomeworldFound - Thursday, June 1, 2017 - link
I have two of them and they work very well. I don't see them as limiting at all. They're still clocked higher than standard / stock cards. They aren't far off of a card like the SuperClocked ACX models. The software isn't bad since it'll tune the card for your purposes at the click of a button.dave_the_nerd - Friday, June 2, 2017 - link
http://www.anandtech.com/show/11501/zotac-showcase...Chrishnaw - Thursday, June 8, 2017 - link
The 1070 doesn't look soldered on, so in the future you can probably swap it for a more recent mini card, perhaps an RX Vega Nano or GTX 1170 mini.Hxx - Thursday, June 1, 2017 - link
Jayz2cents did a video on this comparing performance on the Razer unit i think it was vs performance on a card installed in a system and there is a significant drop in frames with these.Cygni - Thursday, June 1, 2017 - link
Really depends on how its implemented on the laptop/motherboard and enclosure side, along with what drivers you are using. It's not a bandwidth issue at all.Windows, quite frankly, does NOT like the hotplugged eGPUs, and it seems the workarounds and drivers to make it at least play semi-nice with GPU switching are a big part of what is slowing down the eGPU boxes. Should be noted that loopback mode (ie not using an external display) does have a 15% hit as well, but the use case for the eGPUs seems mostly to be a thin and light laptop plugged into a full home pc gaming setup of accessories at home (monitor, mouse, keyboard,e tc)
ToTTenTranz - Friday, June 2, 2017 - link
It really looks like you could change the card for any other ITX graphics card with a similar TDP, which is pretty good news.This is one Thunderbolt 3 GPU chassis I could get behind.