I am curious to see how this works.
Sonnet Launches eGFX Breakaway™ Box for Boosting Gaming and Professional Graphics Application Performance
All-New PCIe® Card Expansion Chassis Connects High-Performance GPU Card to Any eGFX-Compatible Computer via Thunderbolt™
IRVINE, Calif. — June 1, 2017 — Sonnet Technologies today announced the eGFX Breakaway™ Box, a Thunderbolt™ 3-to-PCI Express® (PCIe®) expansion chassis with a single slot for connecting any size Thunderbolt-compatible PCIe card, including high-performance graphics (GPU) cards to a Thunderbolt 3-equipped computer. The eGFX Breakaway Box is designed specifically for gamers and professionals who need to run bandwidth-intensive graphics applications on their eGFX-compatible notebook, all-in-one, or other small-form-factor computers.
“We designed the eGFX Breakaway Box with mainstream PC gamers in mind — especially those who want to enable gaming on small, light, and easy-to-carry laptops. Our goal is to provide the quietest GPU card enclosure that is both affordable and supports the most popular graphics cards,” said Robert Farnsworth, CEO of Sonnet Technologies. “Additionally, the eGFX Breakaway Box is Thunderbolt-certified for both Mac and Windows, enabling customers with PCIe cards such as the RED ROCKET-X and Avid Pro Tools | HDX to benefit from using this enclosure with their Macs.”
With the eGFX Breakaway Box, smaller and lighter general-purpose computers become viable gaming alternatives to larger and more expensive gaming laptops, which are typically thick and heavy because of the built-in GPU and extra cooling required. Professional users can also harness the computational capabilities of the externally attached GPU via OpenCL and CUDA using Thunderbolt-equipped computers.
Sonnet will offer two eGFX Breakaway Box models, the eGFX Breakaway Box 350 and eGFX Breakaway Box 550, enabling the user to select the one best suited to his or her needs. The eGFX Breakaway Box 350 includes one 8-pin and one 6-pin auxiliary power connector, supports cards requiring 300W or less of power, and provides 15W of upstream power. The eGFX Breakaway Box 550 includes dual 8-pin auxiliary power connectors, supports cards requiring 375W+ of power, and provides 87W of upstream power, useful for charging a notebook computer.
Each eGFX Breakaway Box model is equipped with a 40Gbps Thunderbolt 3 port that enables data transfers up to 2,750 MB/s, and supports popular GPU cards such as AMD Radeon™ R and RX series, and the NVIDIA GeForce® GTX 9 and 10 series. The Breakaway Box is the quietest eGFX box on the market and works with any Thunderbolt 3-compatible PCIe card regardless of length.
eGFX Breakaway Box 350 (part number GPU-350W-TB3) is expected to be available in early July 2017 with an MSRP of $299. eGFX Breakaway Box 550 (part number GPU-550W-TB3) is expected to be available late in the third quarter of 2017 with an MSRP of $349. More information on the products is available at www.sonnettech.com/product/egfx-breakaway-box.html.
