ZOTAC Readies External GPU Enclosure: TB3, 400 W PSU, Due in Q2 2017

ZOTAC plans to demonstrate a prototype of its external GPU enclosure at CES this week. The eGFX chassis from ZOTAC will target notebooks, AIO and SFF PCs with Thunderbolt 3 interface, will integrate a 400 W power supply and provide additional USB ports. The device will hit the market several months from now and its final specifications are still to be determined.

ZOTAC is the sixth company to announce an eGFX enclosure with Thunderbolt 3 interface, so the market of such devices seems to be getting crowded (and we expect several more companies to introduce their eGFX solutions too). Apart from ultra-thin laptops with a TB3 port (and support of eGFX through BIOS and TB3 firmware), the usual target market for this kind of devices, ZOTAC is going to position its external GPU chassis as a solution to upgrade its upcoming SFF ZBOX PCs featuring Thunderbolt 3 interface with high-end external graphics cards.

At present, ZOTAC’s external graphics dock (the company does not have a brand for this product just yet, so it uses a neutral name for now) is still in development, which is why the manufacturer shares only the basic details about this device. Just like competing eGFX boxes, ZOTAC’s chassis will feature one Thunderbolt 3 port (40 Gbps) outside and one PCIe x16 electrical slot inside (operating in PCIe x4 mode, of course). As for power, it will integrate a 400 W PSU in a standard form-factor (it is unclear whether we are dealing with a shortened ATX or an SFX PSU here) that will power the video card inside. As Thunderbolt 3 can transfer up to 100 W of power, the same PSU could also power a notebook or even a miniature PC. The enclosure looks spacy enough for additional fans, but ZOTAC does not say how many of them will be pre-installed in the final product. In any case, a 400 W PSU and an additional cooler are going to provide certain potential for GPU overclocking for those who need it.

Since many ultra-thin notebooks as well as miniature PCs do not have a lot of spare USB 3.0 ports, ZOTAC’s dock will offer four additional USB 3.0 headers (with one port supporting Quick Charge 3.0). For now, ZOTAC’s dock does not support internal SATA connector for an extra 2.5” storage device (which might be needed to store games, as many PCs do not have capacious SSDs), but remember that the eGFX chassis is still in development.

At CES, ZOTAC plans to demonstrate its external graphics dock in action, therefore, things like electronics and firmware of the product are ready and everything works. The final product may be a little bit different than the one showcased at the trade show, but not radically (it may get LED lighting, grill instead of glass on the side, etc.).

At present, ZOTAC’s eGFX chassis is a work in progress and at least some of its specifications have not been finalized, which is why the company cannot announce its pricing. Right now, the manufacturer targets Q2 as the launch timeframe, so, we will have to wait a little bit for both the final specs and MSPR.

Gallery: ZOTAC Readies External GPU Enclosure: TB3, 400 W PSU, Due in Q2 2017

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NVIDIA Launches GeForce GTX 1050 TI & GTX 1050 For Laptops

With CES kicking off this week, we have a spate of laptop-related announcements. As Intel is launching their Kaby Lake quad core (4+2) SKUs for laptops, so too are new video cards are being launched to use in those systems. To that end, today NVIDIA i…

ZOTAC Announces GeForce GTX 1080 for Mini-ITX PCs

ZOTAC has introduced its GeForce GTX 1080 Mini, the industry’s first video card for Mini-ITX systems running the GP104 GPU in its full configuration. The new graphics adapter will be compatible with miniature computers with proper cooling and will be the most powerful card for SFF PCs until something better emerges.

The ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1080 Mini (ZT-P10800H-10P) offers the same performance and connectivity as its larger brethren: it is based on the fully-fledged GP104 graphics processor (with 2560 stream processors, 160 texture units and 64 raster operations pipes) that works at 1620/1759 MHz (base/boost) frequencies and is equipped with 8 GB of GDDR5X memory featuring 10 Gbps and 320 GB/s of bandwidth. In fact, the GPU frequencies of ZOTAC’s GeForce GTX 1080 Mini are slightly higher when compared to those of NVIDIA’s reference cards which is worth mentioning. The board alo features three DisplayPort 1.4 connectors, an HDMI 2.0b port as well as one dual-link DVI header, which is exactly what NVIDIA’s reference cards carry.

To squeeze a GeForce GTX 1080 GPU into Mini-ITX form-factor, ZOTAC had to develop a brand-new PCB with compatible with GDDR5X memory (so, the PCB is different from ZOTAC’s GeForce GTX 1070 Mini launched earlier this year). It is unknown whether the manufacturer decided to go with NVIDIA’s 5+1-phase VRM for the GTX 1080, or altered the VRM design somehow, but the card has one 8-pin PCIe power plug as well as two SLI-HB connectors, just like other boards in its class.

Since the GeForce GTX 1080 consumes up to 180 W of power, ZOTAC also had to design a relatively small cooling system for the ZT-P10800H-10P board. The company came up with a cooler that uses an aluminum radiator with at least three thick (and long) copper heatpipes as well as two fans. In addition, the GeForce GTX 1080 Mini card has a backplate, which has positive and sometimes negative effects. The cooling system seems to be a little longer than the one used on the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1070 Mini, but the whole graphics adapter is barely longer than 17 cm (6.7”) specified by the Mini-ITX spec. In any case, the majority of builds designed for gamers have a few cm of extra space inside and the length is not going to become a problem.

ZOTAC plans to display its GeForce GTX 1080 Mini at CES and start its sales in 2017. The company did not announce exact pricing and ETA, but since this is a unique custom-designed product, it will likely be priced higher than NVIDIA’s reference designs.

Gallery: ZOTAC Announces GeForce GTX 1080 for Mini-ITX PCs

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