Asus' New eGPU Dock Uses Thunderbolt 5 for Up to 80Gbps Bandwidth
Asus is driving the concept of external graphics forward with a next-generation design that has everything it needs to support the latest, most capable GPUs from Nvidia and AMD. The ROG XG Station 3 leverages the Thunderbolt 5 interface to deliver up to 80Gbps bandwidth, allowing connected GPUs to run at almost the same speeds as those plugged natively into a standard high-end desktop. This raises the potential performance of lightweight, portable laptops that can use a static GPU dock like this for high-end gaming when needed.
Shown off at Computex in Taipei, the Asus ROG XG Station 3 Dock really doubles down on the idea of an external GPU, by having the graphics card be external to the dock itself. It sits on top of it, plugged into a top-mounted PCI Express slot. It's not entirely clear from WCCFTech's images where the card's power cables are, but it's possible they've been left unattached for aesthetic reasons. The system itself has a mains power connection, with the body of the eGPU dock housing the power supply. That's of an unknown wattage, too, though likely in excess of the 600W used in previous generations of the dock.
Credit: Asus/WCCFTech
Asus has some graphs showing the performance of an RTX 4090 using the XG Station 3. In these first-party tests, the card performs almost as well as when it is plugged straight into a desktop PC's motherboard. As impressive as that is, though, it's arguably more important to see the comparison with the mobile RTX 4090 GPU—otherwise one of the fastest graphics solutions for mobile computing.
This is all made possible thanks to the 80 Gbps Thunderbolt 5 connection, we're told. That upgrade from Thunderbolt 4 may be less impactful for weaker GPUs, but certainly for high-end cards, the added bandwidth makes a difference. The difference with even more powerful GPUs, like the RTX 5090 and mobile 5090, would presumably be even more pronounced.
Although showcased with a last-generation card, Asus has confirmed this new dock is fully compatible with the RTX 50-series GPUs, including the 5090, and AMD's RX 9000 series cards, like the 9070 XT.
Elsewhere, the dock adds some additional connectivity for connected laptops, including three USB-C 10 Gbps connections. That could be good for connecting a keyboard and mouse, letting users with highly portable laptops used for work sit down at a desk, plug into the eGPU dock, and play games with an already-connected set of gaming peripherals.
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