Latest news with #Gigabyte
Forbes
4 days ago
- Forbes
Razer Is Keeping The eGPU Dream Alive
Core X V2 Thunderbolt 5 connectivity is continually bringing advanced transfer speeds and better charging to the latest PC hardware, namely with its impressive 80Gbps bandwidth capabilities, and companies like ASUS and Gigabyte have already announced brand new eGPUs (external graphics processing units) to take advantage of this blazing fast throughput. Razer is the latest corporate entity to jump on the refreshed eGPU bandwagon with its Core X V2, a sturdy non-RGB box priced at $349.99 which advertises a promising 'coming soon' status but no firm release date. While eGPUs admittedly remain a rather niche product category—most gamers undoubtedly opt for dedicated gaming laptops instead of this sort of Frankenstein hybrid setup—I still find the concept irresistibly compelling. I reviewed Razer's 2018 eGPU, the Core V2, alongside the Stealth Blade, way back when both products initially launched, and I found the experience interesting. What is the purpose of an eGPU, anyway? Essentially, it's a separate housing that contains a (hopefully) powerful graphics card, and when you connect a compatible laptop to the unit, the necessary horsepower is outsourced to the chassis and your modest mobile hardware can now achieve desktop-quality visuals. That's the theory, anyway. Core X V2 with Thunderbolt 5 dock In other words, you don't have to sacrifice your thin, sleek, highly portable laptop with great battery life to play AAA games at home on the highest settings and with killer performance. Using an eGPU, you likely won't ever achieve the kind of peak results you'll get on a dedicated gaming desktop, but it's close enough to matter. I suppose you could view the Switch and Switch 2 as having primitive eGPUs of sorts, because when the consoles are docked, you're getting a performance boost, one you wouldn't enjoy in the consoles' respective portable modes. However, the real guts are actually inside the Switch machines themselves, instead of the TV docks like it would be with an eGPU case. We've come a long way since the original Core V2, because Razer's upcoming Core X V2 can support up to a 4-slot, full-length GPU, and that includes something nuts like a GeForce RTX 5090. Whether or not you'll be able to squeeze all the raw performance out of that 5090 over Thunderbolt 5 remains to be seen, but I'd wager there will still be a bottleneck of sorts, even if it's a small one. Using an external display helps, apparently, and I'd think PCIe 5.0 would also go a long way in this department as well. Unfortunately, the Core X V2 contains tech for the lesser PCIe 4.0 standard, but I'd love to test it out at some point to see how a 5090 fares over the lower bandwidth hardware. Thunderbolt 5 dock As The Verge points out, the device only comes packed with a single Thunderbolt 5 cable, and no included PSU (power supply unit) like previous Razer eGPU models. Plus, there are no additional ports on the Core X V2, so on top of needing to provide your own expensive GPU, ATX PSU, and laptop, you'll need to buy a separate dock for plugging in any extra devices. Not surprisingly, Razer is launching a new branded Thunderbolt 5 dock ($400) alongside the port-lacking Core X V2. How convenient. Looking at all the cost involved with traveling the eGPU hybrid computing route, the whole ordeal seems way overpriced and blatantly inefficient, because at that point, why not either buy a completely spec'd out (but slightly heavier) gaming laptop, or really, simply stick with a proper gaming desktop and purchase a separate, cheap, low-powered laptop for travel purposes. But like I said earlier, I do somehow (against all odds) find the idea of owning a sleek, feathery-light laptop that I can easily carry around town for writing and email, paired with a standalone, stationary 5090 base-station for high-end gaming… strangely appealing. It's not practical, it probably costs too much, but it's cool, man. The Thunderbolt 5 dock seems to be available now, while the Core X V2's availability is still up in the air. Regardless, I hope I can get my hands on both for testing relatively soon.
Gizmodo
18-07-2025
- Gizmodo
Gaming Laptops Have a Secret Weapon Against Desktop PCs, and It Looks a Lot Like the Switch 2
I want a future where we don't need a desktop PC to get the best gaming graphics. Maybe I'm a dreamer who needs to keep on dreaming, but I think that that pie-in-the-sky wonderland is closer to reality than you may think, and all PC component makers need to do is hop on the eGPU train. Better yet, they need to make something that's as easily dockable as a Switch 2, but with the added power of a discrete graphics card that could push a laptop or gaming handheld into a full desktop experience. The recently revealed Razer Core X V2 has been weighing on my mind as much as it seems it would weigh down my desk. At its core, it's an eGPU, or external graphics processing unit. The GPU normally handles the most intensive rendering tasks necessary for high-end creative apps or gaming. Razer's latest version is a $350 shoebox filled with surplus PC parts that could bump up the gaming potential of your average lightweight laptop. It makes use of Thunderbolt 5 connectivity to allow for faster data transfer speeds, though it will only grant those 80 Gbps bidirectional speeds with a compatible device that also has a Thunderbolt 5 port. It's compatible with USB-C-based Thunderbolt 4 laptops and USB 4 handhelds, but those devices also need to support external graphics to get the juice from the discrete GPU. We've seen similar designs from companies like Gigabyte with its recently announced Aorus RTX 5090 AI Box. It's the opposite of what I want to see from an eGPU. Even after you spend the Benjamins on Razer's case, you have to source your own graphics card and power supply with enough wattage to power it. This means you're already halfway there to a mini ATX desktop. It could be so much more. Why does it have to be in a box, anyway? Couldn't an eGPU enclosure be a complete docking station for your laptop or handheld? Imagine how nice it would be, after schlepping around town all day, to take your lightweight laptop, slot it into your desktop battle station, and then be set up for a console-like gaming experience. To keep it low-profile, you would need to engineer some novel ways to power the device and still manage excess heat. Smaller companies like Ayaneo sell the $600 Graphics Starship with an AMD Radeon 7600M XT housed inside. That eGPU has reverse power support for up to four monitors. It's still pretty chunky, which is why the better options for some kind of dockable device lie in laptop GPUs. We could have slimmer boxes with a device-specific slot for a laptop or handheld. It could have enough ports to support multiple monitors and include USB and Ethernet. What I'm saying is: what if Razer combined its Dock Chroma with a laptop-level eGPU? Asus kicked off 2025 with the promise of the XG Mobile eGPU with Thunderbolt 5 support and up to Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090-level graphics. Gizmodo first saw it in January this year, but it has yet to see the light of day. Asus promised it would be compatible with a $900 Asus ROG Ally X, but we don't yet know how well this could improve the graphics capabilities of the company's most expensive handheld. The upcoming ROG Xbox Ally X with the all-new Xbox-ified version of Windows has the same USB 4 connection, so it will similarly support the XG Mobile should it arrive sometime later this year. As for pricing, all we have right now are rumors, but I don't expect either the Xbox Ally or XG Mobile to be cheap. Desktops will still have the edge in graphics capability above any mobile dock, especially if they house a solid gaming CPU like AMD's leading Ryzen 7 9800X3D. The data speeds will continue to be a hindrance. USB 4's bandwidth maxes out at 40 Gbps, which may not be enough for the highest-end GPUs. Plus, so few handhelds have USB 4 compatibility. You can't hook up a Steam Deck unless you do surgery on your device to enable Oculink—a separate type of fast data connection. We need to wait for the next era of handheld APUs—AKA accelerated processing units—to see if their performance matches up with an external graphics card and makes the setup worth the cost. I'll just keep dreaming until some saint-like Santa figure finally hears my pleas.
Tom's Guide
15-07-2025
- Tom's Guide
I review gaming monitors, and this 4K 144Hz beast for nearly 50% off is the best deal I've seen all week
Need a new monitor for your gaming PC? Good news: Newegg's currently running a great deal on a new 28-incher for nearly half off. I know because I keep an eye on monitor deals here at Tom's Guide, and right now the Gigabyte M28U 4K gaming monitor is just $329 at Newegg, which is almost half off the usual $699 asking price. That's a great deal for this jack-of-all-trades gaming monitor that's great for gaming in 4K (at up to 144Hz) and also offers some compelling features that come in handy when you're surfing the web or getting work done. This 28-inch 4K (3,840 x 2,160 pixels) 144Hz gaming monitor offers HDR support, a good port array (including HDMI 2.1 so you can plug in your latest gaming consoles) and a built-in KVM switch feature that lets you use the same mouse, keyboard and monitor across multiple devices. I'm a big fan of these Gigabyte monitors because they offer useful features at a good price, without many unnecessary extras. First and foremost, there's no garish RGB lighting or funky design elements on this stripped-down gaming monitor. You get a simple black chassis with thin bezels and a cutout in the stand, allowing you to route cables easily, which helps reduce desk clutter. I also like that it's adjustable, so you can raise or lower the display, angle it left or right or tilt it forward and back a bit to ensure you have the most comfortable viewing angle possible. The older I get, the more I appreciate this sort of ergonomic, customer-friendly design. It's no slouch when it comes to gaming, either, as this 4K display boasts a 144Hz refresh rate and a 1ms GTG (gray-to-gray) response time. That means you can count on silky-smooth gaming even at high framerates, since it also supports AMD's FreeSync technology. Plus, it has decent HDR support, so you can count on seeing the full gamut of color in your favorite HDR-enabled games and movies. You get a useful port array too, including DisplayPort 1.4 and two HDMI 2.1 ports, so you can plug in your PS5 or Xbox Series X (or both) and take full advantage of the fact that they can support adaptive refresh rates of up to 120 frames per second. In fact, it's kind of great for use in a PC/console setup because it has a built-in KVM switch. That means you can plug in multiple devices (say, a laptop or PS5 in addition to your main PC) and use the same keyboard, mouse and gamepad for all of them without having to do anything besides press a button to switch inputs. It has multiple display modes and built-in features like This is the best price I've ever seen on this gaming monitor, but I don't know how long it will last now that most of the best Prime Day monitor deals have sold out, so snag one quick if you're interested!
Digital Trends
26-06-2025
- Digital Trends
Building a gaming PC from scratch? Save over $400 with this components bundle
Is it time to upgrade your gaming rig? Whether you're looking to replace some key components or building the entire thing from scratch, you won't want to miss this Gigabyte bundle. Right now you can get a CPU, GPU, RAM and motherboard for $2,400, down $438 from their initial price. This is part of the NextGen X3D System Bundle at Canada Computers, and it runs until Monday, June 30. These are some great components that we've praised in the past, including a CPU we heralded as the 'king of gaming.' Let's check out each component. Why you should buy the NextGen X3D System Bundle This bundle gets you four major components you need for building a gaming PC. It's not everything, but it will get you very close. Let's break down each piece. CPU: AMD Rizen 7 7800X3D. This bundle starts out with a bang. The 7800X3D CPU was crowned the 'king of gaming' when it came out, and still holds a spot in our list of the best CPUs for gaming as the 'best last-gen processor for gaming.' It's a very fast processor that will hold up even though it's technically a generation behind. GPU: Gigabyte GeForce RTX 5080. The 5080 didn't get the most glowing review when it came out, but it has its place among the newest generation of Nvidia graphics cards. The 50-Series GPUs now use AI Management Processor (AMP), which increases speeds by scheduling tasks across the 10,752 CUDA cores. Motherboard: Gigabyte B650 Eagle AX. This motherboard has lots of input options, Wi-Fi 6E capabilities, and Bluetooth. It has three M.2 slots for SSDs, so you could potentially add a third 16GB SSD for even more RAM. SSD: Corsair Vengeance RGB 32GB. This is double the standard 16GB of RAM suggested by our guide on how much RAM you need. That's a great start for a powerful gaming PC. If you're starting from scratch, you'll need a few more things — a case and some fans, for instance. Check out our guide on how to build a gaming PC for more details. If these components fit your needs, grab this deal before it ends on Monday, June 30. You can get this bundle for $2,400, saving you $438 over the original price.
Digital Trends
25-06-2025
- Business
- Digital Trends
This Gigabyte gaming laptop with 32GB of RAM is on sale at Amazon
If you're on the hunt for gaming laptop deals, we highly recommend going for the Gigabyte Aorus 16X. Two configurations of the device are currently on sale from Amazon — one with the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 graphics card at $1,499 instead of $1,599 for a $100 discount, and another with the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 graphics card at $1,699 instead of $1,949 for a $250 discount. You're going to have to hurry with your purchase if you want to take advantage of either offer though, as there's no telling how much time is remaining before the savings disappear. Gigabyte Aorus 16X with RTX 4060 — $1,499 $1,599 6% off Gigabyte Aorus 16X with RTX 4070 — $1,699 $1,949 13% off Why you should buy the Gigabyte Aorus 16X gaming laptop The Gigabyte Aorus 16X launches a decent challenge against the best gaming laptops with its performance, as it pairs the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 graphics card or Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 graphics card with the 14th-generation Intel Core i7 processor. The device also features 32GB of RAM, which is the sweet spot for high-end gamers, according to our guide on how much RAM do you need. With these specifications, the Gigabyte Aorus 16X won't break a sweat while you're playing the best PC games. The 16-inch screen of the Gigabyte Aorus 16X gives justice to its capabilities, as the 2560 x 1600 resolution and 165Hz refresh rate will make sure you fully enjoy the graphics of modern video games. The gaming laptop also comes with a 1TB SSD for enough space for multiple titles, and you can start installing them right away as it ships with Windows 11 Home pre-loaded. The Gigabyte Aorus 16X is an excellent gaming laptop with a competitive price, and it's an even more tempting purchase with Amazon's discounts for two of its configurations. The model with the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 graphics card is down to $1,499 from $1,599 for savings of $100, while the model with the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 graphics card is down to $1,699 from $1,949 for savings of $250. Go for the one with the more powerful GPU if you can, but either way, you have to act fast as tomorrow may already be too late to buy the Gigabyte Aorus 16X gaming laptop with a discount. Gigabyte Aorus 16X with RTX 4060 — $1,499 $1,599 6% off Gigabyte Aorus 16X with RTX 4070 — $1,699 $1,949 13% off
