Do you have slow rendering times on your laptop? Looking for a portable solution that will allow you to run CFD simulations on the go? Are you thinking of tossing that woefully underpowered laptop out the window?
If the answer to any of those questions is “yes,” then NVIDIA may have just the solution for you.
This week, NVIDIA announced the release of an external GPU (eGPU) which will give notebook users the power of a NVIDIA TITAN X or NVIDIA Quadro graphics card via a plug-in Thunderbolt 3 external chassis.
Laptop users have almost always been at a disadvantage compared to desktop users due to the fact that laptops are largely non-upgradable in terms of graphics power. Buyers tend to decide how much they want to spend and subsequently buy a laptop within their price range, knowing full well that they are going to be stuck with that same laptop until it dies or becomes obsolete.
If you are able to buy a laptop that is upgradeable, your graphics upgrade choices are limited to a mobile version of the GPU from a specific manufacturer and form factor, at a huge cost. At that point, it’s almost better to just buy a new laptop.
"While more computer power than ever is needed for VR, photoreal rendering and AI workflows, mobile systems are getting thinner and lighter, with limited performance and memory," said Bob Pette, Vice President, Professional Visualization at NVIDIA. "Our eGPUs can now solve this problem, enabling creatives to plug into our most capable GPUs so they can do their best work on the most graphically demanding applications."
In addition to the new eGPU support, NVIDIA has announced a new performance driver for TITAN X to make it faster than ever before.
All of these upgrades will be welcome news to owners of aging computers, who will now be able to perform Interactive Rendering, VR and AI Development on their machines. The Quadro eGPU solutions will be available through qualified partners such as Bizon, One Stop Systems/Magma and Sonnet and will hit the shelves (in-store and online) in September.