ViDock

So basically, it's a "thing" that connects to your laptop ( assume desktop would work too) via (I originally thought USB, but I'm trying to figure out for sure.) and is like an enclosure for a desktop GPU. I have never heard of something like this, but now it seems very useful. I'd just like to share it with you all.

But if it does connect via USB, wouldn't it suck? USB is slow. Maybe if it were USB 3..
Just read that "It's definitely PCIe x1. Connected through ExpressCard/34 via HDMI-C to an adapter board." That tells me it's slow.. So what's the point of even having it should this be the case?
The practicality of this device is something I'm questioning. It seems that the more I learn about this, the more I don't like it..


http://www.villageinstruments.com/tiki-index.php?page=ViDock

 

Considering that the transfer speeds (as you mentioned) would be limiting, I don't specifically see the point in this...

 

Seems pointless, any external connector widely available on laptops would be FAR too slow to take advantage of even some of the lowest end desktop graphics cards. Even USB3 wouldn't be able to keep up.

 

I'm pretty sure that those connect by expresscard and PCIe 1x transfer speed. The only thing I can see them being useful for (and I think this is what they're targeted for) is multi displays. Definitely pretty useless from a gaming perspective.

 

Not sure you'll catch me with one of these in my shopping cart...

On the other hand, I'm looking at two new GTX's for a new desktop!

 

Yeah, I posted the thread when I just found out about it. After looking into it more, it's not really feasible for anything other than multi-displays.

Is there anything fast enough to support it? I don't know off the top of my head.

 

Not that I know of. The fastest thing I know of in an external form factor is Thunderbolt, which is like half the speed of a PCIe 1.0 x16 slot I believe? Not positive, but something like that.

 

http://forums.overclockers.com.au/showthread.php?t=988062

Best solution I've seen IMO.