AMD is showcasing some pretty interesting piece of tech here, the Xconnect External graphics card. Even more interesting is this apparatus we're detailing in this post will leverage support to the latest Radeon driver along with supporting AMD graphics cards, all of this over Thunderbolt 3.
This technology implemented by AMD is all powered by Razer, who by the way has developed a partnership with AMD in developing the expandable graphics solution that will lend support up to 375W GPU's that will include the R9 Fury, R9 Nano, and all the entire R9 300 Series GPUs even supporting the R9 390X.
Benefiting this technology will be Ultraportable Notebooks like the one you see in the video down below, AMD is using as marketing material the Razer Blade Stealth. The external GPU is enclosed Razer Core enclosure as an consumer optional accessory. The Xconnect itself is not tied down to any particular vendor, there is generic driver support for all GPUs over Thunderbolt3 connection. Thunderbolt support is also included in the newest Radeon Crimson drivers.
System requirements for AMD XConnect goes as follows:
- Radeon Software 16.2.2 driver (or later)
- 1x Thunderbolt 3 port
- 40Gbps Thunderbolt 3 cable
- Windows 10 build 10586 (or later)
- BIOS support for external graphics over Thunderbolt 3 (check with system vendor for details)
- Certified Thunderbolt 3 graphics enclosure configured with supported Radeon R9 Series GPU
- Thunderbolt firmware (NVM) v.16
As I stated earlier this is interesting technology to say the least, you can acquire some serious framerate while gaming on the go, on the go at a hotel that is because I don't see anyone dragging this apparatus with them on a subway train, but I digress. Other advantages I see with the AMD Xconnect is having great performance and portability at your disposal, meaning you have the option to take with you a powerful graphic card when needed. There is some great potential for this product with many advantage uses.