ASUS ROG has started selling its RTX 4090 XG Mobile external graphics card in China and Japan this week. Japanese customers are being charged a cool $3000 for the pint-sized powerhouse external GPU, and Chinese buyers are getting a slightly better deal at $2700. It should be noted that this eGPU is the (GN21-X11) mobile variant of the GeForce RTX 4090, and not the full fat desktop version. The newly updated XG Mobile enclosure can only be connected to an ASUS Flow laptop, which limits the scope of compatibility to an already very expensive range of devices. The proprietary connection standard will keep customers in the ASUS ROG mobile hardware ecosystem - but their higher end laptop models can be configured with the very capable GeForce RTX 4070 mobile GPU, so the RTX 4090 XG Mobile seems to appeal to a very small buying niche.

The XG Mobile interface uses the PCIE Gen 3 x8 standard of connection, and the GPU has access to a dedicated 63 GB/s of bandwidth. This beats the Thunderbolt 4 standard of 40 Gb/s, by a 57% margin. The enclosure acts as a docking station - its features include an up to 2.5 Gbit Ethernet, a single HDMI 2.1 port, one DisplayPort 1.4 with G-Sync support and three USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports (3x Type-A + 1x Type-C). ASUS ROG has engineered the docking station/enclosure to be as compact as possible (21.7 cm x 16.5 cm x 3.26 cm), when compared to competing products from other manufacturers. The whole package weighs in at 1.3 kg, which will ensure decent portability for gamers on the move.The AD103 GPU core has a total of 76 SMs equivalent to 9728 CUDA cores (similar to the desktop-class RTX 4080's configuration), and the TGP options are in the 150 - 175 W range with a +25 W Dynamic Boost on tap, paired with a 1590 MHz Base and 2040 MHz Boost clock range. This eGPU variant has access to a pool of 16 GB GDDR6 VRAM (256-bit). The ASUS ROG XG Mobile is engineered to hold two modules. One contains a 330 W integrated adapter and the other houses the GPU and the connection interface panel. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile is kept cool via a vapor chamber heatsink with an attached blower-style fan - air is emitted out of the enclosure's chassis through exhaust vents.

ASUS ROG has been selling XG Mobile variants for a number of years. The 2022 AMD version with a Radeon RX 6850M XT is currently sold for $1,399, and the 2021 version with an RTX 3080 was $1,499. This year's RTX 4090-based model is almost 90% more expensive than the 2022 RX 6850M-based iteration.MORE THAN GRAPHICS. LESS TO CARRY.
All members of the ROG Flow laptop family have a secret weapon - the XG Mobile. ROG's exclusive XG Mobile ecosystem of external GPUs provide amped-up horsepower and offer a built in I/O hub, allowing higher bandwidth to Flow devices with a proprietary PCIe connection. The XG Mobile features an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU with a max TGP of 150 W, allowing you to transform your Flow device from a mobile gaming laptop to a true battlestation.

GO FOR PRO-LEVEL SPEED
Experience fast and fluid gameplay delivered by a cutting-edge GPU. Our top config has a brand-new NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU. Build out a complete battlestation with a gaming mouse, gamepad, and more via one USB Type-C and three flexible USB Type-A ports. Plug into gigabit ethernet for the lowest latency connections for competitive online multiplayer.