exklim Presents Their eX Core Portable eGPU That Turns Any Computer Into a Gaming Rig

[Chino]

exklim today introduced the eX Core , the world's first, portable eGPU that turbocharges your computer, turning any laptop or desktop into a powerful gaming rig. eX Core sets out to provide gamers, Bitcoin miners, students and on-the-go professionals with a lightweight, high-performance solution to run any application, at any time. The eX Core is now live on Kickstarter.

As games and applications are becoming graphically demanding, central processing units (CPUs) are being rendered useless. While CPUs may be fast enough to run a game, the graphics power is limited. The eX Core solves this problem by opening up the door for any computer to have the same high-end graphics or design capabilities as even the most advanced computers - at a fraction of the cost. It leverages NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 1050 Factory OC at 1680 MHz and high bandwidth GDDR5 vRam to run the most graphically demanding PC games and video applications on the market.


"Our engineers have worked for more than five years, seeking and building the most advanced technology to create an external graphics card with the powerful performance available today," said Edgar Eliseo, founder and CEO of exklim . "The biggest challenge we faced was power consumption. Thanks to NVIDIA's newest architecture, we were able to maximize efficiency to build and bring the world's first portable eGPU to market."

In addition to running any gaming or video application, the eX Core provides a convenient and cheap upgrade solution for laptops. Rather than having to migrate to a new laptop every year to increase graphics performance, the eX Core allows you to keep yours by upgrading to the newest eX Core at its current time and performance - saving a significant amount of time, money and risk of losing files.

"As a gamer myself, I love mobility, laptops and design, and I related to the need for a portable eGPU that packed a power punch," continued Eliseo. "Our goal with the eX Core is to evolve the computer industry, enabling users to have the freedom they need to experience quality and performance - from anywhere, at anytime."

Other eX Core features and specifications include:

Box Content

• eX Core NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 w/4GB
• Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C ) Cable
• Compact 90W USB-C power adapter
• exklim Welcome Manual
• exklim Carrying Case

Specifications

• eX Core Size (5.9''x4.1''x0.8'') | Weight 1.57 lbs. / 0.71 kg.
• 2x Intel Thunderbolt 3 Ports
• 1x HDMI 2.0b audio and video output Port
• USB-C DC-IN Port
• Compact 90W USB-C power adapter w/Power Share Charge-Laptop up to 40w

For information and to pre-order the eX Core , visit exklim's eX Core Kickstarter Campaign Page.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[megamanxtreme]

Nobody said that external solutions are affordable, but the price of that thing is like a little over 2.5X GTX 1050s at the current prices(Seen it as low as $149 at Amazon) and almost 4X GTX 1050s at M.S.R.P., crazy. (Oh! That's their Super Early Bird Special)
Let alone the throttling from the connector and the laptop's processor.

Edit: Just saw that it needs Thunderbolt and USB-C, which wouldn't hinder too much the performance of the connection. Fail Me!

 

[Papahyooie]

Great idea. Just need to get it in something a little more beefy... 1060 at bare minimum in my opinion, though I guess even a 1050Ti would at least give laptops the ability to game if they were just simply incapable. And I would *assume* that this would support using the laptop's built-in monitor, and that the monitor outputs are optional. Otherwise, it's a non-starter.

 

[Vya Domus]

The claim that a 1050 would transform laptops into "gaming rigs" is extremely generous to say the least.

 

[Deleted member 172152]

Nobody said that external solutions are affordable, but the price of that thing is like a little over 2.5X GTX 1050s at the current prices(Seen it as low as $149 at Amazon) and almost 4X GTX 1050s at M.S.R.P., crazy. (Oh! That's their Super Early Bird Special)
Let alone the throttling from the connector and the laptop's processor.

Edit: Just saw that it needs Thunderbolt and USB-C, which wouldn't hinder too much the performance of the connection. Fail Me!

It's AT LEAST 500 canadian rupees!

 

[R00kie]

This thing makes no sense, it says its faster than a desktop GTX 1050, yet it has one inside?

 

[silentbogo]

exklim Presents Their eX Core Portable eGPU That Turns Any Computer Into a Gaming Rig

Any PC that has a Thunderbolt 3 in it, which is kind of pointless...
If you are building a PC, might as well get a dedicated GPU, or if you buy a $900 laptop, might as well get an option without thunderbolt, but with dedicated GTX1050Ti or higher.

Basically it only makes sense for upper models of Intel NUC, few other $500+ miniPCs and, of course, Macbooks. I know for sure it ain't gonna make S#1T for my AsRock DeskMini H110.

What we need, is a global popularization of a hotplug PCIe (similar to newer Alienware laptops w/ dedicated eGPU port). Maybe it's not the best and prettiest solution, but since TB3 is not getting cheaper nothing else makes sense.

 

[dj-electric]

I'm a bit confused about how this thing contains a GTX 1050... that survives in this casing

 

[BiggieShady]

This thing makes no sense, it says its faster than a desktop GTX 1050, yet it has one inside?

Right, it's plain ole GeForce GTX 1050 MCM in a box (they call it the world's smallest gpu for some reason):

For that desktop graph comparison, I bet they just chucked ddr3 oem version in a non ventilated case

 

[xorbe]

Well, we know that little notebook in the photo isn't about to pump 90W through any plug ... where's the tangled Y-splitter cable that injects the power?

 

[BiggieShady]

Well, we know that little notebook in the photo isn't about to pump 90W through any plug ... where's the tangled Y-splitter cable that injects the power?

What you don't know is that he's about to play OpenGL version of Solitaire

 

[Octavean]

Any PC that has a Thunderbolt 3 in it, which is kind of pointless...
If you are building a PC, might as well get a dedicated GPU, or if you buy a $900 laptop, might as well get an option without thunderbolt, but with dedicated GTX1050Ti or higher.

Basically it only makes sense for upper models of Intel NUC, few other $500+ miniPCs and, of course, Macbooks. I know for sure it ain't gonna make S#1T for my AsRock DeskMini H110.

What we need, is a global popularization of a hotplug PCIe (similar to newer Alienware laptops w/ dedicated eGPU port). Maybe it's not the best and prettiest solution, but since TB3 is not getting cheaper nothing else makes sense.

I agree but only halfway,....

Thunderbolt doesn't make much sense on a desktop system since typically you can just install a PCIe expansion card easily enough.

Laptops and tablet PCs like a Surface are much harder to upgrade and Thunderbolt actually makes more sense for such closed or quasi closed systems.

If you buy a mobile solution with dedicated GPU then great but there isn't necessarily anything wrong with buying a portable solution with Thunderbolt support. Either way it would be difficult to upgrade the GPU over time in such mobile solutions.

With something like eX Core the user can change and upgrade the GPU (MXM) fairly easily and keep the same old mobile solution over the years.

 

[eidairaman1]

I see people getting the connections mixed up without proper labeling on the casing.

Sorry but the 1080ti series struggles to drive a 4K monitor for gaming so a 1050 is an extreme stretchof not working for gaming, also the quote, "convert any laptop or desktop into poweful gaming rig", are just plain lies because you need those connections. With the price of it I see not many being bought, better off with other eGPUs.

 

[the54thvoid]

The claim that a 1050 would transform laptops into "gaming rigs" is extremely generous to say the least.

Yes, it's a bit of a white lie...

Sorry but the 1080ti series struggles to drive a 4K monitor for gaming so a 1050 is an extreme stretchof not working for gaming, also the quote, "convert any laptop or desktop into poweful gaming rig", are just plain lies because you need those connections. With the price of it I see not many being bought, better off with other eGPUs.

It really depends if you're being silly or not. My 1080ti runs PUBG at the refresh rate of my 4k monitor (60Hz). I just turned AA down to really low as it's not needed. Played BF1 at 4k, ultra settings, again, AA off - stayed at monitor refresh rate. Depends on the game but in general, a 1080ti with a modest OC (2GHz core) runs 4k well enough.

 

[Yukikaze]

This whole kickstarter is...weird, to say the least. They have been making and backtracking on claims (USB3.0/3.1 support, OS X "native support" becoming "modded drivers", being bus powered or not, and so on) in the kickstarter comments. Overall, making this device is not impossible, but bus-power is not happening unless they severely underclock/undervolt the GTX1050 when on the go (since they need to fit the TB3 controller AND the card within the 15W of power delivery coming from the host, and that requires some black magic to pull off). The price/performance ratio on this thing bloody sucks, even compared to other eGPU solutions. Carrying an eGPU with you is rather senseless anyway: If you really need mobile graphics power, you buy a system that has a GPU in it, not throw 400$ on top of your system to get a GTX1050. GTX1050 and GTX1050Ti laptops can be pretty light anyway. eGPUs make the most sense as docks back home or at the workstation, and in this case being the world's smallest is an entirely moot point. Being upgrade-able and cheap is far more important.

The most questionable thing about the press kit they are sending out is the performance they are showing: This eGPU is not going to outperform a GTX1050 on a reasonable desktop, ever, due to TB3 bandwidth bottlenecks and the fact that mobile CPUs are by and large slower than desktop ones. The performance impact also becomes worse if you use the internal laptop monitor (as opposed to an external one), and obviously they are not advertising the carrying of a monitor with you.

Unless, of course, you really cook the comparison by using a really shitty desktop, the slowest possible GTX1050 card in it, connected an external monitor to the eGPU, and overclocked this eGPU as far as it goes (which isn't happening on 15W of bus power), but what does it say about you?

 

[phanbuey]

agreed - the graph would be much less shady if they just got rid of the green "gaming desktop" bar. They dont need it there anyways...

If your choices are the other two, then you would definitely get this. Would make the graph even better.

The other graphs also fluctuate based on game... the green desktop one is '50'. It's as if some marketing guy was like "Sir, we need to show how this compares to a desktop" and his boss was like "yeah, just put 50."

 

[Yukikaze]

An "exklim" user showed up on the egpu.io forum thread about them. I've confronted them with a wall of text of questions about their device (and company). I hope they answer at least a few.

You can see the wall of text here. No replies so far, just avoidance.

 

[Hood]

NO - this doesn't make sense. If you have a laptop with Thunderbolt 3, Gigabyte's Aorus Geforce GTX 1070 external box for $600 makes more sense - it has a decent gaming card instead of the entry level 1050. For a while, the Aorus external was the cheapest way to get a 1070, but now I see prices have come down below $500 for full-sized desktop 1070s.

 

[bug]

While CPUs may be fast enough to run a game, the graphics power is limited. The eX Core solves this problem by opening up the door for any computer to have the same high-end graphics or design capabilities as even the most advanced computers - at a fraction of the cost. It leverages NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 1050 Factory OC at 1680 MHz and high bandwidth GDDR5 vRam to run the most graphically demanding PC games and video applications on the market.

Am I to understand there are people in this world that read the above and then go: "that's a great idea, let me throw some money at these guys"?

 

[silentbogo]

Well, for those who asked about the power delivery and GPU power envelope, there are some hints in their kickstarter campaign:
1) The box comes w/ a 90W power brick, and has a pair of TB3 ports, so it's not bus-powered as their promo materials suggest
2) It supports power sharing up to 60W, so it's not powered by a laptop, but rather it is powering the laptop
3) When it comes to Pascal, it is common for GPUs to be able to run overclocked in a smaller TDP constraint. So, what they probably did was keeping a GTX1050 at 80% or lower TDP limit, while gave it a slight boost in GPU and VRAM speed (I did the exact same thing w/ my 1060 6G). This will make it run faster in lighter games, like MOBA/MMO titles or older games, but also makes it stutter in new demanding games (RoTR, Witcher 3, DOOM etc).
4) An MXM variant of GTX1050 is the exact same card as a desktop GTX1050. If you give it more space and slightly better cooling, it will perform just as good as a full-size PCIe counterpart. So, that slight overclock is what makes it seem faster than a stock non-OCed desktop GPU.

Basically, they've used a mix of truths, semi-truths and some deception to make it look like it's a bus-powered miracle box, but it's just a typical(but smaller) eGPU based on the same TB controller and using the same overall layout.

With something like eX Core the user can change and upgrade the GPU (MXM) fairly easily and keep the same old mobile solution over the years.

Except an MXM GPU costs almost twice as much as a desktop counterpart. Plus, those cards get to the market a year or so later than PCIe variants. In reality you will upgrade your ultra-slim portable device just as often as a portable gaming device. I think an extra 2mm in thickness and 150-200g of weight is more than reasonable sacrifice, given that you won't need to spend and extra $500 on an entry-level eGPU.

 

[GreiverBlade]

*notice the Razer Blade in the second pic and in the Kickstarter video.... * a huge MEH .... as if a 1050 would turn a Razer Blade into something worth of anything.... granted it has a 1060 in it
after looking at their Kickstarter ... oh god ... aren't they a bit full of themselves? for sure they will attract hype kids with their words and way of putting them together ...

the only thing worth of mention is the size although with a MXM GPU it's not really a feat...

seriously ...

even more laughable (just before they compare themselves to Steve Jobs during the Apple I time )


errrrrrr......



price is off, performance claim are fishy .... only the box designe is kinda interesting

 

[Melvis]

Just buy a gaming laptop for cheaper....

 

[GreiverBlade]

Just buy a gaming laptop for cheaper....

also that ... i saw some laptops with 1050 and 1050Ti's being quite cheap lately

 

[Vayra86]

Enjoy Minecraft at 60 FPS. Hardcore. Until something throttles...

 

[pociej]

The noise from that little box...

I would rather stay on Intel GPU than get headache...