ASUS Announces the ROG XG Station 2 External Graphics Enclosure

[btarunr]

ASUS today announced the Republic of Gamers (ROG) XG Station 2 external graphics enclosure. A successor to the pioneering XG Station by the company, which launched way back in 2007, this box has the connectivity to drive high-end graphics cards, and expand connectivity of your machine. The enclosure features a PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slot, and two 6+2 pin PCIe power connectors, with which it can supply the card with up to 500W of power. Its power supply can further provide up to 100W of power to recharge your notebook. The internal power supply meets 80 Plus Gold efficiency rating.

The ROG XG Station 2 connects to your notebook or desktop using Thunderbolt 3 (40 Gbps). It uses this bandwidth to drive not just the graphics card, but also a gigabit Ethernet controller, and a 4-port USB 3.0 hub. You can supplement the main Thunderbolt connection's bandwidth with an additional USB 3.0 (5 Gbps) connection to your host machine. This isn't necessary, but ASUS claims it will improve performance. The enclosure opens up at a vertical seam like an oyster, letting you easily install your graphics card. The walls of the enclosure are perforated, but a trio of 70 mm fans actively ventilate it. The enclosure also features RGB LED lighting, which can be managed using ASUS Aura software. ASUS plans to sell the ROG XG Station 2 from Q1-2017.



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[Nephilim666]

Hooray a trio of noisy 60mm fans! Just what it needed! Why not just put one 120mm fan with a filter. srsly.

 

[zedn]

This might be a great product at the right time. There is no reliable product on the market that really works. Existing solutions are either exclusive on their own brands, insufficient in term of power supply, have very limited supply or have crappy performance on most devices.
The best choice now is probably Razer Core, which still have glitches working with other brands' laptops. I hope this product can bring some hope to us.

 

[Ubersonic]

Hooray a trio of noisy 60mm fans! Just what it needed! Why not just put one 120mm fan with a filter. srsly.

Would have made it wider, that would have gone against the "form > function" thing ROG products go by these days.

 

[Air]

Its not terribly ugly... but do they really need to write "Republic of Gamers" on it...? Still waiting for a company that releases a simple box, let me choose my PSU, and is not absurdly overpriced.

 

[PLAfiller]

Its not terribly ugly... but do they really need to write "Republic of Gamers" on it...? Still waiting for a company that releases a simple box, let me choose my PSU, and is not absurdly overpriced.

Reading your description...perhaps something on Ebay will solve your problem

 

[Ruru]

Hooray a trio of noisy 60mm fans! Just what it needed! Why not just put one 120mm fan with a filter. srsly.

Where it says that there are 60mm fans?

"The walls of the enclosure are perforated, but a trio of 70 mm fans actively ventilate it."

 

[The Terrible Puddle]

Where it says that there are 60mm fans?

"The walls of the enclosure are perforated, but a trio of 70 mm fans actively ventilate it."

Not that it makes it much better.

 

[Ruru]

Not that it makes it much better.

Well, I'm still pretty sure that they aren't something like those noise crappy fans in old AMD stock coolers..

 

[Ubersonic]

Well, I'm still pretty sure that they aren't something like those noise crappy fans in old AMD stock coolers..

Those centrifugal fans (which made their debut in Nvidia cards) had a better airflow/noise ratio than 70mm ones. I expect they will be tuned down to limit noise, but I think it would have been better to fit a couple of 100mm+ intake fans instead.

 

[ADHDGAMING]

Those centrifugal fans (which made their debut in Nvidia cards) had a better airflow/noise ratio than 70mm ones. I expect they will be tuned down to limit noise, but I think it would have been better to fit a couple of 100mm+ intake fans instead.

all stock fans are noisy and terrible ..

 

[Ubersonic]

all stock fans are noisy and terrible ..

ASUS Strix and MSI Gaming would like a word.

 

[Ruru]

ASUS Strix and MSI Gaming would like a word.

My good old MSI 780Ti Gaming thinks the same.

 

[Totally]

ASUS Strix and MSI Gaming would like a word.

I wouldn't consider non-reference third party coolers as stock.

 

[ADHDGAMING]

ASUS Strix and MSI Gaming would like a word.

those arent stock fans

 

[ADHDGAMING]

No thanks I will wait on Xconnect to be more wide spread .. I would like one of these but im not paying a Premium for one.. If it cost as much as a mid range GPU i dont want it lol ... i will just buy a second Fury X for my main rig . or a new monitor or Keyboard or camera or .......

 

[Ruru]

I wouldn't consider non-reference third party coolers as stock.

I'd say there are, since the cards are custom models. I'd call Arctic Acceleros etc. which you have to install yourself as third party coolers. For me, my GPU has a stock cooler, but not a reference cooler.

 

[PinkMachine]

There are no benchmarks as of today so stop whining about the cooler noise it MAY possibly cause.

What about the other GPUs? Does it support only ASUS GPU? How long and wide is this box?

How much would it cost?

These are the questions we should have answers for.

 

[LDNL]

Bad design choice on those small noisy fans. From what I can see, it has room for a single 140-1x0mm or two 120mm fans.

 

[Totally]

I'd say there are, since the cards are custom models. I'd call Arctic Acceleros etc. which you have to install yourself as third party coolers. For me, my GPU has a stock cooler, but not a reference cooler.

Those are the same coolers the only differences are they rebranded so they are sold under the GPU brand and the manufacturer has installed it for you.

 

[Ruru]

Those are the same coolers the only differences are they rebranded so they are sold under the GPU brand and the manufacturer has installed it for you.

And still I would take it off and put some liquid metal on the GPU