PowerColor Announces Devil Box: Thunderbolt 3 eGFX Enclosure
by Anton Shilov on October 24, 2016 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
- AMD
- PowerColor
- External GPU
- NVIDIA
- eGFX
- Devil Box
PowerColor has introduced its first enclosure for external graphics cards, the Devil Box. The accessory enables gamers to connect desktop video cards to AIO, SFF or laptop PCs using the Thunderbolt 3 interface and comes with its own power supply. The Devil Box will be a limited edition product compatible with select graphics cards (due to driver and physical limitations) and, like other external GPU chassis we've seen thus far, is priced as a premium product. Nonetheless, for the time being, this box will be among a few TB3-based external enclosures capable of running desktop GPUs.
The PowerColor Devil Box supports both NVIDIA and AMD (XConnect) GPUs, and resembles Razer’s Core eGFX enclosure introduced earlier this year. The two boxes have slightly different dimensions, but both can accommodate a qualified double-wide PCIe x16 video card (which will operate in PCIe x4 mode) that is up to 12.2”/310 mm long. The design of the Devil Box (as well as the Core) allows operation of graphics adapters with different cooling systems (blower, open air), except hybrid (e.g., Radeon Fury X, Radeon R9 295X2) due to space constraints. To feed the GPUs, the Devil Box incorporates a 500 W PSU and the maximum GPU power draw is rated at 375 W (exactly the specs of the Core).
Next up is connectivity and this is where PowerColor’s Devil Box has an edge over Razer’s Core. Both enclosures support additional USB 3.0 receptacles to connect peripherals and a GbE port to enable high-speed wired Internet on ultra-thin laptops that do not feature GbE. However, the product from PowerColor can also host a 2.5” HDD or SSD (I suspect with the help of a USB-to-SATA bridge, to simplify the process), thus expanding storage capabilities of the host system.
PowerColor Devil Box Thunderbolt 3 eGFX Chassis Specifications | ||||
Max Video Card Size | Double-Wide, 12.2" Long (310 × 152 × 44 mm) |
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Max Video Card Power | 375 W | |||
Connectivity | 1 × Thunderblot 3 (40 Gbps) port to connect to host PCs and charge them 4 × USB 3.0 Type-A 1 × USB 3.0 Type-C 1 × SATA 6 Gbps 1 × Gigabit Ethernet |
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Chassis Size | 6.77 × 15.74 × 9.52 inches (172 × 400 × 242 mm) |
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Internal PSU | 500 W | |||
System Requirements | Thunderbolt 3 eGFX Certified PC Thundebolt 3 w/Active Cable (included) Windows 10 |
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Shipping Date | October 2016 | |||
Price | $379, €419 | |||
Retailers | 1st Wave | U.S.: http://www.newegg.com Germany: http://www.mindfactory.de/ U.K.: https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ China: https://www.jd.com/ |
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2nd Wave | Japan: https://www.amazon.co.jp/ Singapore: http://www.banleong.com/ |
When it comes to compatibility, PowerColor lists the latest AMD Radeon RX 400-series as well as NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 10-series graphics adapters in addition to numerous previous-gen products. We cannot verify whether all of the GPUs listed by the manufacturer support plug’n’play properly, but they are guaranteed to work inside the Devil Box.
PowerColor Devil Box Video Card Compatibility List | |||
AMD | NVIDIA | ||
Radeon RX 480 | GeForce GTX 1080 | ||
Radeon RX 470 | GeForce GTX 1070 | ||
Radeon RX 460 | GeForce GTX 1060 | ||
Radeon R9 Fury | GeForce GTX Titan X | ||
Radeon R9 Nano | GeForce GTX 980 Ti | ||
Radeon R9 300 Series | GeForce GTX 980 | ||
Radeon R9 290X | GeForce GTX 970 | ||
Radeon R9 290 | GeForce GTX 960 | ||
Radeon R9 285 | GeForce GTX 950 | ||
GeForce GTX 750/750 Ti |
While the whole external GPU idea seems very plausible because all-in-one, small form-factor and mobile PCs are gaining popularity among gamers, eGFX chassis are still not mainstream. This is not exactly surprising given the fact that the eGFX hardware (Thunderbolt 3 with v16 or newer firmware) and software (Windows 10 with updates, drivers) were finalized only months ago and far not all PCs can properly support external graphics adapters. As a result, being aware of limited demand (because far not all TB3-enabled laptops are eGFX-certified), Power Color naturally does not want to produce a lot of Devil Boxes, which is why the enclosures will be available from select retailers and in select countries (see the table).
A good news is that PowerColor’s Devil Box will be more affordable than Razer’s Core and will sell for $379 or €419, depending on the market. The price of the enclosure is still rather high, but none the less a good improvement over where the Razer Core launched earlier this year.
Source: PowerColor
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frodesky - Monday, October 24, 2016 - link
I'd love to see what kind of "decent" system without a GPU you'd build for 400 bucks.Calista - Wednesday, October 26, 2016 - link
Considering he price/performance of desktop parts as compare to mobile parts it would be a walk in the park to build a system sans GPU more than capable to beat also a high end laptop for 400 dollar.Lolimaster - Monday, October 24, 2016 - link
This thins should use mobile gpu's. Using desktop ones are stupid, whats the difference between this and a full fledged miniITX PC. That PSU is not going to be silent.scook9 - Monday, October 24, 2016 - link
I would love if someone just released a m-ITX sized and shaped PCB that hosts some I/O (USB and GbE interface) and a PCIe slot with the needed TB3 connector so that we could build our own external enclosure in the case of our choosing. I would buy that board for $100-$150 in a heartbeat vs this fugly thing. The Core vs this is definitely a purchase for the core but the price is just ridiculous(er?) on that too.digiguy - Monday, October 24, 2016 - link
For the same price (thus less than the Razer core) I recently bought a full pc with I7-4770, 16GB RAM and 256GB SSD (the GPU inside was not very powerful, but this thing comes without a GPU anyway). So yes price needs to go down. I think the price of the Dell Graphics Amplifier ($200) is more realistic.digiguy - Monday, October 24, 2016 - link
PS and you cannot do SLI on these enclosure, contrary to a PCJambe - Monday, October 24, 2016 - link
Apart from the hideous tribal tattoo on the front of the thing, I rather like the aesthetics. Seems like it'd be straightforward to occasionally hit with a compressor, too.sorten - Monday, October 24, 2016 - link
These things have to drop to $200 before I'm interested. The design and name for this offering fall a bit short.nickb64 - Tuesday, October 25, 2016 - link
Yeah, the only one of these things that seems like it makes any sense is the Dell/Alienware one since it's $199 iirc. At that price, I could maybe see picking one up if you had a laptop or that NUC that supports these external GPU boxesAerodrifting - Monday, October 24, 2016 - link
So we have to pay $400 out of pocket BEFORE the discreet video card comes in just for a $500 PSU and mounting? Are you serious? Not to mention the loss performance and the size of this thing is almost the same as a MINI ITX computer.