Gigabyte adds Radeon RX 580 cards to its external Gaming Box lineup

Users who opt to buy a more affordable laptop with Thunderbolt 3 capabilities, but then realize that the GPU solution is not on par with what they need down the road, do not really have to replace the model they already own. There is always the possibility of buying an external GPU box that connects to the Thunderbolt 3 port in order to get performance similar to desktop-grade discrete graphics. Gigabyte is among the few external GPU providers on the market, and the company is now looking to consolidate its position with a new Gaming Box model. Up until now, Gigabyte only offered Nvidia GTX 1070/1080 solutions, but the latest model comes with a more affordable AMD Radeon RX 580 GPU.

The Gaming Box is compact enough so users can carry it in a special bag provided by Gigabyte. Apart from the Thunderbolt 3 connector, there also are 3x USB 3.0 ports (Power Delivery enabled) that can power peripherals like mice, external HDDs etc., plus a Quick Charge USB 3.0 Type-A port. This model supports three Display Port 1.3 outputs and one HDMI 2.0 output.

The Radeon RX 580 GPU is pretty much standard issue with 2,304 shader units clocked at 1.34 GHz and 8 GB GDDR5 video memory running at 8 GHz, while the card is powered through a 450 W 80 Plus Gold certified PSU. For those users who want to squeeze every last drop of performance from their cards, Gigabyte included the option to auto-overclock the GPU to 1,355 Mhz from the Aorus Graphics Engine software. Underneath the big cooling fan on the right side there is the RGB Fusion lighting system, which is also controllable through the Aorus Gaming Engine suite.

Prices and availability info has not yet been disclosed, but the new Gaming Box is expected to cost around US$500, since the Radeon RX 580 GPU is more affordable than the GTX 1070.

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