Peladn's first Thunderbolt 5 eGPU dock arrives with expansion ports to rival existing OCuLink options
Peladn has returned with a new product, less than a month after it released the Y01 mini-PC with an AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 APU. For reference, the Y01 rivals the GMKtec EVO-X2 and other equivalents. By contrast, the Link S-3 features a design comparable to the Minisforum DEG1 external GPU dock (curr. $99 on Amazon).
Theoretically, Thunderbolt 5 provides a higher bandwidth connection than OCuLink at 80 Gbps versus 64 Gbps. With that being said, Thunderbolt 5 only provides PCIe 4.0 x4 pass-through that limits the connection to 64 Gbps peak bandwidth. Ultimately, latency could still reduce performance compared with an OCuLink connection.
The Link-S3 brings other features that OCuLink eGPU docks lack though, such as a 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet connection built around Realtek's RTL8156B chip. Additionally, Peladn has included an SD card reader, an M.2 2280 (PCIe 3.0 x1) SSD slot and a 10 Gbps USB Type-A port. The Peladn Link S-3 is available to pre-order in China for CNY 1,599 (~$223) and will begin shipping on July 26. There is no word on global availability yet.
