WiCi One, the first wireless eGPU with up to RTX 5090 claims impressive gaming performance and shared compute for multiple devices

eGPUs are nothing new, but a wireless eGPU is something that no one has tried till now. WiCi, a member of Nvidia Inception, founded by experts in the AI and wireless networking fields, has unveiled WiCi One, a wireless eGPU enclosure. It is not a streaming device but an actual eGPU with a complete PC that can connect to other devices over Wi-Fi 7.

The company is showcasing the WiCi One with an RTX 5060 TI 16GB, an Intel Core 3 100U CPU, and a 1TB NVMe SSD. This configuration is packed inside a fairly compact enclosure, and it uses a Wi-Fi 7 4x4 MIMO 320 MHz connection to lend its GPU power to a host device. WiCi is not only targeting gamers with this device, but also AI and LLM throughput, 3D workflows, editing, and more. It also allows multiple devices to share the compute power.

For gamers, WiCi shows Cyberpunk 2077 running on a laptop without a dedicated GPU and then on the same laptop with the WiCi One connected wirelessly. Of course, that’s just a demonstration, but VideoCardz reports that WiCi claims 80 FPS in Cyberpunk 2077 at 4K Ultra with DLSS 4 and 60 FPS at 4K Cinematic in Black Myth: Wukong using the RTX 5060 Ti model.

The publication also rightfully points out the bandwidth limitations of Wi-Fi 7 compared to Thunderbolt 4,5, and OCuLink. Wi-Fi 7 has a theoretical maximum bandwidth of up to 46 Gbps, whereas Thunderbolt 4 is capable of 32 Gbps, Thunderbolt 5 can reach up to 64 Gbps, and OCuLink can also reach up to 64 Gbps. With WiCi’s Wi-Fi 7 setup, the theoretical maximum PHY, or physical layer rate, is about 11.5 Gbps. That’s much lower than the other physical connections.

WiCi, however, claims that it has configured its protocol in such a way that it only sends key GPU requests across the wireless connection, thus making the most of the limited bandwidth.

Furthermore, WiCi is working on an RTX 5090 model with an Intel Core Ultra 7 255H and 4TB of storage.

The WiCi One with the RTX 5060 Ti is currently in early access with a price tag of $1,999. After the early access period, it will go up to $2,599. WiCi says shipping should start in Q4.