News - Sparkle X-Link to turn USB ports into video adaptors

[HEXUS]

Want a multi-monitor setup without investing in high-end GPUs? Sparkle's X-Link might do the trick.

Read more.

[0iD]

Seems too good to be true on paper. If it works, with no lag or graphical glitches then great I'm sure it'll be a winner.

[b0redom]

It'll be interesting to see if this can be built on for high performance graphics with the arrival of USB3.

[kingpotnoodle]

It'll be interesting to see if this can be built on for high performance graphics with the arrival of USB3.

That's what i was thinking, AFAIK USB currently doesn't have the bandwidth for using the attached monitor for anything like games.

[Netvyper]

If the HDMI output is good enough for 720p HD video, it may well be on to a winner, especially if they can keep the price down; I'd love HDMI out on my laptop :/

[watercooled]

Looks like a great product - if it's priced OK it would be really useful for loads of applications. I don't think it would be much good for gaming but I doubt that's their target market anyway.

[gagaga]

I've got this kind of thing at work. They are great to add another screen in windows .. most apps run fine but you can forget about talk of 720p video or gaming.

If you have a laptop, you can get expresscard based solutions (basically PCI-e x1) but they cost a fair amount. IIRC belkin make one (or maybe kensington), but I may be wrong.

It'll have to wait for USB 3 to work with video...

[warpzero]

It'll have to wait for USB 3 to work with video...

That's not true. These are based on the DisplayLink DL-160 chip. There are lots of products with this chip and it certainly plays video - at least if you have a dual-core processor. I have an EVGA UV+16 and it plays video just fine at 1680x1050.

I actually tried the Belkin ExpressCard dock and it was significantly slower than the DisplayLink USB 2.0 to DVI adapter because DisplayLink uses compression. The new DisplayLink devices even support up to 2048x1152. I plan to get one when they come down in price.

DisplayLink has been selling these USB 2.0 graphics devices for years and they're in lots of products. There's a bunch on the "shop" page at displaylink.com.

They aren't good enough for gaming however - I tried it and it pretty much fell over. But for everything else they're fine.

[Big Adam]

........................................They aren't good enough for gaming however - I tried it and it pretty much fell over. But for everything else they're fine.

Agreed. I have the more lowly EVGA UV+12 and use it with a docking station to achieve a triple monitor setup on my bog standard Toshiba work laptop.

It's only spitting out 1280x1024 and it operates perfectly fine for standard work requirements. It struggles with anything intensive like video but that's not what I bought it for.

eBuyer sell the EVGA UV+12 for pennies. It's a bargain.

[watercooled]

Any updates on price/release date?

[watercooled]

Has this been released yet, anyone know?

[amdavies]

Spire (Trade Distributor) are showing this as being £36+VAT, so I'm guessing they'll be in the retail channel soon (if not now) at round £45-50.

[amdavies]

First one I've seen at retail:-

http://www.bigpockets.co.uk/product....=sparkle-01001