PowerColor Devil Box becomes available online

[HEXUS]

AMD XConnect technology based external GPU MSRP is $379 / €419.

Read more.

[ET3D]

I like the idea of eGPU, but I want something small and reasonably priced. At this price and size it's possible to buy a complete mini-ITX PC and just stick the graphics card in it.

[LSG501]

How much.... for what is simple board with a few connections (the pcie/usb/ethernet ports), a (big) box with a small size psu and a signal converter chip (everything is supported under thunderbolt spec already)....

This shouldn't be costing more than £150 not the likely £450+ this will cost...

As said above I might as well build myself another pc if it's going to cost that much, you could probably get a smaller case too.

[DR]

But think - if you are doing say 3D animation and need additional GPU in your workstation, this isn't costly

Also with lots of smaller laptops and PC's where you can't fit a new GPU this ties in well.

[Corky34]

Am i being really dumb, what's the Ethernet and all the USB connections for?

If you're going to be connecting the box to a laptop isn't that going to have all those on it already, and besides what would you be transferring to a box that in essences holds little more than a GPU.

[Smudger]

A lot of laptops these days don't have ethernet, and have a real dearth of connections, so if this acts as a kind of hub, I guess that makes sense.

[LSG501]

But think - if you are doing say 3D animation and need additional GPU in your workstation, this isn't costly

Actually it still is, in most cases you can use something like backburner (autodesk) to render (gpu only too) over a network so building another machine is still likely cheaper. If you're looking at larger businesses then they would likely buy something like the nvidia Quadro VCA while smaller ones (like me) would likely build a workstation designed around the use of multiple GPUs for rendering or have a small renderfarm built from multiple pc's.

Corky34 the extra ports are likely so it can work like a laptop hub, you just plug one cable in and you get access to the printer, keyboard mouse or whatever.

[Corky34]

Corky34 the extra ports are likely so it can work like a laptop hub, you just plug one cable in and you get access to the printer, keyboard mouse or whatever.

So maybe make two, an expensive one with all the extra connections and a vanilla cheaper one with just the thunderbolt, like some people have already said it seems a tad expensive when you could probably build a mini-ITX PC for near that price.

[preter_s]

As Smudger said, it functions as a docking bay - for Ultrabooks with 1 USB 3.0 and 1 USB Type C/Thunderbolt port only, it is potentially useful.

Still too pricey surely.

[whatif]

I agree that they are a bit overpriced.
Cheaper than a Razor Core, with a added 2.5" bay, but still a bit pricey.
But like the Razor still not available anywhere here (Australia), and still don't even show on any of the sites mentioned in the article.
Razor have a lot of upset Blade and Stealth buyers who received the Core discount vouchers (a lot have now expired), but no way to use it. Razor says they will honor them, but will not even give a approximate time frame as to when they will release it. No reply to any of my messages and a flat "We have no idea" from them when I rang them.
Could get one from overseas, but then the voucher is useless and warranty is a problem.
Since the Devil Box is cheaper then the Core with the voucher discount included, I tried to look into them.
Just checked their website, online shops, and my messages today and still nothing to be found anywhere.
So after all this effort, I keep ending up being confronted by a brick wall.
It was especially bad as I have sent several messages off to Powercolor and not one reply to even acknowledge they received my message - even tried a international phone call (no office in Australia), only to be given the runaround - wasted time, money and effort.
What is the point of showing off technology, getting people interested, give out discount vouchers and then not following through with selling them.
Do these companies actually understand what customer service is?????

[DanceswithUnix]

So maybe make two, an expensive one with all the extra connections and a vanilla cheaper one with just the thunderbolt, like some people have already said it seems a tad expensive when you could probably build a mini-ITX PC for near that price.

Having to make, support and stock two products vs one has a cost though, so unless these things sell really really well that wouldn't be viable. Sometimes it is just cheaper to stick to building the top end model.

Plus, for gaming the other stuff would be rather nice. You don't want to game on wifi if you can have a wired connection, you don't want to hammer your laptop keyboard when a USB gaming keyboard and mouse can be plugged in. This lets you set up a desktop for gaming use, just plug in the laptop and get going without even needing to unpack the charger.

I get the attraction, but personally I will stick to having separate desktop and laptops. It is cheaper, I can optimise them for their tasks. If one of them fails, I can order spares on the other

[whatif]

Here we are now on the 24th November and still no sign of this product.
And to top it off, powercolor has not replied to any of my messages - so far sent about 10.
razer is just as bad. Still no idea when these will be sold here and no reply to any of my messages - so far about 8.
I even tried to ring up both of these companies and powercolor USA cut me off twice before even talking to me about it (first time I was hung up on when they were supposedly tranfering me and the second time they just hung up on me as soon as I mentioned what happened the first time) and asked razer USA when they will be released in Australia (still not on razer Australai website) and they just refused to talk to me about it and hung up. I have already checked and if I purchased it from overseas, I would have to send it back there at my cost, for any warranty problems because powercolor does not have a Australian office to do warranty claims and razer told me that warranty claims can only be done in the country it was bought. Under Australian law, if it is sold here, it will not cost me anything to get warranty (even if has to be sent overseas). The poor, frustrated customers here that purchased a razer blade laptop and got a discount voucher, are very upset with the fact there still has been no word about when they can redeem this (and they cannot use it outside Australia).

Extremely poor customer service and no matter how good their products may seem, as far as I am concerned, if they think this is a acceptable way to treat potential customers, they can both go to HELL !!!!!!!!
I will never buy any of their products again!

I contacted a company called Atikio who also make a eGPU (called the Node) and they replied the very next day. This company obviously understands what customer service is.
I have included a copy of the reply for anyone who is interested -

Hello,
Thank you for your interest in our Akitio Node. I have input your email into a list of people who wish to be notified for any information updates as well as preorder/release dates for the Akitio Node.
For international users please contact your local Akitio reseller/distributors for lead time regarding the Akitio Node once it has been released. If you would like to purchase the unit directly it can be arranged as well. Any international orders will be ($299.99 + shipping costs) More information on the release date will be sent out.

Updates on the Node.
Officially Node is currently compatible with only Windows
Three PC hosts have been confirmed by our team as compatible: Intel NUC, and the two Razer laptops.
Unfortunately the Mac OS Sierra (2016 MBP Software) is not compatible with the Akitio Node.
Regards
Brian