PCMCIA PPU??

TheGeekFreek

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Im just curious about this, but would it be possible for someone to make a PCMCIA PPU?

The only reasons laptops piss me off is cause they can hardly be upgraded, but It seems that no one ever utilizes the PCMCIA slot.. we get wireless, bluetooth, and TV tuners, soundcards(Worthless) and thats about it.. Why not make say RAM cards for video performance or a pseudo secondary GPU or PPU.. Wouldnt it be possible?

Even if its not a HUGE increase, as long as its kinda useful it would still be a worthwhile venture..

-Evil Juggalo
 
It wouldn't be possible by conventional methods.

The new PCMCIA spec, Express Card, DOES have enough bandwidth to power a PPU right now, I mean what's the up/down speed of PCI slots? 133mbps? The ExpressCard slot does what, 500mbps?


What we REALLY need, are PCIe 8x ports on the side of our laptops... My laptop is about as high as the bracket on a single solution video card... If you catch my drift :).

External power for a *good* GPU (like a 7900) and internal integrated graphics, would make a setup modular, and completely awesome.
 
For G-cards for Laptops upgrading there is the MXM standard.
But it's not commonly used. Anf a nV thing.

PPU. well you found a trade off. Between Desktop Pc's and a notebook.
If you wnat it all you need both.
 
without knowing the complexities of any of the internals, I would say why couldnt they make a pcmcia PPU? I know they never will (not soon anyways), but its probubly possible.
Lets see if anyone ever makes a PCI-E PPU first?
 
Is it really worth it?

We've got the niche of laptop gamers.

And now we've got the niche of PPU users.

Imagine how many people really want both?

It wouldn't be a smart marketing decision. At all.

Let's work on PCMCIA GPUs, sound cards, and RAM boards first.
 
I must agree its not a good business move because of the small market. You may hear of some guy at some company doing for a "proof of concept" type thing. I doubt we will ever see a production board.
 
Not remotely feasible from PCMCIA / CardBus's very nature. You can't cool the PPU without some monstrosity of a external unit. Also you only have 3.3 and 5 volt power, with only about 1 amp's worth of continuous draw, not enough power to run the PPU without external power. PPU's are a very small, niche market, I can only imagine how little demand there would truly be for a laptop.
 
Its not really the voltage that matters but the amperage it can supply. I think as mentioned earlier the slow speed of PCMCIA, the poor form factor not allowing decent cooling, and the fact that it probably cant supply enough power kill this pipedream before it can even take off.
 
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