Posted on Wednesday, March 31 2021 @ 10:46 CEST by Thomas De MaesschalckVideo cards are currently in a massive shortage -- with street prices being easily double or even triple the official suggested retail price. In this climate, Cooler Master is launching its new MasterCase EG200 -- a case for connecting a discrete video card to a Thunderbolt 3 laptop.
Cooler Master ships this product for 349EUR -- and that's without a GPU of course. The case comes with a 500W Cooler Master V-Gold power supply and packs various interesting features like a laptop stand, a hard drive dock, dedicated I/O ports, and support for extra add-in cards.
Overall, I think external GPUs will remain a very nice product segment. The cost is just way too high -- for 349EUR plus a video card you can almost build a full PC.
Cooler Master today launches the MasterCase EG200 external GPU enclosure. The MasterCase EG200 chassis fits full-length graphics cards and connects them using the Thunderbolt™ 3 interface for maximum throughput. Added functionality such as a USB 3.0 hub, laptop stand, and hot-swap hard drive storage bay turns any laptop into a desktop-class workstation or gaming PC.
Desktop-class performance for your laptop
Boost the performance of your creative or gaming laptop to a desktop gaming PC or workstation with the EG200. The EGPU allows the installation of a desktop PCIe graphics card via the ultra-high-bandwidth Thunderbolt™ 3 interface, allowing you to increase the graphics card performance of any Thunderbolt™ 3 equipped PC or Mac. Further expand the usability of your laptop with amenities such as dedicated USB hub I/O, hard drive and SSD dock and a vertical laptop stand, which easily accommodates laptops of all sizes and form factors.
The hot-swap bay allows for seamless connectivity to multiple projects without sacrificing speed. For pros balancing on-site projects and working-from-home editing, the added functionality unlocks the dedicated power of high-end graphics cards for their go-to laptop. The internal PCB design also prioritizes memory transfer speeds, preventing data interference and signal loss when multiple USB devices use the same bandwidth as the GPU.
With a built-in stand to free up desk space and fan speed regulation to maximize quiet operation with cooling performance, the MasterCase EG200 heightens the standard of next-gen external GPU enclosures to push the limits of performance creative laptops and gaming laptops alike.
Features at a Glance
Greatly boost GPU performance - Add the power of a desktop-class graphics card to your laptop. The EG200 interfaces to a laptop with a high-bandwidth Thunderbolt™ 3 connection to greatly increase gaming performance or compute performance with a dedicated graphics card. Thunderbolt™ 3 connection - The Thunderbolt™ 3 connection supports a blistering speed of up to 40Gbit/s and 60W of laptop charging via USB-C. The EG200 is outfitted with the latest JHL7440 controller to ensure maximum performance and compatibility.
Built-in Laptop Stand – Neatly dock your laptop into the built-in vertical laptop stand and work from directly from an external monitor like a desktop. Dedicated IO ports – The dedicated USB connection separates the USB hub functionality from the Thunderbolt™ 3 connection to allow the graphics card or other PCIe device use of the maximum Thunderbolt™ 3 bandwidth.
Hard drive dock – Expand the limited storage on your laptop with an easy-to-add 3.5" or 2.5" HDD/SSD drive for your game library or project files Mac and PC compatible – Compatible with Thunderbolt™ 3 equipped Macs* and PCs. Just plug and Play. *Only supports AMD cards, please check support on manufacturer’s site.
Space-saving compactness – At just 9.7L the EG200 is one of the smallest eGPUs on the market supporting full size cards, saving valuable desktop space.
Wide Component Compatibility – With an included 550Watt PSU, the EG200 can support even the most power-hungry graphics cards on the market. Cards with dimensions up to 330 x 51 x 156mm are supported. Also compatible with any other PCI-e add-in card such as gigabit Ethernet, NVME expansion cards, etc.
The MasterCase EG200 also comes equipped with a Cooler Master V-Gold series power supply specifically designed to power the GPU, drives, and USB accessories. The power supply comes with all the required cables needed to install any graphics card.
