Zotac’s AMP Box and AMP Box Mini external graphics enclosures will hold a PCIe SSD as well
Zotac has announced a pair of external graphics enclosures that will enable you to pair your laptop with a powerful external GPU and a speedy PCIe SSD.
Zotac AMP Box. (Image Source: Zotac)
Zotac has announced a pair of external graphics enclosures that will enable you to pair your laptop with a powerful external GPU and a speedy PCIe SSD. Both docks interface with your laptop via Thunderbolt 3, so they will theoretically work with any Thunderbolt 3 notebook that supports external graphics in the BIOS.
However, Zotac says its new enclosures are compatible with select ZBOX mini PCs as well, including models like the CI549 Nano, MI549 Nano and the MI572. These mini PCs provide many of the features of a conventional desktop in a much smaller form factor, but they obviously lack the room for faster graphics.
They also don’t always support PCIe SSDs, so Zotac’s new enclosures will address both shortcomings.
The AMP Box and AMP Box Mini both take dual-slot graphics cards, but the larger AMP Box will naturally support larger and more powerful GPUs.
The latter houses a 450W power supply, and will support graphics cards that are up to 228mm long and feature a 250W TDP. This means it’ll work with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti, the most powerful consumer card you can get today.
However, you’ll probably notice that the 228mm clearance isn’t that generous, and it actually excludes even the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Founders Edition. It’s a good thing then that Zotac manufacturers a mini version of that card, and nearly every other major NVIDIA GPU, although it’d have been nice to see broader compatibility with more GPUs.
Zotac AMP Box Mini. (Image Source: Zotac)
The Box Mini is even more conservative, measuring just 183 x 230 x 99mm. It holds a modest 180W power supply, and has just enough juice for cards rated up to 150W. This means an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 at the most, and whatever card you pick must not exceed 200mm in length.
You’ll find a 6-pin PCIe power connector for your card in the Box Mini, compared to the dual 8-pin connectors its larger sibling offers.
Finally, both docks feature four USB 3.1 (Gen 1) Type-A ports, so they more than make up for occupying the single Thunderbolt 3 port on your system. One of the front USB ports on the AMP Box is also a USB Quick Charge 3.0 port, so you can charge compatible devices quicker.
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