Zotac Amp Box & Amp Box Mini promise eGPU acceleration over Thunderbolt 3
Roger Fingas
Zotac has announced the Amp Box and Amp Box Mini, two upcoming eGPU enclosures that, in combination with a compatible video card, should boost the graphics performance of Thunderbolt 3-equipped MacBooks.
The standard Amp Box supports dual-slot cards up to 9 inches in length, and GPU power consumption up to 250 watts. It also adds three regular USB 3.0 ports, plus a single "Quick Charge" 3.0 connection.
The Amp Box Mini can also handle dual-slot cards, but only up to 7.8 inches and 150 watts. Similarly, while it has four USB 3.0 ports, none of them are Quick Charge-capable.
Neither enclosure will fit the biggest video cards, or higher-end models like the Vega 64, but they may nevertheless help speed up the MacBook Pro when attached to an external display, since Pros otherwise use mobile-sized or even CPU-integrated graphics.
Pricing has yet to be announced. Zotac is targeting a launch in the first half of 2018. Apple's full support for external GPU enclosures arrives in the spring of 2018, with limited compatibility with some AMD cards available now.
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