ASUS ROG XG Mobile eGPU Spotted With Thunderbolt 5 And A GeForce RTX 5090
With the launch of NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 50 series GPUs, we also get more niche products related to the the company's Blackwell architecture. That includes several laptop variants of the RTX 50 series lineup, which ASUS has taken the liberty of porting into eGPU form.
Specifically, ASUS is readying its XG Mobile for release on February 25, 2025. These units will pack NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 5070 Ti and GeForce RTX 5090 laptop/mobile GPUs in a Thunderbolt 5 enclosure. This is essentially an external graphics card, or an eGPU meant for those who want to have a mobile solution for better performance.
Featuring Thunderbolt 5, the ASUS ROG XG Mobile serves up 120Gbps of throughput and can even be used as a USB hub. Naturally, your laptop (or desktop) will need to support Thunderbolt 5 to take full advantage of the speed that's on tap. While Apple has used Thunderbolt on its devices for years, Thunderbolt is still hit or miss when it comes to availability on PC and laptop hardware.
Specifically, ASUS is readying its XG Mobile for release on February 25, 2025. These units will pack NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 5070 Ti and GeForce RTX 5090 laptop/mobile GPUs in a Thunderbolt 5 enclosure. This is essentially an external graphics card, or an eGPU meant for those who want to have a mobile solution for better performance.
Featuring Thunderbolt 5, the ASUS ROG XG Mobile serves up 120Gbps of throughput and can even be used as a USB hub. Naturally, your laptop (or desktop) will need to support Thunderbolt 5 to take full advantage of the speed that's on tap. While Apple has used Thunderbolt on its devices for years, Thunderbolt is still hit or miss when it comes to availability on PC and laptop hardware.
The ASUS XG Mobile will sport the GeForce RTX 5090 laptop GPU as the top offering, which differs from its desktop version. For starters, it comes with 24GB of GDDR7 VRAM instead of the 32GB offered on its desktop counterpart. It also has a TGP of 150W, while the desktop RTX 5090 reaches 575W.
You will still get the features present on all GeForce RTX 50 series GPUs, such as DLSS 4 with multi frame generation and next-gen ray tracing performance. Weighing in under a svelte 1kg, this is an interesting mobile solution for those that need the extra power.
You will still get the features present on all GeForce RTX 50 series GPUs, such as DLSS 4 with multi frame generation and next-gen ray tracing performance. Weighing in under a svelte 1kg, this is an interesting mobile solution for those that need the extra power.
The USB hub with extra ports also make it practical to add more usability for laptops that need additional I/O connectivity. While RTX 50 series Laptops will also come with GPUs up to the GeForce RTX 5090 laptop variant, many who need the extra graphics power in workflows that can utilize multiple GPUs may make use of the eGPU option.
External graphics cards have rarely been very interesting for gamers, since the added bulk and some performance penalties do not justify the price. Content creators and those using productivity workflows that require a mobile solution can certainly take advantage of the power on tap here, however.
NVIDIA RTX 50 series laptop preorders also start on February 25th, which will make a potent pair for this XG Mobile. The desktop GPUs have been sparse and difficult to get a hold of with inventory selling quickly due to low supply. This is unlikely to change with the mobile variants of the new GPUs, so we expect to see units such as the XG Mobile difficult to find.
External graphics cards have rarely been very interesting for gamers, since the added bulk and some performance penalties do not justify the price. Content creators and those using productivity workflows that require a mobile solution can certainly take advantage of the power on tap here, however.
NVIDIA RTX 50 series laptop preorders also start on February 25th, which will make a potent pair for this XG Mobile. The desktop GPUs have been sparse and difficult to get a hold of with inventory selling quickly due to low supply. This is unlikely to change with the mobile variants of the new GPUs, so we expect to see units such as the XG Mobile difficult to find.
