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Chinese mini PC maker AOOSTAR is the latest company to announce it’s working on products with Oculink ports that let you connect external graphics docks and other high-speed accessories to a PC.
The upcoming AOOSTAR Pro 7 and AOOSTAR Max are mini PCs with support for up to an AMD Ryzen 7 77840HS processor, up to three SSDs, and USB4 and Oculink ports, while the AOOSTAR GPU Dock is a graphics dock that also supports USB4 and Oculink.
AOOSTAR hasn’t announced pricing or availability details for either product yet, but there’s some information about each at the AOOSTAR website and the company’s Amazon Store.
AOOSTAR GPU Dock
There’s very little information about the upcoming graphics dock, but we know it has a metal enclosure and support for USB4 connections (which top out at 40 Gbps) as well as Oculink (which could theoretically support speeds up to 128 Gbps, but which typically tops out at closer to 64 Gbps in this sort of device).
It also has a PCIe 4.0 connector that will allow you to choose which discrete graphics card you want to use with the dock, although until AOOSTAR releases more information about things like size and power limits, we won’t know just which graphics cards are compatible.
Still, the inclusion of a PCIe slot helps set this upcoming eGPU apart from some of the first Oculink-enabled graphics docks like the GPD G1 and ONEXGPU, both of which ship with an AMD Radeon RX 7600M GPU that is not user replaceable.
AOOSTAR Pro7 / AOOSTAR Max
These compact computer will be available with a choice of AMD Ryzen 7 7735HS and Ryzen 7 7840HS processors, but only the latter will support an Oculink port.
AOOSTAR Max
AOOSTAR has provided more details for the AOOSTAR Max, which has a set of ports that includes:
- 1 x Oculink
- 1 x USB4
- 2 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A
- 2 x USB 2.0 Type-A
- 2 x HDMI
- 2 x 2.5 GbE Ethernet
The system has a metal chassis and AOOSTAR says the Ryzen 7000HS series processors, which are designed to run in the 35-54 watt range, is configured to run at up to 65 watts in the AOOSTAR Max.
Models with Ryzen 7 7840HS chips feature LPDDR5-7500 memory, while the Ryzen 7 7735HS models have LPDDR5-6400 memory. In both cases, it sounds like the memory will be soldered to the mainboard, which means it won’t be user replaceable… although I’d take those specs with a grain of salt, since the website also mentions barebones models with no memory or storage.
Storage is another story, with the computer featuring three M.2 slots for PCIe NVMe SSDs.
You might want to take those memory and storage features with a grain of salt, because the AOOSTAR website also mentions a barebones model with no memory, storage, or operating system. I suspect that means either the company will offer a “barebones” model with a processor and memory, but no storage or OS, or that the computer actually has DDR5 memory rather than LPDDR5, which would mean it’s user-replaceable after all.
Oh, and there’s one more thing… but we don’t know what it is yet. AOOSTAR says the computer has a “mystery feature” that will be disclosed closer to launch, probably in mid-January, along with the “official announcement” for the AOOSTAR Max.
AOOSTAR Pro7
Meanwhile, there’s a short tease video for the upcoming AOOSTAR Pro7 on the company’s Amazon Store. While the video doesn’t provide many details about this system, we know that it comes with the same processor options as the Max and features a metal enclosure, dual fans, and three PCIe NVMe SSD connectors.
But it also appears to be a little taller than the Max and has a different set of ports that includes:
- 1 x Oculink
- 1 x USB-C
- 4 x USB-A
- 2 x HDMI
- 2 x Ethernet
- 1 x 3.5mm audio
There’s no word on what speeds those ports support, how much this model will cost, or when it will be available. But I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s officially launched around the same time as the Max, since they’re similar in many ways.
via MiniMachines