by Anton Shilov
02/02/2006 | 07:18 AM
Microstar International, a major maker of computer components, officially introduced Thursday its Geminium-Go graphics card that is powered by two mobile PCI Express modules (MXMs) and features two graphics processors that may be changed once users would like to have higher performance.
<%BANNER[article]%>MSI describes its Geminium-Go as an adapter for MXM modules. When installing one or two MXM graphic cards onto MSI Geminium-Go, users can apply mobile graphics processing units (GPUs) into desktop computer. If users want to upgrade the graphics performance, they could change the MXM module without changing MSI Geminium-Go. MSI’s Geminium Go also supports scalable link interface (SLI) multi-GPU technology developed by Nvidia Corp. thus potentially allowing to install up to two high-performance mobile graphics chips.
According to MSI, during testing in 3DMark05, the MSI Geminium-Go featuring two GeForce Go 6600 chips got over 4200 points, while the GeForce 6600 desktop graphics card got 3600.
“MSI Geminium-GO demonstrates that users can experience better graphic performance with low power consumption,” a statement by MSI read. Indeed, mobile graphics processors usually consume less power than their desktop brethren, but they are more expensive to produce, thus, they cost a little bit more and perform a little bit slower compared to fully-fledged high-end desktop graphics cards.
The manufacturer originally showcased the Geminium-Go at Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada, around a month ago. Neither then, nor now, MSI announced when users are to be able to purchase the Geminium-Go and where they are supposed to get MXM modules that are not generally sold in retail. MSI also did not say which graphics chips are compatible with the Geminium-Go besides the aforementioned GeForce Go 6600.
Nvidia MXMs are designed for usage in notebooks and are supposed to allow customers to upgrade graphics sub-systems in their laptops. In reality, it is practically impossible for end-users to acquire MXM graphics cards themselves. There are a number of MXM implementations – MXM-I, MXM-II, MXM-III and MXM-HE – for various needs that are different by footprints (MXM-I is the smallest, MXM-HE is the largest) and by thermal compatibility. While the MXM products are backwards compatible (MXM-HE slot can support all the rest form-factors), different notebooks employ different MXM flavours and utilise specific cooling systems.