Innodisk releases a 4K capable M.2 graphics card

by Mark Tyson on 6 December 2018, 12:11

Tags: Silicon Motion

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Innodisk launched a 4K capable M.2 form factor graphics card late last month, and according to a report from PC Watch Japan, the component is now available. The target market for this product is the industrial embedded sector, so we aren't looking at a powerful GPU on an M.2 card here, but it is nevertheless an interesting concept and could one day lead to laptops or SFF systems with simple upgradable graphics cards, for example.

In its press release Innodisk asserts that the M.2 graphics card is one the fastest growing segments among small form factor display cards today. Its new card can be fitted with ports to connect to display devices using an embedded HDMI v1.4 transmitter, or LVDS and DVI-D signals, it says, and this new 2280 card is compatible with Windows and Linux.

Elsewhere in the press release we are told that the Innodisk ultra-slim 4K M.2 graphics card is built to withstand industrial grade shock and vibration, and can operate in temperatures ranging from -40 to 85 degrees Celsius. It is envisaged that these 4K display cards will be used in automation, retail and medical markets for space-saving solutions.

You can find out more about the GPU equipped on the Innodisk 4K M.2 graphics card on Silicon Motion's site. This new product uses the SM768 (PDF link available at previous link). There it says the SM768 can interface via USB 3.0, PCIe 2.0 x1 or x2 lanes. It is a 2D accelerator and capable of a max resolution of 3840x2160 @ 30Hz, lower resolutions from 1440p downwards support 60Hz refresh. The GPU comes with an optional 256MB DDR3 on board but it is possible to hook it up with as much as 1GB of memory. HW decoding of H.264 MVC/AVS+, H.263, MPEG-4, MPEG2, M-JPEG, RealVideo, VC-1, & Theora videos is supported. The SM768 also has an internal four ports USB 2.0 Host/Hub for connecting peripherals such as keyboard and mouse.



HEXUS Forums :: 15 Comments

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It would be great if this kind of technology came to laptops, but I doubt it would actually happen.
OK, here we go:

But can it run Crysis? No.
Cool, but we have been using x1 in laptops for external cards for a long time now. so if they start using x4 gen4 pcie through m.2 for graphics that should be the equivernant to “X8, eww” based on predicted transfer numbers from PLDA. So theoreticaly we could have cards other than mxm (Full X16) that are dead.
afiretruck
It would be great if this kind of technology came to laptops, but I doubt it would actually happen.

Why is that? Laptops and tablets seem like the other perfect application of this
Usernamist
afiretruck
It would be great if this kind of technology came to laptops, but I doubt it would actually happen.

Why is that? Laptops and tablets seem like the other perfect application of this

Not unless they really up their game. But… how would the cooling be done? Laptop gfx cards have eatpipes running through them, a M.2 is a movable part and it wouldn't be possible for the eatpipes to properly connect to it.

So short answer is no, this is not a realistic upgrade for a PC, they will always be low power, low profile, mini gfx cards used only to boot up a system replacing a very low end PCI card.

Any laptop should have a gfx card better than this. If it doesn't, them its not likely worth the “upgrade” either.