Thunderbolt 5 Revolutionizes External GPUs: ASUS and Gigabyte Unveil Powerful eGPU Solutions at Computex 2025

Asus' ROG XG Station 3 is one of the best uses of Thunderbolt 5 I've seen -- unlock desktop-class power with a single port

The best eGPUs (external GPUs) have always drawn considerable interest from laptop enthusiasts. The idea is brilliant: plug one into your thin-and-light laptop, and suddenly, you're gaming at desktop-class frame rates. The reality? Their clunky proprietary connections, limited bandwidth, and often sky-high price tags make them more of a niche solution. In 2025, though, that's finally poised to change -- thanks to Thunderbolt 5. Thunderbolt 5 debuted on the Razer Blade 18 (2024) in April 2024, but as more laptops arrive with Thunderbolt 5 ports under the hood, we're beginning to see a wave of new accessories built to take full advantage of that blazing-fast 80 Gbps bandwidth. Asus' new ROG XG Station 3 might be the best example of what Thunderbolt 5 can unlock for gamers, content creators, and remote workers who want power without giving up portability. Let's start with the basics. The ROG XG Station 3 is a Thunderbolt 5 eGPU, meaning you can slot in a full-size NVIDIA GeForce RTX 50 Series or AMD Radeon RX 9000 Series GPU and connect it directly to your laptop with a single Thunderbolt 5 cable. It's plug-and-play, yes -- but this isn't just about gaming. With that level of horsepower on tap, this dock can turn a lightweight ultrabook into a machine that can handle 3D rendering, video editing, AI workloads, or 4K gaming. If you've got a laptop that's great for on-the-go work but struggles with GPU-heavy tasks, this is your cheat code. Thunderbolt 5's 80 Gbps bandwidth is the secret sauce. That's double what Thunderbolt 4 offered, and it means less compromise when routing huge volumes of data between your GPU and laptop. For gamers, it helps minimize bottlenecks. For creatives, it means smoother timelines and faster exports. The XG Station 3's release is well-timed. Over the last few months, Thunderbolt 5-equipped laptops have started to trickle into the market from the likes of Asus, MSI, and Lenovo. Now, there's one caveat: this is still limited to primarily high-end gaming rigs that already feature an RTX 50 series GPU -- albeit the mobile variety rather than desktop. I still want to see Thunderbolt 5 come to premium ultraportables to help unlock gaming for an audience that doesn't want to commit to a dedicated gaming laptop. It's worth noting that you can connect a Thunderbolt 4 laptop to the XG Station 3 as Thunderbolt 5 is backward compatible, but you will take a significant performance hit. While the ROG XG Station 3 is primarily aimed at gamers, it offers a taste of what you get from the best docking stations with three USB-C ports (each with 10 Gbps speeds) for accessories, external drives, or displays. There's also a Thunderbolt 5 passthrough port, allowing for daisy-chaining or adding even more connectivity. And because the unit provides power delivery, it can charge your laptop at the same time -- no extra power brick needed. Beyond raw specs, Asus didn't skimp on the design. The ROG XG Station 3 includes support for BTF (Back-To-the-Future) edition builds, which help hide cabling and keep your desktop looking clean. It's a thoughtful touch, as a snarl of cables can really ruin your desk aesthetic. The XG Station 3 is large enough that it will dominate most desk setups, and it leaves the GPU itself exposed. You'll want to think carefully about which GPU you buy for it. The XG Station 3 marks our arrival at a point where the performance potential of Thunderbolt 5 is starting to align with real-world demand. More laptops can use it. More creators and gamers want portable performance. And more manufacturers are stepping in to offer the hardware to bridge that gap. The last piece of the puzzle is Thunderbolt 5 extending beyond gaming laptops. You could be using a lightweight Zenbook or a convertible 2-in-1 and still benefit from a high-end GPU when you're docked. That kind of flexibility just hasn't been practical until now. If 2024 was about getting Thunderbolt 5 in a few laptops and accessories, 2025 is when we start to see the standard going into wide release. And with devices like the XG Station 3 leading the charge, we're looking at a future where portable PCs no longer have to compromise on power. You don't have to settle for mobile GPU power in your laptop; you can go desktop-class without the bulk of a desktop.

ASUS unveils ROG XG Station 3: external GPU enclosure, hidden power connectors, Thunderbolt 5

ASUS unveils its new ROG XG Station 3 with Thunderbolt 5 connectivity: supports NVIDIA GeForce RTX 50 series, AMD Radeon RX 9000 series GPUs. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. TweakTown may also earn commissions from other affiliate partners at no extra cost to you. ASUS had an awesome booth at Computex 2025 this year, with one of (the many) new product unveilings being the new ROG XG Station 3, a new Thunderbolt 5-powered external GPU solution. The new ASUS ROG XG Station 3 (with Thunderbolt 5) is an external graphics dock that boosts gaming and performance on your laptop, and it's not just for gamers: content creators, and higher-end AI workloads require much faster GPUs than you can get in a laptop... as long as you've got Thunderbolt 5, you can enjoy up to 80Gbps of bandwidth. The external GPU solution is compatible with NVIDIA's new GeForce RTX 50 series "Blackwell" GPUs as well as AMD's new fleet of Radeon RX 9000 series "RDNA 4" graphics cards. ASUS is known for their fantastic aesthetics, with the ROG XG Station 3 looking great in the flesh... and we've also got the new GC-HPWR power connector, which has a removable adapter design, letting you take advantage of motherboards that sport cable-free power delivery to graphics cards. You can either use regular power cables, or later down the track upgrade to a new motherboard that features the new standard. The GC-HPWR power connector is capable of delivering up to 1000W of power, but there's nothing on the market that gets close to that -- the new RTX 5090 hits around 600W of so, so you're good for power with up to 1000W on the new ROG XG Station 3. ASUS was using its flagship ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5090 at Computex, which also looks great. You will get some performance loss running a graphics card in the external Thunderbolt 5-powered GPU solution, but ASUS says that it should closely match desktop performance in things like Blender and AI workloads, while in gaming -- with Cyberpunk 2077 and Alan Wake 2 used as examples -- falling short of the mobile GPU solutions like the RTX 5090 Laptop GPU. But, if you're someone who has just purchased a new laptop with a mid-range APU but wanted some more GPU oomph, and just so happen to have Thunderbolt 5, the new ASUS ROG XG Station 3 could be your next purchase. ROG XG Station 3 (Thunderbolt™ 5)

GIGABYTE reveals AORUS RTX 5090 AI Box: external GPU supports 120Gbps with Thunderbolt 5

As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. TweakTown may also earn commissions from other affiliate partners at no extra cost to you. GIGABYTE unveiled its new AORUS RTX 5090 AI Box at Computex 2025, where we were on the ground snapping some photos of the new external GPU solution. The company might not be the first with a high-end external GPU solution -- something ASUS revealed earlier this year with its ROG XG 2025 external GPU -- but it has the fastest eGPU solution with its new AORUS RTX 5090 AI Box. GIGABYTE's new AORUS RTX 5090 AI Box is an external GPU box with a built-in ATX 3.1 PSU and a super-fast Thunderbolt 5 interface blasting up to 120Gbps of bandwidth thanks to the use of asymmetric bandwidth boost. This means that the host to the GPU transmit stream speeds along at 120Gbps, while the host to the GPU stream runs at 40Gbps. The new AORUS RTX 5090 AI Box has a GeForce RTX 5090 graphics card inside, and an AIO cooler to keep thermals under control. We've also got a ton of I/O on the AORUS RTX 5090 AI Box, with Thunderbolt 5 downstream for daisy-chaining, Thunderbolt DisplayPort passthrough, USB 4, DisplayPort, HDMI, 20Gbps USB 3.2 Gen 2x2, 10Gbps USB 3.2 Gen 2, and 2.5GbE ethernet. There's also some USB ports with USB-PD 3.0 quick-charging support, too. GIGABYTE says its new AORUS RTX 5090 AI Box has over 3000+ AI TOPS for those AI workloads that you might run on your laptop, will be super-sped up on the AORUS RTX 5090 AI Box, especially if the GPU solution -- or lack thereof -- isn't up to scratch. No pricing or availability was provided, but we'll dig for more of that info tomorrow when we're on the show floor.

Gigabyte Unveils AORUS RTX 5090 AI Box: Powers Laptops Through Blazing-Fast Thunderbolt 5 Port, AIO-Cooled Desktop GPU

Gigabyte's AORUS RTX 5090 AI Box is its first Thunderbolt 5-based external GPU for enthusiasts, which can deliver desktop-equivalent gaming performance. Newer external GPUs/docks are being revealed at Computex, and after ASUS's ROG XG Station 3, Gigabyte has shown its own Thunderbolt 5-based eGPU called the AORUS RTX 5090 AI Box. The difference between the two is that while the ASUS eGPU Dock allows installing any compatible GPU, the AORUS RTX 5090 AI Box comes with a pre-installed RTX 5090 for maximum performance. Since the GeForce RTX 5090 is the fastest gaming GPU on the planet at the moment, the AORUS RTX 5090 AI Box is technically the fastest eGPU. Not only does it bring the powerful GB202 chip to deliver 21,760 CUDA Cores for an enthusiast gaming experience, but it does so with a WaterForce all-in-one cooling system that helps the eGPU operate without thermal throttling. The box is properly ventilated on all sides for ample airflow as well. This eGPU brings a Thunderbolt 5 port for establishing a connection with your laptop, which unlocks the 80 Gbps bandwidth for data transfer. While not as fast as the PCI-E Gen 5.0, it is surely enough to crush the laptop RTX 5090 GPU in performance. Plus, there are a couple of latest-gen USB ports, including USB4 2.0 and USB 3.2 Gen 3 ports for peripheral connection. Not only does the AORUS RTX 5090 eGPU power the laptop with its graphics card, but it can also charge devices, thanks to Power Delivery 3.0 support. The eGPU brings four connectors as display outputs, including 3x DisplayPorts and 1x HDMI 2.1b. There is a single RJ45 Ethernet cable for internet connectivity as well. The AORUS RTX 5090 eGPU enclosure is not just intended for regular gaming usage but also for AI workloads, and as per Gigabyte's slide, it can offer up to 3000+ AT TOPS of performance, which is three times higher than its AI TOP ATOM DGX Spark Box based on the NVIDIA GB10 chip. The company hasn't confirmed the pricing, but we can expect it to be around $3000-$4000 when it finally hits retail in the coming months.