GIGABYTE's new AORUS AI BOX is an external GPU with a desktop RTX 5060 Ti

GIGABYTE has announced the new AORUS RTX 5060 Ti AI BOX (via VideoCardz), an external GPU solution for laptop users designed to offer extra power for "gaming, creating, and AI." It's an interesting solution because it features a desktop-class GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16GB graphics card, with its Thunderbolt 5 and USB4 interface offering performance that is within 5% of a desktop PC with an on-board RTX 5060 Ti.

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The performance difference primarily stems from the interface, with the desktop GPU supporting a PCIe 5.0 x8 connection when paired with a standard motherboard, versus the PCIe 4.0 x4 interface of Thunderbolt 5. The AORUS RTX 5060 Ti AI BOX has been designed as a plug-and-play device, featuring three USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports for additional peripherals.

As a GIGABYTE and AORUS device, it features the company's WINDFORCE cooling system to keep the RTX 5060 Ti cool during use, alongside some RGB lighting effects on its sleek, tower-style form factor. As most all-in-one eGPUs currently include laptop-class graphics, if the price is right, the AORUS RTX 5060 Ti AI BOX could prove to be a popular option.

Especially with 16GB of VRAM, which is sufficient to run numerous demanding AI tools and workloads locally.

However, at the time of writing, there's no word on the price point for this or a potential release timeframe. Currently, we've only the product page to work with, which also lists a few additional features, such as Ethernet and Power Delivery (PD 3.0), for quick charging devices. Although it features the desktop RTX 5060 Ti, it remains a compact unit with dimensions of 243 x 117 x 48mm, which is not significantly larger than the company's various compact dual-fan desktop RTX 5060 Ti models.