ASRock Launches Legacy M.2 Graphics Card

erek

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"ASRock Rack traditionally does not disclose prices of its products. Given that the M2_VGA module is to a large degree a niche device, it will be available only from resellers specializing in this kind of products."

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/asrock-m2-graphics-card
 
Why only a Molex (AKA LP4 or just know as IDE) it should get a 15 pin SATA style connector as most OEM boxes (where I see this being used) don't have those old style power connectors anymore. Is this 12VDC or 5VDC? Does this need a heatsink?

Edit: Looked at my old power supply it looks to be a 5VDC power connector
 
Why only a Molex (AKA LP4 or just know as IDE) it should get a 15 pin SATA style connector as most OEM boxes (where I see this being used) don't have those old style power connectors anymore. Is this 12VDC or 5VDC? Does this need a heatsink?

Edit: Looked at my old power supply it looks to be a 5VDC power connector
It goes to a header, so it could be swapped out for something else pretty easily.

If the price is right, this could be really nice for cheapass home servers. I screw up enough stuff to need video out, but I'd love to use latest ryzen without waiting for APUs to come out, and I don't have any use for a real GPU.
 
Why only a Molex (AKA LP4 or just know as IDE) it should get a 15 pin SATA style connector as most OEM boxes (where I see this being used) don't have those old style power connectors anymore. Is this 12VDC or 5VDC? Does this need a heatsink?

Edit: Looked at my old power supply it looks to be a 5VDC power connector

looking at the pins this should be +12V +5V (Pin 1 4) and one GND (Pin 3 2), no?

i mean, adapters are cheap but i agree. should be sata power. although a applaud asrock for continiung to do crazy things.

edit: it's a male upside down plug, i'm an idiot :LOL:
 
This gfx adapter isn't necessarily [H]ard, but it does give a DIYer more options. I hate that there are no single slot cards worth a damn, and only low end/igpu caliber low profile pci-e powered cards. I appreciate the out of the box thinking.
 
looking at the pins this should be +12V +5V (Pin 1 4) and one GND (Pin 3 2), no?

i mean, adapters are cheap but i agree. should be sata power. although a applaud asrock for continiung to do crazy things.

edit: it's a male upside down plug, i'm an idiot :LOL:
Why only a Molex (AKA LP4 or just know as IDE) it should get a 15 pin SATA style connector as most OEM boxes (where I see this being used) don't have those old style power connectors anymore. Is this 12VDC or 5VDC? Does this need a heatsink?

Edit: Looked at my old power supply it looks to be a 5VDC power connector

Might need more power than a sata connector can deliver I guess? The molex pins can carry more current.
 
Might need more power than a sata connector can deliver I guess? The molex pins can carry more current.
Naw, their spec page says total power is 1.5W, so you could probably do that with a chewing gum wrapper. I'm guessing they need +5v for vga pin 9 (to power the EDID rom), and m.2 only provides 3.3v, this must be cheaper than putting a dc-dc boost converter on the board, or there was no room, it's actually a pretty packed board and dc-dc conversion takes a good number of components.
 
It goes to a header, so it could be swapped out for something else pretty easily.

If the price is right, this could be really nice for cheapass home servers. I screw up enough stuff to need video out, but I'd love to use latest ryzen without waiting for APUs to come out, and I don't have any use for a real GPU.

I could see this for a Ryzen server with no video card yeah. Maybe a F variant Intel for situations where you can’t remote in.
 
I hope the +5VDC is the middle pin in that header since they used a non-polarized connector and we all know (I hope!) what reverse polarity can do to a DC powered device.
Two ground wires on the outside and the +5VDC in the center so no matter which way you plug it in it will always be correct, unless you miss a pin like the old days ah no fool proof connectors!

I fried many a floppy drive, even fried the motherboard floppy controller like that + 12VDC when it should have been a ground wire. I see if this is for the OEM market not as much chance for that unless they are sold to end users after lease (manufactures warranty will be long gone anyway) or the like (That is how I acquire office class PCs for cheap now! and I keep them for me I don't add a GPU and sell it for $500 as a gaming PC that trend is common on CL and FB marketplace)
 
I hope the +5VDC is the middle pin in that header since they used a non-polarized connector and we all know (I hope!) what reverse polarity can do to a DC powered device.
Two ground wires on the outside and the +5VDC in the center so no matter which way you plug it in it will always be correct, unless you miss a pin like the old days ah no fool proof connectors!

I fried many a floppy drive, even fried the motherboard floppy controller like that + 12VDC when it should have been a ground wire. I see if this is for the OEM market not as much chance for that unless they are sold to end users after lease (manufactures warranty will be long gone anyway) or the like (That is how I acquire office class PCs for cheap now! and I keep them for me I don't add a GPU and sell it for $500 as a gaming PC that trend is common on CL and FB marketplace)
5v is most likely the 2 outer pins with ground in the middle.
 
I thought about that being a possibility also that is still fool proof as long as you don't miss a pin as I stated in post # 14.
 
I thought about that being a possibility also that is still fool proof as long as you don't miss a pin as I stated in post # 14.
5v is the split one, which is probably the 2 outer pins so you can't mess it up. that is how I would design it.
 
Only if you want to melt down the universe! Why Crysis? that game was writen 13 years ago? How about GTA V that is more modern
How many amps is each pin capable of in the molex style and a SATA style connector?
 
Only if you want to melt down the universe! Why Crysis? that game was writen 13 years ago? How about GTA V that is more modern
How many amps is each pin capable of in the molex style and a SATA style connector?

because Crysis...
 
I've been an ASRock fanboy for years... they come up with some weird interesting stuff that isn't usually a copy of what all of the other companies are doing.
/sometimes a little too close to the bleeding edge... like forcing Killer LAN 2.5gb on it's latest X570 boards
//can't get my Killer to work - so I've had to plug up an old-school USB ethernet adapter
 
This would be great for troubleshooting a board without onboard graphics or something, but just having a VGA output doesn't make this hugely relevant in most instances. As other mentioned, I have thought of using one of my Ryzen's for a server and this might be nice to use instead of having to install a GPU, but then again, that takes away from an NVME card so it's kind of a so/so proposition for me. I'm glad to see them pushing boundaries though as there are sometimes weird use cases that just don't get support.
 
This would be great for troubleshooting a board without onboard graphics or something, but just having a VGA output doesn't make this hugely relevant in most instances. As other mentioned, I have thought of using one of my Ryzen's for a server and this might be nice to use instead of having to install a GPU, but then again, that takes away from an NVME card so it's kind of a so/so proposition for me. I'm glad to see them pushing boundaries though as there are sometimes weird use cases that just don't get support.
If you don't want to lose your m.2 slot, you could always get a pci-e to m.2 slot adapter and run a couple of these cards in SLI. (I mean, sort of maybe, but even the single m.2 adapters make that probably too expensive, if you really need two video outs, you'd be better off with a low end gpu)

Also, the graphics chip can support lcd + crt, so maybe the next rev will have a digital output too.
 
If you don't want to lose your m.2 slot, you could always get a pci-e to m.2 slot adapter and run a couple of these cards in SLI. (I mean, sort of maybe, but even the single m.2 adapters make that probably too expensive, if you really need two video outs, you'd be better off with a low end gpu)

Also, the graphics chip can support lcd + crt, so maybe the next rev will have a digital output too.
Yeah, if I needed all that I'd just put in a low end GPU, lol. A pci-e to m.2 adapter to run a GPU kind of defeats the purpose of using the m.2 slot. I guess you could possibly get a x1 pci-e to nvme ribbon of sorts so you could install it somewhere else, but again kind of defeats the purpose.
 
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