Don’t let that name fool you into thinking the RTX 5090 GIGABYTE is selling here is for AI only: despite its name, the AORUS RTX 5090 AI BOX is the brand’s one-connector answer to laptops needing immense amounts of gaming performance, or AI performance if you’re into that, of course.
GIGABYTE AORUS RTX 5090 AI BOX
The “AI Box” isn’t just an enclosure; inside it houses a liquid-cooled, desktop-class RTX 5090 GPU with everything ready to go, so all you need is just a Thunderbolt 5 connector (or USB4 2.0) to the supported laptops to get going. While the Thunderbolt 5 connector is extremely fast by cable standards (at 80Gbps or 120Gbps under bandwidth boost mode), it’s nowhere close to actually fulfilling the bandwidth demands of a card as powerful as RTX 5090.
In fact, GIGABYTE states that the GPU only runs on a PCIe 4.0 x4 bus (which is rated at 64Gbps), so you can expect slightly less performance compared to a standard desktop card. The company explicitly stated in its press release that this AI Box provides laptops with “near-desktop-level” graphics performance. Laptops connected to this external GPU will also be provided with 100W USB PD charging, along with additional I/O.
As for the cooling setup, the AI Box uses a combination of large copper base plate, 240mm aluminum radiator, two 120mm fans, and “optimized water flow pump” to keep the thermals in check. A 850W power supply equivalent to 80 PLUS Gold standard supplies the power to the GPU and the laptop (if Power Delivery is active), although the product spec sheet didn’t specify on the details of the GPU itself, such as its TGP. We have to assume it’s running at stock 575W TGP given its also-default 2407MHz clock speed.
While GIGABYTE says the AI Box is now available, we have yet to see local retailers listing the product on online platforms, so pricing is not known at this time.
Pokdepinion: The size of this box is definitely well into SFF PC’s territory.
