Introduction

Nowadays, in pursuit of high performance and portability, external GPU docks have become the preferred device for many users of thin and light laptops and mini PCs to improve graphics performance. Compared with the Thunderbolt GPU Dock, the GPU Dock with OCuLink interface has a significant advantage in bandwidth and transmission loss.

AOOSTAR AG01 OCuLink GPU Dock adopts an open design that is compatible with graphics cards of various lengths and is also more conducive to heat dissipation. It has a built-in customized Huntkey 400W power supply and is compatible with graphics cards such as AMD/Intel/NVIDIA. Next, let’s look at how the AOOSTAR AG01 OCuLink GPU Dock performs. 

What is OCuLink?

OCuLink, short for "Optical-Copper Link," is a peripheral connection standard that allows you to connect PCIe devices using an external cable rather than an internal slot. 

The interface was developed by the PCI-SIG, the Body for standardization and norming of the PCI interface (Peripheral Component Interconnect Special Interest Group). It is designed to provide a smaller, more flexible, and more efficient PCIe expansion solution.

OCuLink delivered PCIe 3.0 and PCIe 4.0 bandwidth. It also supports SATA and SAS. The common OCuLink interface on the market uses two different connectors, SFF-8611 and SFF-8612, which are used for the host side and the device side respectively. It provides 4 PCIe lanes, each with a bandwidth of 8GT/s (PCIe 3.0) or 16GT/s (PCIe 4.0), for a total bandwidth of up to 64Gbps.

OCuLink is a connection system for the PCI Express area. The interface has a Small-Form-factor which is optimized for internal and external enclosure usage. OCuLink cables are a cost-effective possibility for an external PCIe extension.

Compared to Thunderbolt which integrates DisplayPort and PCI-Express, OCuLink is a pure PCIe channel and does not include a DP channel. Its transmission loss is relatively low when connecting an external graphics card dock. OCuLink of PCIe 3.0×4 can reach a bandwidth of 32Gbps, while PCIe 4.0×4 can reach a bandwidth of 64Gbps, which is more advantageous than the maximum bandwidth of 22Gbps of Thunderbolt 3 and the maximum bandwidth of 32Gbps of Thunderbolt 4.

However, OCuLink may be slightly inferior to Thunderbolt in terms of compatibility, integrity, and completeness, but it has the characteristics of relatively lower price and better performance.

Product Appearance

The box contains the AOOSTAR AG01 OCuLink GPU Dock, AC power cord, two 8-pin graphics card power cables, and OCuLink cable.

The GPU dock is made of aluminum alloy, which not only has the high-end texture of metal but also has excellent thermal conductivity and heat absorption, which comprehensively improves the heat dissipation efficiency.

It is equipped with a power switch and OCuLink interface on the front. The OCuLink interface supports PCle direct connection and the interface has a safety lock to prevent it from falling off.

There is a note on the power switch. Since most laptops and mini PCs with OCuLink interfaces do not support hot plugging, you need to open the GPU dock before starting the computer.

This is the OCuLink interface, which is similar in overall shape to the DP (DisplayPort) interface but is not compatible.

The words "AOOSTAR" and "Designed By TIANBEI" are printed on the lower right corner.

It is equipped with a customized Huntkey 400W power supply, eliminating the need for a large external power supply.

These are two 8-pin graphics card power supply interfaces.

Both sides are hollowed out, and the right side is equipped with an AC power interface.

A knob for fixing the graphics card has been added above the AC power interface.

There is a reminder pasted on the interface on the top of it: Please be sure to use a graphics card below 250W. The official recommendation is to use NVIDIA RTX 4070 and AMD 7700XT and lower models.

It is equipped with a PCIe x16 graphics card interface.

There is a foot pad on each of the four bottom corners and ventilation on the left.

The specs info are posted on the bottom right. Model is AG01.

These are the two 8-pin graphics card power cables that come with it.

This is the included OCuLink cable.

This is the AC power cord, with 250V~10A printed in the middle.

The length of the 8-pin graphics card power cable is about 34 cm (13.39 inches).

The length of the OCuLink cable is about 41 cm (16.14 inches).

The length of the AC power cord is about 150 cm (59.055 inches).

The length of the GPU dock is about 22 cm (8.66 inches).

The width is about 11.05 cm (4.35 inches).

The thickness is about 5.99 cm (2.36 inches).

The weight of it is about 1410 g (49.74 oz).

GPU Expansion Test

Since the AOOSTAR AG01 OCuLink GPU Dock comes with its power supply, 8-pin graphics card cable, and OCuLink cable, we only need to install the Lenovo RTX 4060Ti 8GB graphics card into it and connect the cables to start testing.

It should be noted that since neither the AOOSTAR GEM12 Pro mini PC nor the AG01 GPU dock supports hot plugging, we need to connect the cables and turn on the switch on the front of the graphics dock before you turn on the mini PC.

Use GPU-Z to view various information about the graphics card. The graphics card is NVIDIA RTX 4060 Ti, with 48 ROPs, 136 TMUs, 4352 shaders, a default clock of 2310 MHz, a boost clock of 2535 MHz, memory type: GDDR6, memory size: 8GB, and a bus width of 128bit. The driver version is 31.0.15.5152 DCH/Win11 64.

Using 3D Mark to conduct PCI Express functional testing can verify whether the actual data transfer rate of the channel complies with the standard and ensure that the graphics card can fully exert its performance. After testing, the transmission bandwidth reached 5.23GB/s, which is lower than that of the similar OCuLink mini PC and GPU dock.

In the 3DMark TimeSpy (DX12 1440p) test, the Lenovo RTX 4060 Ti 8GB graphics card paired with the AOOSTAR AG01 OCuLink GPU Dock only achieved a graphics score of nearly 3190 points.

Under the AMD R7 5800X + MSI X570S + TEAMGROUP 8GB×2 3600MHz platform, the Lenovo 4060 Ti 8GB can achieve a score of 13330 points in the 3DMark TimeSpy (DX12 1440p) test.

Subsequently, we tried to connect the AOOSTAR AG01 GPU Dock to the Lenovo ThinkBook14+ 2024 that supports OCuLink, used different OCuLink cables, and replaced different versions of graphics card drivers, but incompatibility issues occurred and further testing could not be performed.

Summary of ChargerLAB

AOOSTAR AG01 OCuLink GPU Dock provides users with a solution to efficiently improve graphics performance with its efficient heat dissipation design, powerful power supply capability, and convenient connection method. However, during the test, perhaps due to the graphics card driver and compatibility issues between devices, the performance was average, and compatibility and stability still need to be strengthened. We will wait for optimization and further debugging before retesting.