Galaxy is set to launch GTX 460 with built in WHDI

Comes bundled with HDMI receiver

IT’S VERY HARD to differentiate yourself as a graphics card manufacturer these days, but it looks like Galaxy has come up with a way to do just that. The company is readying a custom designed GTX 460 card with an onboard WHDI solution which will allow you to stream 1080p HD video to the supplied receiver which can be placed up to 30 meters (100 feet) away from the PC into which the card is fitted.

Intrigued? Well, the whole WHDI solution consists of a daughter board that connects to a mini card PCI Express connector on the graphics card PCB and it’s based on an ARM Cortex-M3 processor and WHDI solution from Amimon. Expreview has several pictures of the card and claims that it will be announced tomorrow for a yet unknown price. We’d expect the card to be quite pricey, as not only do you have to pay for the WHDI board that’s fitted to the card itself, but also the receiver on the other end.

We’re not sold on Galaxy’s implementation, as the card has no less than five little antennas sticking out the back, just above the air vents. The card also has a DVI and a DisplayPort connector and a mini USB port which appears to be related to the WHDI board. The WHDI signal is transmitted in the 5GHz band and is as such unlikely to interfere with most Wi-Fi solutions, unless you’re running a 5GHz network at home.

The receiver doesn’t exactly look fancy, it’s a vertical black box with a small stand and we’re not sure if it will have antennas sticking out the back or not. It too features an ARM Cortex-M3 processor and the same WHDI chipset solution from Amimon and of course an HDMI port for TV connectivity. At least this solution requires one box less than you’d normally need, alongside with the advantage of not having to connect that second box to your graphics card.

We doubt there’s a huge market for this solution though, as WHDI has yet to take off and most WHDI solutions are still quite expensive due to lack of demand. If executed well, Galaxy could very well win some approval among home entertainment buffs that wants a simple to use PC to TV WHDI solution alongside a decent enough graphics card. Galaxy takes points here for creativity and differentiation.S|A

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