Minisforum Reinvents the Wheel with Its Unorthodox Oculink Expansion Card

The company Minisforum has unveiled its EOP4A expansion board, which connects to a PCIe slot and provides Oculink support. This is quite unusual, as Oculink is typically needed in laptops, portable gaming consoles, or mini-PCs, yet this solution is primarily targeted at regular desktop computers. Naturally, scenarios can be devised where such a solution might be useful for some reason, but it still looks unusual.

Minisforum itself mentions scenarios such as video editing, AI development, and even gaming. However, why a normal graphics card cannot be installed in this case is unclear.

The board supports PCIe 4.0 x4 and technically does not present anything interesting. Since Oculink is actually a PCIe interface in a different form, the expansion board only carries a retimer chip to correct signal loss and maintain connection stability.

The board costs 55 EUR ($60).

Recent market analysis suggests that Minisforum is gaining traction with tech enthusiasts due to its bold innovations, especially in compact computing solutions. Oculink technology, currently being explored for niche applications like high-speed I/O modules in server environments, exemplifies this trend. Such advancements position Minisforum as a notable creative powerhouse, appealing to developers and tech-specific markets.