This external AMD GPU is also a laptop charger — RX 7600M XT-powered Wiko Hi GT Cube delivers up to 100W of power output (2024)

This week, French brand Wika, known best for selling rebadged Huawei devices in both its home country and China, is branching out to eGPUs in the form of the Wiko Hi GT Cube eGPU docking station, which leverages AMD's only current eGPU, the RX 7600M XT based on RDNA 3, and includes 100W laptop charging capacity alongside the AMD graphics enhancement. Combined, the power draw of the laptop charging and eGPU functionalities add up to about 240 Watts, though, of course, the main GPU component is capped at just 120 Watts of that total.

Compared to other eGPU solutions, the Wiko Hi GT Cube doesn't seem particularly concerned with expanding storage or I/O. Instead, the focus is on the total 100-watt charging capacity. The overall pricing of 399 Chinese yuan (broadly equivalent to about $558) places it lower than most other 7600M XT eGPUs, which usually exceed $600.

Also, while Wika's Wiko Hi GT may come from a company that primarily sells rebadged Huawei products, they don't seem to be a Huawei subsidiary...though the Hi GT's China launch appears to have been done with the recent release of the Huawei MateBook GT 14 in mind.

Wiko Hi GT Cube eGPU Specifications

In any case, Wika's Wiko Hi GT Cube generally compares favorably to other eGPUs using the same kit and, of course, dramatically dwarfs the capabilities of leading iGPU chips like the Radeon 780M (based on the same RDNA 3 GPU architecture) and the Intel Arc graphics that the Huawei Mate GT 14 includes. Compared to the 780M, it's a roughly 50-60% performance improvement, very much in line with the raw increase in RDNA 3 Compute Units.

While modern iGPUs are increasingly capable of targeting 720p in modern titles, enabling ray-tracing or pushing 1080p tends to be too much for these on-CPU graphics processors. However, the 7600M has more than enough power for 1080p gaming and can even withstand RT in Cyberpunk 2077 with FSR image scaling enabled.

Overall, the Wiko Hi GT Cube does seem to be a compelling offer, and it is like a suitable companion to the Huawei Mate GT 14 laptop, but with one very crucial downside. While Thunderbolt support is listed, the specific version of Thunderbolt is not. Thunderbolt 3 and 4 are most likely considering the usage of USB4— and while all three standards are typically capped at 40 Gigabits, Thunderbolt 4 is still the best for driving an eGPU. OCuLink would be even better, but unfortunately, it isn't present in any form.