Oct 05, 2025 13:00:00

The OCuLink cable used to connect an external graphics card has different designs depending on the product, and it may not be possible to recognize the graphics card.

High-performance graphics cards are large in physical size, making them difficult to install in laptops or mini PCs. In such cases, eGPU boxes and eGPU docks are useful, but technology YouTuber

Jeff Gearing reported a problem: 'The design of the OCuLink cable used to connect the eGPU dock to the PC was different depending on the product, and the graphics card could not be recognized.'

Not all OCuLink eGPU docks are created equal | Jeff Geerling
https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2025/not-all-oculink-egpu-docks-are-created-equal

The Raspberry Pi 500+, an enhanced version of the Raspberry Pi 500, a keyboard-integrated PC, was released on September 25, 2025. Gearing attempted to connect a graphics card to the Raspberry Pi 500+ using the MINISFORUM eGPU dock DEG1 .

Amazon.co.jp: MINISFORUM DEG1 External GPU Docking Station Oculink Compatible: Computers & Peripherals

Gearing installed a graphics card equipped with an AMD GPU 'RX 6500 XT' in the DEG1 and connected it to the Raspberry Pi 500+. However, although he was able to get the graphics card's fan to spin, he was unable to get the OS to recognize the graphics card.

At this time, Gearing was using

a Chenyang brand OCuLink cable instead of the one that came with the DEG1. After receiving a comment on the forum pointing out the issue, he switched to the cable that came with the DEG1, and the graphics card was now recognized.

When comparing the chenyang OCuLink cable (top) with the DEG1's included cable (bottom), you can see that the DEG1's included cable has several different colored wires braided together. 'This test shows that not all OCuLink cables are created equal,' Gearing points out.

In his testing environment, the RX 6500 XT worked, but the RX 7900 XT did not. At the time of writing, the reason for the RX 7900 XT not working is unknown.