Do EGPU cases no longer exist?

Forums › Laptops and mobile computers › Do EGPU cases no longer exist?

TeaLeaf

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#307068 15-Sep-2023 21:45

Things like the Razer Core X? Buy the Razer Core X Thunderbolt 3 External Graphics Card Enclosure, For... ( RC21-01310100-R3B1 ) online - PBTech.co.nz

I had a look around and none of the top cases for this year seem to be available. Im not sure if this is due to a technology change?

waikariboy

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#3128366 15-Sep-2023 22:31

i dont think is a market for this stuff anymore.

Balm its gone!

Handle9

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#3128368 15-Sep-2023 22:35

Yes they exist. No one buys them so availabilty is minimal.

Qazzy03

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#3128371 15-Sep-2023 22:39

Seems to be a used one on TM (not mine).

https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/marketplace/computers/components/video-cards/pci-express/listing/4321962907

SFF PC's are pretty popular, no sure if there is room in the NZ market for EGPU's, could always order in.

BadCo

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#3128465 16-Sep-2023 09:09

Thunderbolt 5 was announced this week, which might shake up the eGPU market in the coming years.

PsychoSmiley

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#3128467 16-Sep-2023 09:17

BadCo:

Thunderbolt 5 was announced this week, which might shake up the eGPU market in the coming years.

Yeah was going to say this, will wait and see but it will definitely help push things along. Sometimes other tech just has to catch up.

TeaLeaf

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#3130428 22-Sep-2023 11:41

Oddly there are a Plethora out there with PBtech listing most of them. It does say ask as they may not appear on the site sales, I think this is due to low volume.

They are relatively cheap now, definitely a good option if you own a notebook you want to keep. Of course building a budget game PC is another good option, but you lose the portability. YOu dont need another screen with a notebook, but imo you need 15.6" screen before needing an external montor, even then imo gaming needs a monitor.

But if you get one of the cheaper EGPUs it does work out cheaper than building a game machine. But an Xbox Series X is only couple hundred more, however some games are only available on PC or play better on PC.

all these reasons make it Niche and probably why they listed but no stock on NZ PC Stores. The only one I see is the asus ROG one, but its darn expensive, as much as I love asus notebooks.

The asus vivobook pro oled Im looking at has two TB 4 ports, current EGPUs only need TB3, but it will be interesting if they can increase speed, but they work plenty well enough as is.

Thanks all, just something I noticed and wondered why they never show up in stock (outside the ROG model)

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martyyn

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#3137022 30-Sep-2023 15:08

Interestingly I started looking at these yesterday.

I've got an XPS 13 but wanted to revive a few Steam games. I'm only talking about some older racing games like Dirt Rally.

My sons old gaming PC hasn't been used in three years so I tried that but all it did was beep. It's only an i7 4790 with a 6GB GTX1060 but I can't be bothered with troubleshooting it.

Although I can replace my laptop I'm not sure I want to spend $3k+ on a gaming laptop when I love my XPS.

An egpu seemed like the perfect option. Shame they don't seem to be an option anymore.

cddt

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#3137086 30-Sep-2023 17:31

martyyn:

I've got an XPS 13 but wanted to revive a few Steam games. I'm only talking about some older racing games like Dirt Rally.

If it's only older games you're interested in, the iGPU in your XPS 13 is likely to be sufficient.

martyyn

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#3137088 30-Sep-2023 17:36

I tried Dirt Rally and it was horrendous, even on low settings

Batman

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#3137153 30-Sep-2023 20:10

the XPS on 4K probably lol

i have a 15 XPS which is 4K 11800H and 3050 Ti ... it thermal throttles at the drop of a hat after 1 min of gaming and drops to like 7-15fps after that

so goodluck with yours!

everettpsycho

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#3137259 1-Oct-2023 08:35

I've been considering one of these recently as well. My desktop is very old sporting an i5 3570k and I don't use it enough to warrant the full upgrade. The rx570 inside is adequate for the games I use for now but the CPU is showing its age maxing out in windows defender when dienloading. we have a dell laptop that I could use the rx570 on to get a boost in gaming performance over the mobile 1050 it has inside. I don't plan on going above 1080p anytime soon. Feels like going this route would be a more cost efficient way to increase performance.

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Handle9

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#3137401 1-Oct-2023 17:00

everettpsycho: I've been considering one of these recently as well. My desktop is very old sporting an i5 3570k and I don't use it enough to warrant the full upgrade. The rx570 inside is adequate for the games I use for now but the CPU is showing its age maxing out in windows defender when dienloading. we have a dell laptop that I could use the rx570 on to get a boost in gaming performance over the mobile 1050 it has inside. I don't plan on going above 1080p anytime soon. Feels like going this route would be a more cost efficient way to increase performance.

This is the problem with an eGPU, and a big reason it hasn’t been popular. You need a $600 box to use a $100 GPU.

Benoire

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#3137404 1-Oct-2023 17:29

One of the issues that eGPUs have faced, especially when looking at AAA concept games is that the CPUs in most modern laptops are not grunty enough to drive them, and those that are come paired with a high performing mobile GPU which is often on par with the eGPU. This generally makes them fairly useless for most scenarios. TB5 may change this by reducing the overhead loss from running over an external link but in reality the same problem with CPU performance on the graphically intesive games still exist.

BadCo

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#3137415 1-Oct-2023 17:57

Benoire:

One of the issues that eGPUs have faced, especially when looking at AAA concept games is that the CPUs in most modern laptops are not grunty enough to drive them, and those that are come paired with a high performing mobile GPU which is often on par with the eGPU. This generally makes them fairly useless for most scenarios. TB5 may change this by reducing the overhead loss from running over an external link but in reality the same problem with CPU performance on the graphically intesive games still exist.

I'm going add that another big draw back was only having PCIe 3.0 x4 lanes vs the PCIe 3.0 x16 most GPUs almost utilise. That leaves a lot of unused performance in your EGPU enclosure.