SMALLEST EXTERNAL GPU ENCLOSURE PC
You’ll also need a relatively new notebook equipped with a Thunderbolt 3-compatible USB-C port. These days most Thunderbolt 3 laptops and graphics card enclosures play nicely together thanks to Intel’s Thunderbolt 3 external graphics compatibility technology, which PC makers must specifically enable. Enclosures are, for the most part, still a pricey proposition-much more so than the DIY method we’ll outline later.
Thunderbolt 3 levels the playing field, and several companies now offer TB3-based graphics card docks, complete with dedicated power supplies, additional ports, and-of course-room to slot desktop graphics cards.Īll is not perfect in the world of Thunderbolt 3-powered graphics, however. For resource-intensive activities like gaming, a speedy connection between your laptop and an external graphics card provides a big boost for performance.Įarlier attempts at external graphics card docks existed, but they were usually overpriced and relied on proprietary connection technologies. Thunderbolt 3 (TB3) is Intel’s high-speed external input/output connection, capable of speeds up to a blistering 40 gigabytes per second (GBps) over a compatible USB-C port. Thunderbolt 3 graphics card docks Adam Patrick Murray/IDGĪ Razer Core connected to a Razer Blade Stealth laptop via Thunderbolt 3/USB-C. First, let’s tackle the modern approach of using a graphics card dock via Thunderbolt 3. We’ll walk you through the DIY process for configuring an external graphics card later in this article, along with the sudden rise of streaming PC games from the cloud. That’s far cheaper than building a whole new gaming desktop, and you can still take advantage of your laptop’s portability by disconnecting the eGPU hardware.
When it’s done, however, you’ll be left with a console-toppling PC gaming setup for about the same price as a new Xbox One S, depending on which graphics card you choose. Many do-it-yourself types using Thunderbolt 3, ExpressCard, or mPCIe end up with a plug-and-play experience requiring little to no modification-though it takes some research first. The wide availability of Thunderbolt 3 combined with external graphics card docks has simplified the process even more for people with a modern notebook. It isn’t hard to configure, and using desktop graphics cards with a laptop has become even easier in recent times. That’s why I decided to examine external graphics card (eGPU) setups.Īnd indeed, I found entire communities of people creating DIY setups that connected desktop graphics cards to their laptops via ExpressCard or mPCIe slots to play games on an external monitor.
SMALLEST EXTERNAL GPU ENCLOSURE 1080P
Sure, the laptop on its own works well enough for older titles like Diablo III, especially on the laptop’s tiny 1366×728-resolution display, but forget about more graphics-intensive modern games on an external 1080p monitor.
That just wouldn’t cut it for proper PC gaming. My desire to power up a laptop with an external graphics card began in 2015, when I set out on a quest to get back into PC gaming-a beloved pastime I’d neglected since childhood.īut the only PC I had at the time was a 2011 Lenovo ThinkPad X220 laptop with Intel HD 3000 integrated graphics.
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