eGPU? external graphics cards?

[austinjoelstephens]

So I snagged this game becuase it looks amazing, but my laptop struggles to run it becuase of my graphics card. I've been reading up on some eGPU's, but I'm not sure if my laptop can even support one. I have an HP ENVY 17. Anyone know much about external graphics cards?

Thank you!

[austinjoelstephens]

no one knows anything on this?

[Tahm Kench]

im looking myself but i would wait since their isn't many cheap ways of getting a EGPU, on average it would cost about £350 for a decent graphics card and you have to buy a new monitor

[blackroseMD1]

It looks like you can through the mPCIe slot, if your laptop has one of those. I don't know a lot on the subject of eGPUs, but that's what I've found so far.

[austinjoelstephens]

Originally posted by I Appreciate That:

im looking myself but i would wait since their isn't many cheap ways of getting a EGPU, on average it would cost about £350 for a decent graphics card and you have to buy a new monitor

From what I've researched A new monitor is not needed.

[Strider]

I am a Computer Electronics Tech (Work at component level and mainly with Graphics Cards)

Where did you read you can do it without an external monitor? Unless your laptop has a HDMI/DVI/VGA-in then you will indeed need a monitor.

You need a computer that will accept TB3 (ThunderBolt 3) data connections otherwise you will never get enough bandwidth to efficiently run an eGPU. TB3 will run upto 40GBps bandwidth. Otherwise it won't work. There are other methods of connection but they seldom work.

So sorry you can't run an eGPU anyway.

[Tahm Kench]

You could buy a Alienware graphics amplfier for £170 and then put any graphics card you want in there therefore you don't need a new monitor

[austinjoelstephens]

Originally posted by Strider:

I am a Computer Electronics Tech (Work at component level and mainly with Graphics Cards)

Where did you read you can do it without an external monitor? Unless your laptop has a HDMI/DVI/VGA-in then you will indeed need a monitor.

You need a computer that will accept TB3 (ThunderBolt 3) data connections otherwise you will never get enough bandwidth to efficiently run an eGPU. TB3 will run upto 40GBps bandwidth. Otherwise it won't work. There are other methods of connection but they seldom work.

So sorry you can't run an eGPU anyway.

I have an HDMI-in... most laptops do lol.
I do not have a thunderbolt-in though :(

[Ublakhy]

Yeah, you can try to use your wifi minipci-e port to fit an PE4C 3.0 or EXP GDC. It seems to be easily accessible on your model.
The performance will be over 50% to 90% of the real power of the GPU on a desktop, depending on the running game or program, as you will be limited to pci-e x1.

If your notebook only have the intel graphics it will be easier. If there is an dedicated gpu you may need to disable it in order to install the drivers for the new card.
The notebook screen can be used to play if you get an Nvidia card that can run Optimus (any modern GTX card...), but performance will be decreased as the video will have to be sent back to the computer. The best performance would be on an external monitor.

Thunderbolt is not needed. It would be faster and more expensive. Maybe some soldering skills needed as there are no really dedicated TB eGPU adapters around.

Also, if you want to try this, be ready for a lot of work and troubleshooting. It can be hard to get an eGPU working.

More about this can be found here:
https://www.techinferno.com/index.php?/forums/forum/83-diy-e-gpu-projects/
https://www.techinferno.com/index.php?/forums/topic/6275-pre-purchase-faq/
https://www.techinferno.com/index.php?/forums/topic/3108-egpu-candidate-system-list/

The main DIY eGPU 2.0 thread seems to be down so keep an eye if it becomes online again.