The eGPU hardware consists of an MSI Armor Radeon RX 580 8GB OC, a Corsair CX430M PSU (this PSU is no longer available but a 450W version is), and a BPlus PE4c 2.1a PCIe adapter over HDMI to ExpressCard. The downside is that the latter supports only PCIe 2.0, while the former supports PCIe 3.0. Anyone interested in using an m.2 slot could look at the PE4C v4.1. The PCIe board comes as a kit with power connectors and an HDMI-to-ExpressCard cable that allows the graphics card to interface with your laptop. It offers a PCIe-3.0 x16 slot, plus a nice stand to support your card. The best PCIe board on offer at this writing is BPlus’ PE4C v3.0, which works over mPCIe or ExpressCard connections. HWToolsĪ BPlus PCIe board for external graphics card usage. The most popular place to grab a board is BPlus in Taiwan () with options for ExpressCard, m.2 A, E, and M slots, and mPCIe slots. A solid-state drive (SSD) can also improve your gaming experience, but it’s not a necessity.The PCIe board is a specialized piece of equipment. Ideally, your laptop packs an Intel or AMD quad-core processor or higher, but a dual-core processor with four threads will also work. You may also want a laptop cooling pad if you want to play games that go heavy on graphics, like Battlefield V. For resource-intensive activities like gaming, a speedy connection between your laptop and an external graphics card provides a big boost for performance.Ī typical eGPU setup requires five basic items: a laptop, a desktop graphics card, an external display, a PCIe adapter/board or enclosure for the card, and a separate power supply for the graphics card (though Thunderbolt 3 enclosures have built-in power supplies). 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.

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