Razer Core Review

[nicklmg]

Amazon: http://geni.us/qKnZR

 

THE CORE IS FINALLY HERE! Let's see if it's as badass as we all have hoped...

 

 

[_chuck1z]

Do razer core + intel nuc

[vanished]

I had this idea of having a gaming ready (minus the GPU) ultra-book style laptop that you just plugged an external GPU into years ago.  Glad to see someone finally made it a reality!  The problem is see though is the cost of the enclosure itself could pretty much offset the savings of getting a laptop + GPU vs just a laptop & desktop

[Nic]

I would love to see a manufacturer come out with a itx sized board with the thunderbolt chip that let you put together your own enclosure (i.e. buy your own case and power supply) .

It would be great to have a setup like this but the core is just too expensive.

[iMLG]

I would like to see what happens when you have a rig with multiple Thunderbolt 3 ports and plug multiple Razor Cores into it.  It would be interesting to see if you could get Crossfire or SLI working.  I asked Razor support this question and they couldn't answer it.  I will wait until Linus gives it a shot haha.

 

Additionally, I am curious if you could make a GPU with an AIO cooler work with the Core through some manipulation of the chassis.  Considering AMDs top GPUs include AIO coolers, it would be interesting to see done.

[kerbingamer376]

Will it work with my windows vista era inspiron laptop? Does it have a USB mode?

[gonvres]

Its certainly a good bit of kit and I think this would be ideal for so many people who don't want two computers, but man at $499 + the GPU that is a lot of money for just the box.

 

In fact, you could put together a very handy system (minus the GPU itself) for $499 and just get the benefit of having a gaming computer in addition to your laptop. Of course that doesn't have the benefits of portability or having your files on both systems, but it also doesn't have the potential problems of running a laptop under such load for extended periods.

 

No doubt as time goes on the price will come down, until that point its an impressive engineering exercise with promise. Does anyone know if this will work on MacBook Pros with thunderbolt? 

[pk-man]

hahahah that price. Clearly for people with too much money to burn. LUL

 

$2699 + $699 + cost of graphics card = too much money.

 

You can get a ultrabook and a decent PC at that kind of budget.

[Lazaro]

 

Linus have you tried it with other laptops? Like the Dell xps 15 9550?

 

Does the software support other laptops??

Can you run both your screen laptop and external monitor connected to the gpu?? 

 

Sorry for so many questions heh. I just got a xps 15 9550 and was wondering if it would work noticing that it has a thunderbolt 3 type c connector and the latest bios has some support of it I think. 

[gonvres]

51 minutes ago, pk-man said:

hahahah that price. Clearly for people with too much money to burn. LUL

 

$2699 + $699 + cost of graphics card = too much money.

 

You can get a ultrabook and a decent PC at that kind of budget.

I could see a usecase. Maybe someone without a lot of space? This whole kit could be effectively packed away when not using it, so like a lot of people do you could just set the laptop up on the kitchen table or something. 

 

I think the idea is a good one. For $200 I'd say it would work very well, even if that meant cutting down on the bling.

[balderm]

copy pasted from the video comments: 

 

I was considering this, but after searching around i reached the conclusion that it was just going to be a super expensive way to play videogames with much worse performance, i mean, if you're that kind of guy that plays on a $3000 Alienware laptop then go for this, it gives a bigger bang for your bucks, and you can actually upgrade the hardware over time, but you need to know that the small 3.1 usb-c thunderbolt interface has a bandwidth cap of 40gbps, and you reach that cap pretty easily with a fat gpu like a 1070 or a 1080, and if you plug in a keyboard+mouse+external drive and redirect the gpu output to the laptop screen you're gonna get way worse performance than your gpu can actually be capable of because of the port bottlenecking the entire setup.

So i'd say, this is a pretty solid 1.0 solution, but the real deal will probably come in the next years when thunderbolt reaches 100gbps or more of bandwidth.

[riklaunim]

2 hours ago, Lazaro said:

 

Linus have you tried it with other laptops? Like the Dell xps 15 9550?

I've seen Core review where it was connected to other Type C/ TB3 laptops. AFAIK for XPS it was pretty unstable and unusable. In general it doesn't work stable with most laptops, and the laptop vendor would have to support this, but looks like they don't care. Source:

 

 

Thunderbolt 3 eGPU support is pretty much as proprietary as MSI or Alienware solutions as the laptop vendor must want to support it. Razer core is rather hard to get in EU and is quite expensive, Alienware GA is cheaper and more accessible. MSI GS30 is overkill on the price with many gen 1 issues - so standard eGPU for laptops is still bit away. Also Thunderbolt certification rather prevents cheap alternatives, like from China and third party like for ExpressCard/mPCIe/M.2 eGPU solutions

[RedLineGamer]

6 hours ago, kerbingamer376 said:

Will it work with my windows vista era inspiron laptop? Does it have a USB mode?

Razer core is thunderbolt only.

If you are really impaitent try the diy egpu method, but I recommend buying a new gaming pc.

[Streetguru]

Why didn't you compare if there's any difference between using an nvidia or amd GPU in software issues or performance?

[Bouzoo]

I have to give Razer credit for this. I had this idea 8-9 years ago and I'm glad someone finally did it. I will not lie, I will consider this when it becomes cheaper and easier to obtain so to say. 

[nicklmg]

7 hours ago, pk-man said:

hahahah that price. Clearly for people with too much money to burn. LUL

 

$2699 + $699 + cost of graphics card = too much money.

 

You can get a ultrabook and a decent PC at that kind of budget.

I think the "New Blade" is actually $1999. It's still very expensive as a $3000 solution after taxes, but you're now getting the Blade + Core for the price of the old Blade, which is a step in the right direction at the very least.

7 hours ago, Lazaro said:

 

Linus have you tried it with other laptops? Like the Dell xps 15 9550?

 

Does the software support other laptops??

Can you run both your screen laptop and external monitor connected to the gpu?? 

 

Sorry for so many questions heh. I just got a xps 15 9550 and was wondering if it would work noticing that it has a thunderbolt 3 type c connector and the latest bios has some support of it I think. 

The next video should have test scenarios with other laptops.

1 hour ago, Streetguru said:

Why didn't you compare if there's any difference between using an nvidia or amd GPU in software issues or performance?

I THINK the next video on the Core will test this. Not 100% sure though.

[ThinkWithPortals]

2 minutes ago, nicklmg said:

 

Out of curiosity, how many videos do you guys plan to make about the Core? I'd love to see more, it's an intriguing product IMO

[nicklmg]

Just now, ThinkWithPortals said:

Out of curiosity, how many videos do you guys plan to make about the Core? I'd love to see more, it's an intriguing product IMO

At least 2-3. Review, "in-depth" look (next video), probably some kind of super SFF gaming machine combining it and the Skull Canyon NUC.
 

Outside of that I'm not sure, but the possibilities are significant

[ThinkWithPortals]

1 minute ago, nicklmg said:

At least 2-3. Review, "in-depth" look (next video), probably some kind of super SFF gaming machine combining it and the Skull Canyon NUC.
 

Outside of that I'm not sure, but the possibilities are significant

Cool, thanks

[Ronda]

I'll never get why people fawn over that aesthetic. I mean it looks good, but in a very basic way. How much aesthetic pleasure is there to be derived from a slab of aluminum?

And if the enclosure only works with Razer laptops, how is it noteworthy that the connector isn't proprietary? It might as well be.

 

[Qub3d]

7 hours ago, Ronda said:

I'll never get why people fawn over that aesthetic. I mean it looks good, but in a very basic way. How much aesthetic pleasure is there to be derived from a slab of aluminum?

And if the enclosure only works with Razer laptops, how is it noteworthy that the connector isn't proprietary? It might as well be.

 

If you look at the earlier comments, it works with other laptops. The problem is, no other laptop manufacturer has gone through the trouble of getting the standard to work on anything else reliably yet,

[TheredZephyr]

Could i use this on a desktop , just to showcase a gpu on a desk?

[Ronda]

9 hours ago, Qub3d said:

If you look at the earlier comments, it works with other laptops. The problem is, no other laptop manufacturer has gone through the trouble of getting the standard to work on anything else reliably yet,

Oh, my bad.

Or rather Razer's because on their product page they only mention Razer laptops.

[sabrehawk]

Akitio Thunderbolt2 PCIe Expansion Box

Has been available on the market for about 2 years already.

 

Half the price , but requires seperate purchase of power supply.

 

Razers pricing is nothing short of RIDICOLOUS.

 

Also showing a frame rate chart of  a 1080 gtx external vs a 970 M is a totally useless endeavour...and reeks a bit of the usual pro razer social engineering that Linus Media is known for. (look how huge the frame rate boost his...woahhhhh, quotes of the video concernng how awesome they are in design bla bla dont really refute my argument no?)  970 Ms are far weaker than the already weakened 980 Ms.

 

I do like the setup of the tray though and appreciate the additional connectivity options.

But the very short thunderbolt cable is troublesome (maybe concealing cable length constraints/latency issues?)

 

Compare it with A) a 980 M B) a laptop with a non M 980 GTX or Titan such as the MSI high end ones.

 

 

[riklaunim]

17 minutes ago, sabrehawk said:

Also showing a frame rate chart of  a 1080 gtx external vs a 970 M is a totally useless endeavour...and reeks a bit of the usual pro razer social engineering that Linus Media is known for. (look how huge the frame rate boost his...woahhhhh, quotes of the video concernng how awesome they are in design bla bla dont really refute my argument no?)  970 Ms are far weaker than the already weakened 980 Ms.

 

Well, someone buying expensive laptop with expensive dock will likely fall into the category of 1080 and alike GPU users. Expensive, premium, top shelf, but small niche of products/customers. My R9 270 would be weaker than laptop 980m and likely than 970m in some specific nvidia games... so you don't buy core or Alienware GA or MSI GS30 for such low price levels