What should I expect when using an external GPU

[Reiidar]

I've been saving up for a pc on the higher end for gaming as well as to have a competent enough machine for work when I graduate for some time now. However the university has mandated that each student should have a laptop with a 5th gen i7 at the minimum for every student. This would cut a lot into my budget and I really don't want to compromise on a less powerful GPU due to it. For that I've looked into refurbished laptops but the market here (and available products with amazon/new egg) aren't that good compared to what can be bought in NA and EU.

So unless I can raise my budget to have both I really would have to compromise, which is when I though of getting an external gpu and an ultrabook since I wouldn't need the extra power from a gaming laptop while in campus and I would certainly appreciate the much needed performance gain when I connect to an external monitor and GPU. (Which when I calculated should also be in the neighborhood of my initial budget for a higher end pc).
But I don't know what to expect especially with the latency, compatibility, and performance drops since I would be using thunderbolt. To be honest I don't have enough knowledge to comfortably an ultrabook that's compatible as well as what external gpu option I should go for so I really do appreciate what you more experienced members of the community can tell me.

TL:DR I've thought of having an ultrabook + eGPU as a solution for my need of a laptop for studies and extra power for gaming/demanding applications but I don't know what to expect.

[Nocte]

18 minutes ago, Reiidar said:

However the university has mandated that each student should have a laptop with a 5th gen i7 at the minimum for every student

I never understood these policies. Students are paying a ton for their degrees already, they should be able to carry out the work needed on machines provided by the University on campus.

 

Anyway, back on topic. 5th gen i7 is extremely generic. i7-5500U is a mere 2c/4t CPU. You can get a new gen i3-8130U and be on par with that CPU (actually the i3 is slightly better between those 2). What do you need to do with the laptop that requires a lot of heavy lifting? Wasting money on a powerful (and heavy in the backpack) laptop is not ideal.

 

eGPU enclosures come with the downside that you are not getting all the performance out of the GPU you paid for (on top of the cost of the GPU enclosure) as generally there is a slight performance loss. You also need to make sure that the port on your laptop is compatible with eGPU enclosures (i.e. it's on PCIe).

[Firewrath9]

Whatabout a mid-range 15" laptop with a small dedicated GPU?

 

My XPS 15 works amazingly well on both Gaming and productivity.

 

1300$ for 1050 ti + 8750h.

[Reiidar]

23 minutes ago, Nocte said:

I never understood these policies. Students are paying a ton for their degrees already, they should be able to carry out the work needed on machines provided by the University on campus.

 

Anyway, back on topic. 5th gen i7 is extremely generic. i7-5500U is a mere 2c/4t CPU. You can get a new gen i3-8130U and be on par with that CPU (actually the i3 is slightly better between those 2). What do you need to do with the laptop that requires a lot of heavy lifting? Wasting money on a powerful (and heavy in the backpack) laptop is not ideal.

 

eGPU enclosures come with the downside that you are not getting all the performance out of the GPU you paid for (on top of the cost of the GPU enclosure) as generally there is a slight performance loss. You also need to make sure that the port on your laptop is compatible with eGPU enclosures (i.e. it's on PCIe).

I'm guessing it's probably for thesis writing since you would be able to work on it anywhere (but looking at my curriculum I only have my thesis for my 3rd and 4th year), another one would probably be online classes (doesn't make sense for me either since I could just do it at my dorm and having a PC in that case would be no different than a laptop, better even imo).

They're really vague which makes it hard for me, especially since I really don't know what I'll be using it for so I am not comfortable buying a laptop with needlessly high specs just for it not to be utilized. Besides gaming (I want to play on 1440p), my schedule is quite more free compared to high school so I'd like to take this opportunity to explore and pursue my interests such as CAD, video editing, photoshop, etc. I'm considering an eGPU as an alternative since I would very much like an actual pc for more upgrade options looking into the long term when I would be utilizing the increased performance much more frequently. 

 

Reading what you've said on the performance loss and compatibility with eGPU enclosures I'm strongly considering just getting both, although I'll go for no RGB and 16GB of ram (Can just upgrade later, same with storage) for just pure performance. I was planning on getting a 2700x + RTX 2070 but I suppose a 2600x would do just fine? There is ryzen 3rd gen coming soon but I don't think those new x570 boards are gonna be that affordable.

[Nocte]

11 minutes ago, Reiidar said:

I'm guessing it's probably for thesis writing since you would be able to work on it anywhere (but looking at my curriculum I only have my thesis for my 3rd and 4th year), another one would probably be online classes (doesn't make sense for me either since I could just do it at my dorm and having a PC in that case would be no different than a laptop, better even imo).

You can do those on less capable machines.

I was doing data wrangling and optimisation (random search, genetic algorithm, etc.) on a 4th gen i5 (2c/4t) just fine, and I am about to start writing my thesis on the same machine without worrying about hiccups.

11 minutes ago, Reiidar said:

Reading what you've said on the performance loss and compatibility with eGPU enclosures I'm strongly considering just getting both, although I'll go for no RGB and 16GB of ram (Can just upgrade later, same with storage) for just pure performance. I was planning on getting a 2700x + RTX 2070 but I suppose a 2600x would do just fine? There is ryzen 3rd gen coming soon but I don't think those new x570 boards are gonna be that affordable.

I would probably get a Lenovo Thinkpad/ X395 if it doesn't cost a ton and releases soon, otherwise the E490/E495 are good alternatives too. The E series does not have an excellent build quality like the X series, but is 50% cheaper. The E495 comes with the Ryzen 5 3500U or R7 3700U (both 4c/8t) while the E490 comes with different possible CPUs (from i3 to i7 depending on how much money you want to spend).

 

The 2600X is more than fine for everything. The 2700X starts to make more sense when you do a lot of streaming+gaming and/or a lot of CPU-heavy tasks.

 

What's your total budget more or less?

[Taintedmind]

External graphics cards have major deminishin returns, because USBs don't have the bandwidth or transfer speeds required to fully utilize your card.

Here's a YouTube video from Jayz Two Cents on the subject: