eGPU vs.Desktop?

[Ryno04]

I have a 2019 Razer Blade Stealth with a 10th Gen Intel Core i7 Ice Lake processor with a GTX 1650 Max - Q, it's a beast considering they shoved a GPU in here. However it is limited, I want more POWER. I can buy an eGPU enclosure along with a graphics card for about 500 - 800 USD or should I use that same money to just build a decent gaming rig? Thoughts?

[MartinKweh]

Just buy a new pc. You can get more performance at that price point. Using egpu will use(if the laptop supports it) the thunderbolt port. At that point it could be okay or slower depending on the type of thunderbolt port you have so going for a full rig is better.

[Zando_]

IDK what Razer's implementation of Thunderbolt 3 is like, but going off Apple's: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/metal/gpu_selection_in_macos/understanding_gpu_bandwidth



Thunderbolt 3 is 1/2 the bandwidth of PCIe 3.0 x8, or 1/4 that of x16. So basically on par with PCIe 3.0 x4. So any card that would get bottlenecked by PCIe 3.0 x4 will be choked by Thunderbolt too, any card under that bandwidth requirement will be fine. From other articles I've seen it looks to be an 8-20% performance hit on something like a 980 Ti or above (lowest at 4K, highest hit at 1080p). 

[Fuzzyy]

Having 2 different systems is always an advantage imo. If I were you, I would build a system with ryzen 5 3600 + 1660super and have much more performance, and it is less than $800. If you can find any 3300x on market get it and try squeezing in RTX 2060 in this system:

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor	$166.89 @ Walmart
Motherboard	Gigabyte B450 AORUS ELITE ATX AM4 Motherboard	$109.99 @ Best Buy
Memory	Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory	$73.98 @ Amazon
Storage	Western Digital Blue 500 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$64.98 @ Amazon
Video Card	Asus GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER 6 GB TUF GAMING OC Video Card	$229.99 @ Best Buy
Case	NZXT H510 ATX Mid Tower Case	$69.99 @ Best Buy
Power Supply	EVGA BR 500 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply	$65.81 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$781.63
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-06-05 13:08 EDT-0400

 

[Lord Vile]

47 minutes ago, Descorator said:

Having 2 different systems is always an advantage imo. If I were you, I would build a system with ryzen 5 3600 + 1660super and have much more performance, and it is less than $800. If you can find any 3300x on market get it and try squeezing in RTX 2060 in this system:

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor	$166.89 @ Walmart
Motherboard	Gigabyte B450 AORUS ELITE ATX AM4 Motherboard	$109.99 @ Best Buy
Memory	Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory	$73.98 @ Amazon
Storage	Western Digital Blue 500 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$64.98 @ Amazon
Video Card	Asus GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER 6 GB TUF GAMING OC Video Card	$229.99 @ Best Buy
Case	NZXT H510 ATX Mid Tower Case	$69.99 @ Best Buy
Power Supply	EVGA BR 500 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply	$65.81 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$781.63
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-06-05 13:08 EDT-0400

 

If you go used on the GPU you could probably get a Vega 56 or 64 in there. Would also wait and get a B550 board if you want to do any upgrading. 

[Ryno04]

Thanks everyone y'all make good points about building a rig, if the economy picks back up again I'm going to build a rig for sure!