external gpu related help

[Armundas]

Hello, I'm in the process of setting up an eGPU for my Lenovo ThinkPad L480 and could use some guidance. I'm looking for compatible parts and step-by-step instructions to ensure a smooth setup. Any assistance or recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!"

 

 

 

 

 

[AbydosOne]

1 hour ago, Armundas said:

Hello, I'm in the process of setting up an eGPU for my Lenovo ThinkPad L480 and could use some guidance. I'm looking for compatible parts and step-by-step instructions to ensure a smooth setup. Any assistance or recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!"

If your laptop has Thunderbolt of some flavor, buy a Thunderbolt GPU enclosure and test it.

 

If your laptop doesn't have Thunderbolt, don't bother. No one will be able to guarantee it will work (or work well/stable), it defeats the purpose of a laptop (portability), and it's expensive besides. Buy a used office PC and a GPU if you really must have a GPU in a system.

[jaslion]

Doesnt have thunderbolt so basically no

 

 

Even then it will be more expensive to get a gpu enclosure than literally a 100$ used faster office pc and a gpu in there which will be better

[Agall]

1 hour ago, Armundas said:

Hello, I'm in the process of setting up an eGPU for my Lenovo ThinkPad L480 and could use some guidance. I'm looking for compatible parts and step-by-step instructions to ensure a smooth setup. Any assistance or recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!"

 

 

 

 

 

I wouldn't recommend it either way, even if its a Thunderbolt eGPU. I spent a year daily driving one between 2016-2017 and testing it again in 2020 for several months using a Razer Core. There's a perceivable (measured using Overwatch1) 50ms extra input latency, even when using a display direct attached to the eGPU.

 

You can also run into the problem of an ultrabook not being designed to run the CPU at high usage for hours at a time, or in one case with the Lenovo ultrabook I tested in 2020, the heat from the CPU eventually causing the battery to overheat and shutdown the system (took 8-9 hours of straight gaming to do so).

 

The other solutions however are good, like Alienware's proprietary PCIe connection, or Asus'. Those first party solutions that use specialty connectors at least don't cripple themselves with latency, still not perfect.

 

The reality is the cost to buy an eGPU setup (excluding the GPU), you could probably get an i3 12100f rig and use that instead and get similar if not better performance. The good eGPU solutions aren't cheap.

[Armundas]

On 8/18/2023 at 3:04 PM, AbydosOne said:

If your laptop has Thunderbolt of some flavor, buy a Thunderbolt GPU enclosure and test it.

 

If your laptop doesn't have Thunderbolt, don't bother. No one will be able to guarantee it will work (or work well/stable), it defeats the purpose of a laptop (portability), and it's expensive besides. Buy a used office PC and a GPU if you really must have a GPU in a system.

i do not care about the portability due to that i have multiple laptops and i dont want to buy a new pc and i dont have a thunderbolt port soo im thinking i could connect a EGPU using an m.2 slot

 

 

128GB M.2 SSD / PCIe NVMe, PCIe 3.0 x 2, 16Gb/s,

in WWAN slot as 2nd Storage, mutually exclusive with WWAN.

 

The wwan m.2 slot is in the top right