Looking for cheap eGPU solution for linux

[Kyoo]

Hello,

After many years looking at linux distros, I want make this my main operating system.
After trying Arch with Hyprland WM, I find my Nvidia GPU frustrating, drivers are not easy to work with, and some apps are running badly where I need to tweak some parameters / disable gpu acceleration.

So I was thinking of a solution and here what I might do :
- Buying a cheap m.2 to pci
- Find a cheap AMD card to run my DP monitor 3440*1440@165hz

And keep my 3080 on the PCI slot of my motherboard so I can use it in my windows VM.

Do you think it will work ?
I dont want to add another power supply so I need an adapter that doesn't require 16 pins connector.

Another thing, my mother board have only 2 nvme slot, one is used for my SSD, and the other one is free. But I'm not sure I can run them both with this setup :



The motherboard : MPG B550I GAMING EDGE WIFI

Can you help me to make if work ?

Thanks a lot
 

[Kyoo]

With the adapter and the gpu, I was looking under 200$. It's only for the Linux system, runing Arch + Hyprland, no games.
I was thinking of a card like the RX 580.

[jaslion]

6 minutes ago, Kyoo said:

With the adapter and the gpu, I was looking under 200$. It's only for the Linux system, runing Arch + Hyprland, no games.
I was thinking of a card like the RX 580.

Yeah so with a psu that isnt a dumpster fire not a lot of options

 

Also what board do you have?

[ki8aras]

15 minutes ago, Kyoo said:

he motherboard : MPG B550I GAMING EDGE WIFI

from one google search, im pretty sure your motherboard supports pcie bifurcation (meaning you can split a single pcie x16 slot to two pcie x8 slots)

[Kyoo]

5 minutes ago, jaslion said:

Yeah so with a psu that isnt a dumpster fire not a lot of options

 

Also what board do you have?

For my PSU i've a Fractal ION 850 W Gold
One of the with only one 12V PCIE used. And the main card will only run when I'm in my W11 VM. So I dont think it will be an issue.

 

 

4 minutes ago, ki8aras said:

from one google search, im pretty sure your motherboard supports pcie bifurcation (meaning you can split a single pcie x16 slot to two pcie x8 slots)

For a PCI splitter I dont know how to manage it in my little case. The m.2 to PCI was my option because I'll put the AMD GPU next to my PC

[ki8aras]

1 minute ago, Kyoo said:

For my PSU i've a Fractal ION 850 W Gold
One of the with only one 12V PCIE used. And the main card will only run when I'm in my W11 VM. So I dont think it will be an issue.

 

 

For a PCI splitter I dont know how to manage it in my little case. The m.2 to PCI was my option because I'll put the AMD GPU next to my PC

so you're planning on running both m.2 and pcie power cables outside your case?
i would advise against this as a permanent setup
get a bigger case, unless you consider cables running out of the side of the pc a better alternative

[Kyoo]

6 minutes ago, ki8aras said:

so you're planning on running both m.2 and pcie power cables outside your case?
i would advise against this as a permanent setup
get a bigger case, unless you consider cables running out of the side of the pc a better alternative

Yes that was the plan. I'll build an enclosure later.
I'm tight on my budget so buying another case is sadly not an option at the moment.

So this kind of adapter seems to be good enough ?

[jaslion]

3 minutes ago, Kyoo said:

Yes that was the plan. I'll build an enclosure later.
I'm tight on my budget so buying another case is sadly not an option at the moment.

So this kind of adapter seems to be good enough ?

Honestly it will all be up to your system allowing it. Just because it's a pcie interface doesn't mean it'll do  gpu.

 

All you can do is try really.

 

 

[BahnStormer]

What CPU do you have? Would a 5700G APU be an upgrade? That way you get onboard graphics for Linux