eGPU still worth?

[AlfaProto]

Disclaimer: I'm not sure of where to put this, since it's laptop + eGPU, but I've decided to put on GPU.

Okay, here's the story, I'm currently in university, studying, and few months down the road, I'll be studying abroad (mandatory, for 3 weeks).

 

However, my laptop, which is the Lenovo Ideapad Flex 5i, 14iau7, has Iris Xe graphics, which meh, HOWEVER, it does have a Thunderbolt 4 port (data+charging).

 

Now with Iris Xe lacking, unable to play Valorant or Overwatch, I was thinking maybe, find a used eGPU (best if it is ONLY enclosure)?

 

I managed to find a used eGPU enclosure ONLY from Gigabyte, it fits ITX size GPU, it requires Thunderbolt 3. I do have a low profile GTX 1050 Ti also from Gigabyte, so I can plop that in?

 

Is eGPU worth, or that combo seems find just for 3 weeks?

[Jurrunio]

An eGPU enclosure is going to eat into what performance advantage the 1050ti has, so I can't answer without knowing how much that enclosure costs you.

[AlfaProto]

21 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

An eGPU enclosure is going to eat into what performance advantage the 1050ti has, so I can't answer without knowing how much that enclosure costs you.

It's a used enclosure only, like US$140.

Merely wanting to get at least 60fps. The Iris Xe, can't manage it, and stutters.

[Timme]

11 minutes ago, AlfaProto said:

It's a used enclosure only, like US$140.

Merely wanting to get at least 60fps. The Iris Xe, can't manage it, and stutters.

If you already have a GPU and can spare $$ for an enclosure, I don't see any reason not to pull the trigger. Even with a performance hit of an enclosure, you still get 30-40% boost.

[Somerandomtechyboi]

1 hour ago, AlfaProto said:

However, my laptop, which is the Lenovo Ideapad Flex 5i, 14iau7, has Iris Xe graphics, which meh, HOWEVER, it does have a Thunderbolt 4 port (data+charging).

yeah should have gone amd but oh well far too late to get a 760m/780m with 1050 levels of performance and no egpu required, probably matches the 1050ti considering its in an egpu enclosure

 

140$ doesnt sound too bad though so if you dont mind lugging an egpu around then go for it and once you are done you can resell it again anyways for a similar price

[Jurrunio]

1 hour ago, AlfaProto said:

It's a used enclosure only, like US$140.

Merely wanting to get at least 60fps. The Iris Xe, can't manage it, and stutters.

 

 

Now that I look into it, seems like your laptop is underperforming? not even 2/3 the fps. Graphics settings turned up too high? Laptop isn't running dual channel memory? 

[AlfaProto]

9 hours ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

yeah should have gone amd but oh well far too late to get a 760m/780m with 1050 levels of performance and no egpu required, probably matches the 1050ti considering its in an egpu enclosure

 

140$ doesnt sound too bad though so if you dont mind lugging an egpu around then go for it and once you are done you can resell it again anyways for a similar price

Yeah, already encountered few OLD university apps which doesn't even load up with AMD. With that said, the P & E cores did not fare well, managed to launch, but it fails to use the E-cores, and it's super slow, 2 P-Cores, even a decent boost on plug. My classmates with older 10th or 11th gen OR even 8th gen Core i series, has ZERO problems running those apps, and quite fast.

Few users got heated during a debate with me when I asked whether I should go with 2-in-1 over traditional laptop for school--with logical reasoning for Intel over AMD. If this were personal laptop carrying around for gaming, I don't mind getting AMD, plus, I'm committing 3 years.

Oh, those classmates with the M-series silicon, welp, they are pretty much DOA & SOL (and no, they aren't using Parallels), unless they are using Intel.

Yeah the eGPU will be at the dorm, instead of lugging around the campus.

 

8 hours ago, Jurrunio said:

Now that I look into it, seems like your laptop is underperforming? not even 2/3 the fps. Graphics settings turned up too high? Laptop isn't running dual channel memory? 

Mine is the i7-1255U, with soldered 4.267 GT/s DDR4.

No, it's the lowest 1280x860 (5:4)(?) and low settings in Valorant, it gets 120 fps, but, YUCK, the stuttering when initial shoot, effects. Even updated the graphics driver does almost nothing.

Overwatch 2, I have yet to check.

[Jurrunio]

21 minutes ago, AlfaProto said:

but it fails to use the E-cores, and it's super slow, 2 P-Cores,

32 bit only software meant to be used 1 or 2 years before getting replaced properly end up getting used for decades with no signs of retirement, I've used a few in my courses too

[Somerandomtechyboi]

1 minute ago, Jurrunio said:

32 bit only software meant for 1 or 2 years before getting replaced properly end up getting used for decades with no signs of retirement, I've used a few in my courses too

I hope this isnt a thing with IT cause when i do get into college next year ill be picking something IT hardware related maybe software related depending on how things go

 

Oh well theres a myriad of ancient intel thinkpads going for well below 100$ these days and im currently using one (3rd gen x230, yet to mem oc it cause lazy and need voltmods to get decent freq) that only needs a battery replacement which is pretty easy since the battery is removable

 

not gonna go intel with any recent gen laptop unless its lunarlake cause all the others suck especially pre 12th gen that gets matched by a ryzen 3 of all things and thatll take a few years to come down in price, heck if i scrounge up the cash id rather just build my own portable battery powered desktop

[AlfaProto]

11 hours ago, Jurrunio said:

32 bit only software meant to be used 1 or 2 years before getting replaced properly end up getting used for decades with no signs of retirement, I've used a few in my courses too

From what I gathered:

Old apps:
- Windows 98/2000 icon style
- UI has boxy buttons

-> E.g. Knob and the range markers are drawn via 2D, thus look jag.

Likely, driver(s) get updated, but the software get left out.

New apps:
- Same icon style OR slightly better render
- UI less boxy, much clean, bigger icons and stuff
-> E.g. Knob and the range markers appeared to be bitmap.