External GPU Box as internal gpu

[MorelyiaGames]

Ive been wondering how good of an option a 1080 ti external gaming box would be for a pc build, i have been trying to build a pc for a few months and everytime the prices for gpu's are starting to settle they shoot back up again. Is there much performance loss i with an external gpu box vs an actual internal graphics card?

 

Also I have been trying to find an answer to this but found no answers anywhere, but is it possible to take the card out of the box and plug it in the PCIe like a regular card?

 

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[bleedblue]

Unless I'm mistaken, GPU boxes have actual GPUs inside them that you also have to buy separately.

[Cooloff]

Not many GPU enclosures come with a GPU inside, and if they do 99% of the time you'll be paying more for the card AND the price of the enclosure.

There are also significant performance hits versus simply installing a GPU in your machine.

[kameshss]

External boxes like the one from Razer and Aorus comes with boxes only. They do not have GPUs inside. You have to buy a new desktop GPU and plug it inside for it to work. And they use Thunderbolt 3 connection which many of even latest motherboard doesn't have unless I'm wrong. Only by adding PCIe add-ons you can have Thunderbolt 3 option. Though, they're limited to use PCIe x4 lanes which is not enough for most of the GPUs. The idea you're thinking is super waste. You better off getting a GPU and plugging into your machine and call it a day.

[Jurrunio]

External graphics box are pretty much "Box + power supply + Thunderbolt 3 to PCIe adapter + desktop graphics card".

Using thunderbolt 3 is a dumb idea for gaming because the lack of sufficient bandwidth hurts performance.

 

If you are talking about buying box + graphics card bundle and then install the card onto the motherboard of the desktop, then it could be a good choice since these bundles are usually cheaper than the insane prices for the cards alone nowadays. The only thing to note is that some of these external graphics boxes use short cards with 1 fan, so cooling is sacrificed.

[RuZoG]

Depending on the box or build your own box they can be based on anything that converts or connects via PCIe ultimately. Options and performance differences range depending on bus. I've done eGPU's on the following busses: mPCie (think wifi adapter, etc..). Which operates on PCIe 1x, M.2  which is a 4x lane, Thunderbolt2, & Thunderbolt3. On the poorest performing bus mPCIe you can expect a 20% - 30% performance hit compared to a direct in PCIe slot in your system case. WIth Thinderbolt 2 it %20 - 25% and Thunderbolt 3 and M.2 its about 20%. 

 

Hope this helps. There are vendors that sell modified Akitio kits in a case with a 1070 or 1080 and you can expect to pay a decent chunk of change for them though.

[Damascus]

37 minutes ago, kameshss said:

Aorus

Actually the aorus box is the only one that comes with a gpu installed.

[Damascus]

@MorelyiaGames If a 1080 ti aorus box sells for significantly ($100+) less you get It, take out the gpu and mount it directly into the pc via pcie x16.

 

Throw on an accelero aftermarket cooler and you are good to go.

[Turtlesaurusrex25]

Yes there is a performance difference. It's effectively running your graphics card in a 4X PCIE slot. I'm planning to do the same for my laptop. Aorus sells a box bundled with a GTX 1070 and one with a GTX 1080 for $600 and $700 respectively. It is usually cheaper than buying a GPU and an enclosure separately, but they have been hard to find at MSRP recently.