Laptop Gaming eGPU For Only $100? YES!
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 ก.พ. 2025
- Ugreen NASync Private Cloud Storage Solution
Ugreen NASync DXP4800 Plus kck.st/3x2s7I5
40% OFF on (Mar 26th 8：00 am PDT-28th 8：00 am PDT) :48Hours
40% OFF on (Mar 26th 11:00 am EDT-28th 11:00 am EDT)：48 Hours
Up to 35% OFF during Mar28-May 9
❤️ Support me on Patreon: / jasonwitmer
👕 Check out BIG DECK ENERGY MERCH: www.jasonwitme...
⭐ALL THE PRODUCTS FEATURED IN THIS VIDEO:⭐
► Cheap eGPU: s.click.aliexp...
► Cheap Laptop: ebay.us/QErFqY
► RTX 3060 TI: amzn.to/43CCaQa
► Power Supply : amzn.to/3PJ8Ly3
*Disclosure: I only recommend products I would use myself and all opinions expressed here are my own. This video may contain affiliate links that add no additional cost to you, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support!
Code with 25% off for SCDKEY Windows & Office key: Jason
▬Windows 10 Pro ($16): scdkey.com/sk/...
▬Windows 11 Pro ($23): scdkey.com/sk/...
This video was sponsored by UGREEN, meaning there was an exchange of money for a video featuring their service - but like all of my videos, this NEVER means a dishonest review. Every sponsor of the channel must agree to provide me 100% full creative control and to give my honest opinion about any product or service - if it sucks, I tell my audience it sucks, whether the company pays or not. UGREEN, the sponsor of this video, agreed to those terms before any deals were made. Thank you to UGREEN for allowing creators like me to speak our mind in this medium.
#gaminglaptop #egpu #externalgpu
Thank you very much for this experiment, and sharing your reasoning.
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for the support! 🙏
Happy to see people are still into this 👍
i just fried my nvidia gtx 1650 ti mobile
so yeah i'm buying a new epu now
its getting more popular lately with oculink since the handheld came into existence
@@machaiah3844 nice😂
@@machaiah3844 How did you fried it?
With the handhelds out now there's a clear reason why people want their device to be what it is and have a little boost here and there
I like EGPUs for sharing a GPU around a house, not everyone games at the same time and it makes sense to share the GPU.
That's an interesting use case! Very cool
I got an AIO for school. It's a good processor and ram but integrated graphics. Gonna use this as my solution
Even then, $300 Steam Deck for everyone
eGPU for couch-gaming together
u shouldn't be having kids if u cant afford to buy multiple GPUS lol
@@JohnDoe-cv8iw not everyone is from america.
and its good to have modular hardware option available.
me personally, i have a high end laptop with 20core cpu and decent gpu.
i cud buy a desktop no problem but i dont want to setup 2 machines for games.
just buy a 4090 and connect to laptop and all the peripherals and laptop becomes a desktop with a single thunderbolt cable.
and that single cable supports gpu, mice, keyboard, display out to monitors, etc. so its a instant switch from laptop mode to desktop for long sessions.
and also no need to download games multiple times on laptop and desktop.
A major problem you will have is the T480 only has x2 lanes dedicated to the Thunderbolt. Sad really. At least with the newer Lenovo is adding an Occulink port. And an Occulink dock is only $30-40
what is the port…m.2 or thunderbolt
@hareezbenjamin2085 thunderbolt 3 (with only 1 pcie lanes vs the 4 of higher-end tb3 or tb4)
@@s.omarnoor1380 There is no Thunderbolt 3 connection with just one lane. It's either a 2 or 4 lanes PCIe 3.0 connection depending on the used controller.
@@gauntr oh sorry I meant to write 2 mb (I said "lanes")
Which is a good Occulink dock and a compatible mini PC in the current market?? I don't want to buy an expensive mobile GPU( 4070 in a laptop 😭
funny enough I just saw this dock advertised to me and was curious how it would work and bam this video showed up in my recommended, great video!
That's actually not a bad deal. I have no need for one of these but I find them fascinating. Thanks for the vid. I would like to see the benchmarks without the igpu to compare with/without it.
To all my fellow broke gamers, there's hope ❤
Real, I found an empty pc case in a dumpster so I’m doing this to my laptop and making a switch style pc
For reall😂
Most broke gamers do not have laptops with TB3 ports.
@@mughug9616rill
@@mughug9616t480 ain't that expensive lil bud
Jason churning out the vids like a wildman!
Working my ass of for you bro ❤️
@@JasonWitmerYT Off*
Thé excitement in your voice >>>>> 🔥
tu est francophone ?
yes
Another great option OneDock EGPU.
The PSU can be a laptop charger intead of this whole block, if you value portability. (+ cleaner look)
It also support thunerbolt 4 and Occulink.
Which charger did you replace the brick with?
@@D1mj28 Slim Q 330w charger.
There are 450w and 600w chargers but for my need that was enough.
@@helmeston which dc converter would I have to get for it too fit?
That's good to know, my asus rog comes with a 350w AC charger :D
@@helmeston ?
This seems like a nice pairing with a handheld
yes if you wanted to drive an expensive monitor with a handheld.
I was thinking the very same thing I'd love to get a eGPU for my legion go
Look into portable external gpus. They're a thing now. Gpd makes one.
No idea this even existed but definitely was looking for something like it. Thank you!
You should use oculink, its cheap has better performance than Thunderbolt, only side effect is, you need to turn off your computer and then you plug your graphics card
I will double check, but I think the T480 only has x2 lanes for the M.2 and x2 for Thunderbolt. So minimal if any gains, and you will have trouble with storage because there is not a lot of choice. Maybe 2242 M.2 SATA is the only other option.
I needed this video
thanks!
dude i have a legion go, and a rx7600 pc desktop, and im moving out so i cant take the Desktop, so i was searching cheap solution as Egpu or selling the PC. and now i can use my GPU and PSU from my desktop to were i go until i build a new one
I currently have a laptop with a 3050TI on it. Solid CPU of i5 12500h. And might consider this kind of setup when the 50 or 60 series drop in the future if the GPU cant keep up anymore
Good information.. With the integrated GPU not being used, does that mean more thermal headroom is available to the CPU to reach higher sustained performance?
yeah i guess
turned out pretty good
Lookin pretty good
nice! perfect timing been looking for something to enhance my steam deck-desktop setup performance
TDP of the CPU is limiting the already weak CPU. Also the voltages are high for the frecuency. 3.5Ghz on 14NM+++ needs 0.980 mV.
I'd love to get a BeeLink mini pc and connect this up to it.
Maybe I could get a used 1060 6GB card and an SER5 mini pc.
The SER5 mini pc is around €330 or £280, the gpu is about €85 (including delivery) and the egpu is about €150. So for about €550 or €500 if you got the egpu cheaper, you could have a pretty kick ass little pc setup.
Just use the mini pc when you are just doing general web browing to save power but when you want to game just simply plug in the gpu and away you go.
How much power do you expect to save?
Thank you I have been dying for a solution like this you are the best instant subscribe spreading the word your channel is awesome
i have an Alienware Alpha R2 with the Graphics Amplifier eGPU and a GTX 1660 ti and its great. Alienware uses a proprietary connector which connects directly to the CPUs PCIe lanes so theres no performance loss or overhead like there is with Thunderbolt.
I have a Dell Precision M4800 and I want to do that, but I can't. I don't know where to buy the parts and how to find the appropriate graphics card. Can you tell me how you did that?
@@اناكندي your computer (Dell m4800) doesn't have thunderbolt ports or any M.2 PCIe slots so there is no way to connect an external GPU up to the computer. The only way to upgrade graphics on your particular model is to swap out the internal GPU which is a special kind of card called an MXM type-A add-in card. according to dell, the 3 GPU cards compatible with your computer are the AMD FirePro M5100, NVIDIA Quadro K1100M and NVIDIA Quadro K2100M.
@@اناكندي My personal advice is don't even bother trying to upgrade that computer. Its a laptop with 11 year old hardware. i recommend that you continue using it for now until you are able to afford a replacement. its 2024 and its time to buy a new laptop.
@@nickhowatson4745 I will install a graphics card on it so that it becomes stronger, as you did, but I do not know the method and the appropriate graphics card.
@@اناكندي your computer (Dell m4800) doesn't have thunderbolt ports or any M.2 PCIe slots so there is no way to connect an external GPU up to the computer. The only way to upgrade graphics on your particular model is to swap out the internal GPU which is a special kind of card called an MXM type-A add-in card. according to dell, the 3 GPU cards compatible with your computer are the AMD FirePro M5100, NVIDIA Quadro K1100M and NVIDIA Quadro K2100M.
I definitely need to try this next month my laptop is fairly okay it runs games but there's quite a bit fps drops cause it runs a geforce 740 on newer games. I really can't afford a new gaming laptop.
eGPU enclosure: 100$
GPU: at least 300$
Power supply: 50$
That's 450$ for a cumbersome setup, and doesnt even include a laptop. For 800$ you can buy a decent gaming laptop from Asus or MSI.
But still, I think it's great if you have all the spare parts lying around or maybe to game on your work computer...
Upgradability 0,
It's about the upgradeability and not to mention laptop GPUs are no match for desktop GPU, despite the same names. In the future you can buy a desktop and reuse the GPU or replace the old laptop or upgrade the GPU, in the end it opens up a lot of options without too much investment later on.
its for those who bought stylish laptop w no gpu and want to play games at home, instead of buy another pc
Except laptop gpus are not equivalent to their desktop alternatives. But this setup makes the most sense if you already have a laptop. It could be quite handy though, someone might prefer 14 in laptops which is almost unheard of in the gaming side.
But at least $300 for a graphics card? I got some decent performance with my old 1070 ti which is now ≈ $100 on ebay.
I have an eGPU and use it for a few devices as a GPU boost. Older laptop docks into 4 screens, Legion Go has a boost in performance. Even an Asus or MSI gaming laptop you have mentioned can also be boosted if they have USB4/TB3/4 ports. So basically it provides scalability. Plenty of Razer Core X are available for second hand for $US80 (comes with a PSU and TB cable). The GPU you purchase to use in an eGPU can always be sold and upgraded. If you have to purchase all this new then agree and not worth it.
Hi Jason. Nice video. I personally am no expert on the computers and gpus, but I am in the market for a laptop and have spent over a week of intense online searching and educating about processors, gpus, tdp and what not. I do not understand the exact objective scope because even benchmarking doesn't answer my questions, but I get a general idea that modern premium laptops are getting high on processor power and some are completely omitting discrete gpus. I am not a gamer or creator, my specific desire is to have a laptop that can do heavy Power BI workloads, and other data visualizations easily. No specific examples of it out there, just reviewers saying "this laptop will be good at productivity". And that lead me to eventually realize there is an add on for demanding situations, which you unplug once work is done and go about normal lap-topping.
Just got an AIO for school with a good processor and 32GB ram. Only problem is it's running integrated graphics. Thinking about getting one of these to add to it
Thank you . I don't have to built a new computer to edit my videos and school work.
i see Jason vid, i click (I have exams tomorrow)
Can you make a video of your experience after 1 months use,and impact on pc
So you're reviewing a dock. Not an egpu. Got it.
Which is a very important part of egpu that most people seemed to not talk abojt. If you want the performance drop data, its available basically everywhere. Up to 25% decrease, partially mitigated by using external display.
I bet you're fun at parties.
@@sleestack801y’all are such assholes
Because it's the actual hardware you need to have an eGPU bruh
Eyoo chill @@anywindo
You were just gonna say "good" then proceeded to correct yourself to "pretty good" 😂
At the time of this comment I just got a really good deal from Microcenter on a 12600kf, an MSI Pro Z790-P Wifi DDR4, 16 gigs 3200 memory for $250- bought individually I priced it at between 400-500. Pretty sure they still have the deal going on. If you need a cheap good gaming build that's what I'd be looking at. The wifi on this board is really good too.
this sounds great for xmas when i go to my parents and can only bring a laptop. can just pop your gpu and a psu and away you go!
Would be interested in trying something like this with one of the new dual screen laptops (that are internal graphics only). Could use the dual screen at work, keep your egpu setup with dock at home and rock n roll with best of both worlds.
This works very well with all the 2018 Mac Minis out there. They have 8th Gen multi-core i3s, i5s, and i7s. Their downside is Intel integrated graphics. In fact, until the M1 Macs, they were the system of choice for many video editors. As you mentioned early in your video, the cost of eGPUs has been historically high. This $100 option brings that into the realm of usability.
Will it work with my mid 2017 iMac Intel i7 7700 running Sequoia via Open Core Legacy Patcher and of course with an AMD RX 580 GPU?
TB3 only has less than 25Gbps to fully utilize the 3060ti that you have. You should mod it so that it has oculink and it’s amazing
Thunderbolt 5 will be the saving grace for eGPUs. TB3/4 still has too much of a performance hit because of the bandwidth limitations of TB3/4 and the requirements of higher-tier modern GPUs.
I love how he said the standalone plug-and-play boxes start around $300 but once you've bought the egpu dock, the RTX card, and the power supply you're up to about $350 anyway. XD
Ok, then add $300 to it if you buy the standalone box. Then you're up to $600. Hope that clears it up
Congratulations on the nas sponsor bro! Btw I'm about to be filming my first PC build! Laptop just couldn't keep up with video editing you know how it goes as a fellow creator!
Just FYI. You can split the 24 pin and 8 pin and run 2 GPUs with one PSU with those setups.
I prioritised a small and light laptop so decided to leave out the GPU. Then I got a meta quest and realised I couldn’t run any PCVR 😢. So for me this is an acceptable alternative IF it’s cheap enough.
OMG I have the ThinkPad P53 and 3060Ti myself and I will be out of home in a small 1 room apartment for 3-4 months. This video is made for me I want to simply use my 3060Ti since I won´t be home anyways and take it with me to play games.
Unfortunately I can´t use an external monitor due to space conditions.
Well, I guess I've found my next "litte brother" gaming pc.
This is interesting and fun to test out. I have a gaming desktop and laptop, but i also have extra gpus and pc parts...so for 100$ totally worth it to try... definitely will pic this up
I learn my laptop don't got thunderbolt time to go watch your usb version now
A test that would be really good, don't know if you have already done it would be one of these and something like a Legion Go and then various GPU's to find the sweet spot of what the Z1e can run since that's a pretty populate APU at the moment.
I just wish there's an alternative solution where the GPU and the power supply are housed together neatly and have the same size as a minicomputer. So, for example, if it's the 3060 Ti desktop version, then it's just the GPU and maybe a single high-quality slim fan to cool it. The dedicated PSU or power brick is then designed to draw enough power for the 3060 Ti and that's it. Yes, you can't switch GPUs and PSUs if you want to, but I'm okay with that as long as it's lighter and smaller in contrast to the conventional setup.
The solution in the video is great as it does give you options, like which graphics card and PSU to pair together, but tbh is a little bit bulky and carrying all that weight if you decide to play somewhere else is going to be a hassle.
Most eGPUs are designed how you’re speaking - but they are 3x-5x the price - some do included the GPU though
They cost nearly the same as RTX 4080 level cards, and don't come with GPU, meaning you have to invest a ton of money, it becomes a very niche category, where very rich people need to use their laptops for gaming/ productivity. But these people still have the option to buy another desktop, so the market for those is nearly zero. The only way for egpu to become popular is if the dock is cheap. There are some egpu like onexgpu which come in smaller form factor but it has no upgrade ability and you are stuck with the GPU they come with.
Think the ideal usecase for the eGPU is handhelds ... I have just bought the Lenovo Go, and like the form factor and am thinking of retiring my gaming desktop, pulling out the 2070super and doing this. I assume the AMD Extreme is a much more capable CPU than the i5.
The Go is a pretty decent setup, and I was starting to move away from gaming...3 days in, and its been a bit of a reset for me. Started buying some indie games, in-between PC, Console, and Mobile phone games. Early days but the more flexible form factor is interesting.
Literally my laptop except mine had 16gb + 1tb storage. I think a cooling pad or leaving the lid open ( screen off) might help to stabilize the lows. Although the bottleneck is inevitable thunderbolt 3 has an x4 lanes for the PCIe at 5 Gbps vs a desktop X16 or x32, ~20-30% hit vs a desktop but hey it can run Crysis!
i thinking about eGPU setup:
m.2 to oculink (cable with socket) $15
oculink cable $15
pcie slot for gpu with oculink socket $15
power supply. i have one or may buy used in smaller form factor < $50
GPU. have RX580 or may buy some used for $100
enclosure $20+
Thank you so much, this video answered all of my questions and had almost the same circumstances I would do this in
Its not "only $100" if you need to get a GPU and PSU which are at least additional $150 if you really want an upgrade for your laptop
Why stop there? You also need electricity, a table, and arms to get this to work. I should have included those in the title too, sorry.
CAN THIS BE APPLICABLE FOR LENOVO IDEAPAD 3 1255-U 16GB RAM
When you're getting CPU bottleneck that's when it's time to turn the graphics where the resolution up, definitely pretty good!
I'm running a Lenovo legion go on Windows 10 I just got an atd UT3G, hoping I won't have a tough time hooking up a 3080 or 4070 TI to it
This is a good setup for doing AI LLM or vr game development on the go. egpu with thunderbolt 3/4.
I guess that’s not bad considering you’re using thunderbolt 3 and not 4. 🤷♂️ Just purchased one for my mini PC.
if you unpluged this would your computer go to the default drivers automatically or do you have to do it manually?
Any ideas for a case option for this? Awesome video btw! Subscribed
Should I get this and pair it with my Lenovo Legion Go on a monitor?
P.S. I already have a spare 2070 Super to hook it in. I wanna play Hogwarts Legacy and Horizon Forbidden West at higher frame rates. Would this setup work smoothly?
Yep, would work perfect for that!
Nice finally found this video, why you didn't link this video for your updated none thunderbolt version?
Thank you so much for this review. I'm keeping an eye on this product on Aliexpress for couple weeks Now. I've a Maxed Out Macbook with i9 and 64gb of Ram, Since I use a lot of 3d programs I'm evaluating an Nvidia Gpu to work on Bootcamp. Does this Enclosure support Power Delivery on the TB3 port?
I don’t believe it does,and it doesn’t work with MacOS unfortunately :(
But you can message the seller directly and they will have more thorough answer
very inticing, i'll look more into this, might be a solution for my needs :D
What about laptops without thunderbolt ports? Many look for female thunderbolt to USB male adapters but they either do not exist or are only sold through the black market.
That would not work. The cable won’t solve the problem. If the type c port on your laptop isn’t labeled thunderbolt then the port isn’t capable of accepting enough data to handle an external GPU. The only other port on an “older” laptop capable would be the m.2 slot - but that’s a different adapter and is too jank because you need to have your laptop lid off to use it lol but it’s a cheaper option than this
@@JasonWitmerYT Your response is very helpful. Thanks 👍
Would not game streaming be a better option? With old 8th and 9th gen i5 and i7 desktops available for "peanuts" one of those could be hidden away somewhere in the house and give better performance for a similar price to an eGPU. And with streaming over the internet it would even be more portable.
It's certainely an option for people with decent internet connections, don't mind a monthly sub, and who don't mind cloud gaming.
This is a great video Buddy
Thanks! Just trying some new stuff lately
Would having an external colling cpu system be better for a 24/7 gaming laptop ? or do gaming laptops get hot ? I love this idea for having the option to not use so much power for glamping/solar setup.
I'm thinking on buying this, I just bought a MSI Claw it has a Thunderbolt 4, and I have a 4070 on my PC, I could use it when I go travel.
Perfect use case!
Bro this video came like a miracle since i have the same laptop 😅
Finally, someone who tests a normal midrange eGPU
Am I really about to take my GPU out of my desktop for travel
Can you run ollama using CUDA with this setup?
I love to see the boosts old laptops get for these upgrades
The $100 doesn't include the graphics card, right?
I own a T480s and I am considering this setup with rtx 3060 12gb. Can you please share your experience of using generative ai software like stable diffusion and share it with us?
The reason why I am asking this is because I'm into this stuff and wanna know if my laptop (same specs like yours) can actually do stuff like this.
Thanks in advance brother. ❤
Have a Dell precision 7730 which its GPU is equivalent to a GTX 1060. But I definitely need more power for games like cities skylines.
I own a zephyrus duo rtx3080 ryzen 9. But I only have 8gb on my videocard. Would an e-gpu be able to upgrade my gpu memory? Thanks
It wouldn't be able to "upgrade" your gpu memory exactly, it would entirely replace the 3080 in your laptop while its plugged in. So if you plug in an RTX 4090 or something, the 3080, and its 8 gigs of vram in your laptop would stop being utilized (basically turn off), and the 4090 and its 24 gb of vram would take over. Then once you unplug it, it goes back to the standard 3080 in your machine. Hope that helps!
@@JasonWitmerYT but is my laptop compatible with an E-GPU?
If it has a thunderbolt 3/4 port, it is.
Are there any solutions if you don’t have a thunderbolt connection to your mini pc?
Yes, you need nvme access. Checkout my other egpu video on how it works
@@JasonWitmerYT ok thank you!
Why the eGPU's fan doesn't work though?
They do. They turn on when temps get high
@JasonWitmerYT I wanna use Intel arc b580 since I can't get anything like it for it's price my question is is it compilable with eGPU functionality?
What so you recommend for affordable gaming laptop with a decent gpu
Now I need a laptop with thunderbolt port....
How is it for using gpus to render video like Sony Vegas? Does it not perform as well? Would be another interesting test to see the results for and if its worth it as some sort of alternative upgrade.
Hey mate I hope you're doing well. Thanks for the video! I have Inspiron 15 5510 core i5 which has USB C but not a Thunderbolt port. However, my laptop is equipped with built-in Thunderbolt software; thunderbolt 4 (9A1B). I was wondering if your setup will work on my system?
Unfortunately, it looks like that software is only there because the i7 version of that laptop comes with a thunderbolt port, but the i5 does not - so it will not work. sorry about that!
@@JasonWitmerYT Cheers mate! It's best to know the outcome before spending 200 quid :) have a good one
Older lapotps dont have thunderbolt 3
I want one of these simply to run 4 4k monitors for work
Pretty good results :)
just a quick question, can we use a Thunderbolt connector if i dont have an integrated thunderbolt to my laptop?
If your laptop doesn't have a thunderbolt port, it wont work.
do you need an external monitor in order to have the external GPU? or can you run the game on the laptop screen?
Yes external tv or monitor is needed
u can use the laptop screen but u lose some performance
you can use the laptop's screen but expect a performance hit due to the TB cable's bandwidth since data is looping from the laptop to the egpu then back to the laptop
😭😭bro the “pretty good” counter , I love this
I run ai art on my 3080ti all day which uses 70-100% of the gpu so I was thinking about running this setup with my old 2080ti on a laptop for gaming.
How much does the Thunderbolt port on the laptop cost as most laptops that would benefit from this do not come with one?
Now, what laptop would be a good option for an eGPU setup with an RX 570 4GB? Does anyone have good recommendations.
I know for a PC the hdmi or display port cables should be connected to the GPU but is that the same in this case for the laptop with eGPU if using another monitor?
Yes, plug hdmi directly into graphics card for best results 👌
I have a NUC with a 1165 and still my older 580.
I think this could be fun.
Is it looking good tho?
So what exactly do you need to buy again apart from the egpu enclosure and the graphics card itself? New to egpus
Just a power supply and you should be good to go
The CPU cores were at 88-99°c that is maxed out.
I laughed when he said "unlock desktop performance."
Yeahhhh not really. Laptop cpus, even the high end ones, while better than the GPUs are not exactly desktop performance either
Cqn you use thunderbolt adapter if you don’t have the slot?
Unfortunately not
Calling the i5 crap is whack, it was a really solid CPU and can still handle a lot of games today fine.
In reality, CPUs haven't been the bottleneck for games for a long time unless you're trying to play in super high resolutions.
Could I theoretically use a higher wattage power supply (850watt) and the 3060TI on this with my dell latitude 5330 and external monitors (It has 2 thunderbolt4 ports)? Because these are parts I was already planning on buying down the road for a desktop PC build I'm saving up for.
Of course, a higher wattage power supply wouldnt hurt anything :)