Graphic Cards EGPU solution

the_superior_0ne

the_superior_0ne

Novice
Does anyone here have any experience setting up their own laptop or mini pc egpu solution like the exp gdc beast or the oculink setup. If so could you share your build in the discussion and what challenges you faced.
 
Considering prices, you would be better off having a desktop at home. eGPU enclosure itself costs like 20k at the minimum, but realistically much more. My old laptop is alienware m15 (R1), so I did research a bit about it & gave up.
 
the_superior_0ne said:
Does anyone here have any experience setting up their own laptop or mini pc egpu solution like the exp gdc beast or the oculink setup. If so could you share your build in the discussion and what challenges you faced.
Click to expand...
I have setup exp GDC beast with the mPCIE connector a few years ago. Worked well but the backplate of the laptop is always open.
Now we have graceful options where we can connect the eGPU to the Laptop or MiniPC through TB4/Oculink port without removing the backplate.
I am currently trying to build a cheap Oculink eGPU setup using this kit which costs Rs 7k but still have to receive it. Have a spare psu and GPU and a minipc with Oculink port. You can see these setups at ETA prime youtube channel.

Now, If this works then I will try to add the oculink port in one of the M.2 port (need to have two M.2 ports in the laptop in question) but this is in the future.

Oculink is more bandwidth and you get the full gpu perf compared to TB3/4 and cheaper too (atleast in the DIY route)
In the future I will try to acquire OcuP4V2 or Minisforum DEG1 as right now they are not available in India.
As far as non-DYI Oculink setups (which would be expensive just like TB3/4 enclosures) are concerned like GPD G1 or oneXGPU, I know a seller who imports CKDs and can get you one but I'm mostly interested in the DIY route.
What is your research on this until now?
 
OMEGA44-XT said:
Considering prices, you would be better off having a desktop at home. eGPU enclosure itself costs like 20k at the minimum, but realistically much more. My old laptop is alienware m15 (R1), so I did research a bit about it & gave up.
Click to expand...
They also need Thunderbolt port for better connectivity, right?
 
OMEGA44-XT said:
Considering prices, you would be better off having a desktop at home. eGPU enclosure itself costs like 20k at the minimum, but realistically much more. My old laptop is alienware m15 (R1), so I did research a bit about it & gave up.
Click to expand...
Egpu enclosures like from the big manufacturers like razor are sure expensive and rare to see. But the latest oculink diy setup looks promising and is so much more affordable than the enclosures present in the market. From what I have gathered is that they also perform almost on par with the thunderbolt setup and can make use of the TB3 and 4 ports if you don't want to go through the pcie route.


The reason I'm so interested in the idea of egpu is longevity for me. Since "gaming laptops" have bad thermal management at least in the low end - mid end range (Heard a lot stories of the chips frying themselves over time usually in the span of 2-3 years).

Also upgradibilty is big plus since most games still depend more on gpu than on the cpu so you can always swap out the gpu for a better one down the line.

Also I agree to your point of desktops being the right way to go and will always provide better value for money for a single point setup. This does not follow where one has already invested in one or more than laptops.
 
the_superior_0ne said:
Egpu enclosures like from the big manufacturers like razor are sure expensive and rare to see. But the latest oculink diy setup looks promising and is so much more affordable than the enclosures present in the market. From what I have gathered is that they also perform almost on par with the thunderbolt setup and can make use of the TB3 and 4 ports if you don't want to go through the pcie route.


The reason I'm so interested in the idea of egpu is longevity for me. Since "gaming laptops" have bad thermal management at least in the low end - mid end range (Heard a lot stories of the chips frying themselves over time usually in the span of 2-3 years).

Also upgradibilty is big plus since most games still depend more on gpu than on the cpu so you can always swap out the gpu for a better one down the line.

Also I agree to your point of desktops being the right way to go and will always provide better value for money for a single point setup. This does not follow where one has already invested in one or more than laptops.
Click to expand...
Actually, oculink can provide 64 gbps bandwidth which is double than that of TB3/4. (oculink boardneeds to PCIE 4.0 for that)
I am also attracted to eGPU because I want the discrete GPU to be separate for reduced noise, heat and weight.
TB3/4 being proprietary requiring special chip but oculink being a open standard make the oculink cheaper. (assuming some DIY is not a problem)
 
theagilecoder said:
I have setup exp GDC beast with the mPCIE connector a few years ago. Worked well but the backplate of the laptop is always open.
Now we have graceful options where we can connect the eGPU to the Laptop or MiniPC through TB4/Oculink port without removing the backplate.
I am currently trying to build a cheap Oculink eGPU setup using this kit which costs Rs 7k but still have to receive it. Have a spare psu and GPU and a minipc with Oculink port. You can see these setups at ETA prime youtube channel.

Now, If this works then I will try to add the oculink port in one of the M.2 port (need to have two M.2 ports in the laptop in question) but this is in the future.

Oculink is more bandwidth and you get the full gpu perf compared to TB3/4 and cheaper too (atleast in the DIY route)
In the future I will try to acquire OcuP4V2 or Minisforum DEG1 as right now they are not available in India.
As far as non-DYI Oculink setups (which would be expensive just like TB3/4 enclosures) are concerned like GPD G1 or oneXGPU, I know a seller who imports CKDs and can get you one but I'm mostly interested in the DIY route.
What is your research on this until now ? Would love to connect.
Click to expand...
I prefer the diy route too. Let's me have more control and scratches my tinkerer's itch. Started with learning egpu setup for my t430 but it ended up dying on me due to a faulty anchor extender. Planning to get l480 with 32 gigs of ram and i5 8350u from the used market. It has only one m. 2 slot but also a wwan slot which if not locked can be used for storage. And for me the desktop route looks slim and I prefer some level portability. Have seen some clean ideapad oculink setup where it is almost plug and play.

Praying for the masses to adopt the oculink as a viable solution which may help in standardizing the oculink port like they did in one of the china only ideapad, some of the mini pc and win max. And then maybe it gets more accessible in India.
 
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