Attach external Graphics Card to laptop?

TheGameNerd

TheGameNerd

TheGameNerd

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Joined
31 Oct 2011
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99
Location
UK
So, I have a Dell XPS L502X. It's got an i7 2670QM at 2.2ghz, a GT 540M and 8GB of RAM. I made the stupid decision back in 2011 to buy one for gaming, instead of buying a Gaming PC for cheaper. Fast forward to now, I want to upgrade it's performance when playing the newest games. The GT 540M can just about hold up on a few new games (On the lowest settings) like Saints Row The Third, but I'm looking to try and improve it without forking out £400+ for a new Gaming PC.

I've heard about attaching an external Graphics Card to a laptop, and I realised that I have a Radeon HD 4870 in my cupboard. If I could manage to attach it to my laptop, it should boost the performance, right?

So, I did my research, but was dismayed when many people said that I needed an ExpressCard or PCIe slot, which I cannot find on my laptop.

Now, my question is, is there any way to attach an external graphics card to my laptop without ExpressCard or PCIe, with HDMI, USB, or some sort of adapter for PCIe to HDMI, or something like that? Is there another way to attach it? If not... well... looks like I'm gonna' be saving up for a long time.

TL;DR: Laptop without ExpressCard or PCIe. Can I attach external GPU using other means - e.g. HDMI, USB, adapter etc.?

Thanks.
Will.
 
MatTheCat said:
Sounds like you should maybe await the release of the new gen consoles and go that route.

To build a decent gaming PC from scratch, you will be looking at a minimum of 1500GBP. If you are only wanting to spend 400, then I would suggest that what you will have will not be up to scratch and become outdated in no time at all.

With the consoles, (still relatively not so great in terms of raw processing power), you get a lot more for your money and you know that no matter what, you will still be playing the latest games in 8 years time on your 8 year old console. Games on console also tend to be a hell of a lot better optimised than do their PC counterparts. The xbox is basically a X1900XT, 1GB RAM, and a triple core Athlon. I would like to see how such a configuration in PC form would handle the latest releases (even with gimped console textures and resolutions).
Click to expand...

I would never pick consoles over PC. I used to play console a lot, but after using a PC for gaming, I couldn't go back to consoles. I can play them split screen or on racing games, etc, but for general gaming, no. I can see the low FPS and bad quality of the environment and it really puts me off the game.

The bit about £1500 for a good gaming rig? Nonsense. Completely. My friend recently bought a gaming rig from Overclockers for about £500 and it can run (almost) anything on ultra, no hassle.

Anyway, I have found a spare GPU and am planning to build a gaming PC very soon. Here are the specs:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i3-3220 3.30GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £92.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £83.99
1 x ASRock B75 Pro3-M Intel B75 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £55.99
1 x Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BLS2CP4G3D1609DS1S00CEU) £43.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) HDD £39.95
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430W V2 '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020046-UK) £35.99
1 x Xigmatek Asgard Pro Gaming Case - Black £32.99
1 x OcUK 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
Total : £417.97 (includes shipping : £11.75).



Thanks for the input though ;)
 
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