eGPU - making use of an unused laptop

mikehhhhhhh

mikehhhhhhh

mikehhhhhhh

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I have an old 8th Gen Intel i7 8550u laptop with 16gb RAM and while sat here thinking of building a budget gaming PC, I wondered whether I could achieve better performance for my budget by utilising this unused laptop and spending more on the gpu

On impulse, I jumped on eBay and managed to pickup a Razer Core eGPU enclosure for a steal, and now it's just a case of finding a GPU.

My question is, is it worth pursuing this with a 5 year old laptop with an eGPU and what GPU is worth picking up?

I'd like to do some living room gaming mostly - something like Last of Us remake, Cyberpunk, Hogwarts Legacy, but also give CS2 a run when it drops. 4K would be ideal but not essential.

I've looked at everything from a used 3080 for £300 to the 7900xt for £700. But I'd be interested to hear the opinions of others on where the value ratio sweet spot is and whether this could make a successful casual gaming rig?
 
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mikehhhhhhh said:
I'd like to do some living room gaming mostly - something like Last of Us remake, Cyberpunk, Hogwarts Legacy, but also give CS2 a run when it drops. 4K would be ideal but not essential.
Click to expand...

If you want 4K in those kind of games then realistically you're looking at the right kind of GPUs, but personally I wouldn't bother getting higher than a 6700 XT for an old 4 core, 8 thread CPU.
 
silly question
but i take it the laptop has thunderbolt?
never used egpu
but assume thunderbolt speed would be required

also where did you see a rtx3080 for £300?
 
As Mcnumpty said - I assume the laptop actually supports Thunderbolt/eGPU? - the requirements are quite picky and even a lot of laptops with a USB-C/TB port can't actually work with a eGPU which personally I find a bit annoying.

A 4 core / 8 thread CPU is going to struggle a bit with newer games Hogwarts Legacy and Cyberpunk both play OKish on them but are considerably better on 6/12 and upwards.
 
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I have a Razer Core X with my Dell XPS13 8th gen. I've put a 3080 in it but believe it's being held back through the limitations of the thunderbolt port and that it only supports PCIe 3.0. As well as the cpu limitations mentioned above.
That said, it will run most games at 60fps and above if you keep the settings to medium.
 
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How about a 2080ti?
Should be able to find one
For £250
Anything more than that
I feel the cpu (and possibly thunderbolt limitations
Like panthro said) may limit you
Would also put out less heat than 3080
Though panthro would have a better idea
Of whether there's any heat issues or not
 
Thanks guys,

A 3080 popped up close by for £350 so decided to take a gamble on that.

Enclosure arrives tomorrow so I’ll report back.

If the CPU does become a limiting factor I’ll probably look at building a PC but a laptop would be tempting, would a current gen ultrabook with a 1250u represent a decent gaming prospect with egpu?
 
Yeah, that was a bit of a pointless exercise :D

CSGO offers an unstable 150fps
Rust 30-50fps with stuttering

Headline figures aside, Perhaps it's because I've never had anything but a very good spec pc or some weird latency thing with the gpu but both felt unplayable.

Now to sort a PC
 
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