External Graphics Cards are never worth it - ONEXGPU Review
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- čas přidán 19. 04. 2024
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For years we've been promised modular upgrades to historically non-upgradable devices. With the rise of Handheld Gaming PCs like the Steam Deck, Ayaneo Kun, Asus ROG Ally or ONEXPLAYER's own ONEXFLY, the graphics horsepower is more than enough for gaming on the go, but will it satisfy your need for frames when docked to a desktop monitor or TV?
"Just add an eGPU" is a comment I've received more times than I can count when talking about lackluster gaming performance in laptops and handhelds... but is that actually good advice? And is the cost of entry worth it at all?
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![External GPU for your Handheld PC [ONEXGPU]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/I_eA_IbB-mo/mqdefault.jpg)
You mentioned it at the beginning of the video - there are people who want to use their handheld as their main gaming system. I would say they want it as their only system, and in that case, an eGPU makes sense. If you're not looking for a bulky* gaming laptop with it's (generally) keyboard and trackpad, limited number of ports and the need to add a bulky controller for a decent gaming experience, but want a more powerful setup when you're at home, an eGPU dock combo is a good option. Though this one is overpriced.
*When I say bulky, I mean needs a bag/sleeve vs fits in your pocket scale.
People want to use it like they use their Switch, totally portable, but dock it for a bigger better experience when battery life isn't a factor.
Also, if you're a road warrior, one of these could conceivably be your only computer, and the eGPU and peripherals would be all you need to turn a hotel TV into a gaming monitor.
They other big problem with a gaming laptop is that you're stuck with whatever GPU it's got unless you get a Frameworks model.
An eGPU (specifically a DIY or user upgradeable model) can update with the GPU market until the CPU of the handheld is truly a bottleneck.
We literally just need someone to finally come out with a diy eGPU case (or at least just a pcie>usb4/thunderbolt board), so that way "if" you want to use your handheld as your main desktop and dock it you can.
100-300 on aliexpress. Its got you covered
A fully enclosed Thunderbolt/USB4 solution is around $300. That's $600 for a dock and an RX 7600 or RTX 4060. The value STILL isn't there vs buying a laptop with an RTX 4060 or standalone PC.
@@CraftComputing Oh no totally agreed, Monies wise it's def not affordable. The keyword I missed in my comment was "affordable"
I guess the main reason mass producing a solution isn't as cheap as it could be is due to it being a niche market and also cause of thunderbolt/hdmi (and whatever else) licensing?
I think it's all about the flexibility then value for money. You end up like a PC scenario where you can upgrade parts just at a smaller scale. I personally would have bought a lightweight laptop for travel and beefy DIY egpu if the market was ready instead of a 14900k and 4070ti even thought the PC parts will easily last me 2-3x longer than the laptop. It would be good to test these with current tb4/usb4 4070~ GPU but everyone just using prebuilds with mobile GPUs
@@CraftComputing What about Oculink instead of Thunderbolt/USB4? I've seen other videos that suggest the interface makes better use of the available PCIE bandwidth.
The only valid point for eGPU is docked Ultrabooks for work IMO.
That way a company IT can buy everyone the same laptop ( ultrabook with a rather powerful CPU) + dock so administration will be easy.
But if someone needs to do GPU-heavy work (e.g. CAD / 3D-modelling) he can get a better monitor and the eGPU dock.
clean setup and the docks can be upgraded separately from the laptops.
Especially with the modern APU's. You get a Powerfull CPU and a Low/Moderate GPU like the 760M/780M or the A380 which are plenty for most Graphics cases and you only need the EGPU's for Rendering of Videos. For CAD and 3D-Modelling an A380 or AMD RDNA2/3 APU is powerfull enough, when you want a full Render Scene then you need an eGPU. But again Intel/AMD Notebook with powerfull APU (Intel 1x5H, AMD with 760M or 780M ) gets you a long way and you need only for some usecases an eGPU.
there's another: people who needs an ultrabook with great battery at work and only utilize a stronger gpu at home.
sure, anyone can build a separate desktop , but then data synchronization becomes a chore. also the cost will balloon up much more than an egpu
also these terrible results are due to the usb4 protocol. an oculink port would be a game changer
the first gen Gigabyte Aorus Gaming Box (1070, 1080) can be found for under €/$100 without a GPU in your local classifieds. I bought two for around 75€ each. It has a 280W PSU and can house a dual slot ITX sized card. It's not that big either, and comes with a nicely padded carrying case. I use one with a RTX A4000 modded with a 3060 cooler (quite a common mod, google it. Runs cooler and quieter), and the 2nd with a Sandisk/Fusion-IO IoMemory 3200GB card (BTW Jeff, I think you should take a look at those IoMemory cards, quite nifty).
Another option that's much less portable is the 2nd gen Gigabyte Aorus Gaming Box with a RTX 2080Ti or RTX 3080. The 3080 version sells regularly for under €/$500 in local classifieds or ebay. It's much bigger and heavier than the 1st gen, but it's not loud (thanks to being water-cooled), has some nice features like gigabit ethernet port and a couple of USB 3.0 ports, and still comes with a padded carrying case.
Eh can you help me find a listing. Finding a hard time finding one. I too would be interested in getting a pair for myself.
He already did something with Fusion-IO cards a while ago.
Wish it was possible to find these so cheap in the rest of the world as they go for minimum 200-300 without a gpu elsewhere.
Considering that the handheld itself is already more expensive than a Steam Deck, the price tag isn't a surprise. It's interesting but not fast enough.
I have a lenovo legion go and next to my couch is a Razer core with a 3080 in it. I use it all the time and its an amazing combo for couch gaming.
I think they are brilliant, and the GPU is incredible option if you want to plug-in.
6:18 to 7:06 Literally what I was just drafting a comment to say, except with the addition that barebones Oculink enclosures are dirt cheap and performs better. Even if you had to have the thunderbolt interface, it still makes more sense to buy a thunderbolt enclosure and RX 7600 separately instead, so you have something more serviceable, upgradable, and reliable than a rectangle of proprietary components.
yeah, i just hope the steamdeck 2 has an oculink port so i can do that very thing. hell a combo oculink and usb4 would be perfect in my opinion.
@@blendpinexus1416 no, just no more cost for what, something most people won't use?
Thank you so much for this I appreciate all the time you took you answered all my questions. My favorite part of this video was watching the beer in your glass dissappear throughout the video.
Oh yea you are basically paying a premium for a "portable" egpu. The only use case is traveling, where you want a handheld or thin and light laptop as well as gaming in the hotel.
My experience with my zenbook flip and the GPD G1 is good, though there a couple of points to make:
Thunderbolt has its limits, so higher resolutions or generating lots more information like cars can saturate this.
Oculink is better than Thunderbolt for the eGPU, so if you wan to do this get a device with Oculink
Noise, esp if you choose to go at 120w. I find 100w is fine and there is little gain going to 120w. The GPD G1 sounds like airflow rather than a spinning fan, so while audible it is not annoying.
Lossless Scaling (on steam) works well adding scaling and frame gen to games that don't have it. Also using it to get double framegen on Starfield works quite well to make it playable.
it does worth it especially when you're out of town and don't want to bring your massive heavy 1400x 71717au, 17,000gpu pc with you
My point was, a laptop that's twice as fast costs less, weighs less, and takes up less space than these two devices.
That price...Jesus. I would only consider an eGPU if I'm slimming down my office nook by using a mini pc but still wanted gaming power so I don't have to crank up my main system to use a full onboard GPU. They got a ways to go on that pricing. Overall good review.
Another point for building a gaming pc instead of buying an external gpu is streaming.......Sunshine with Moonlight works amazing on my Steam Deck.
I feel this option isn't talked about enough.
hows the input lag in yourside?
i tried sunshine and the input lag is horrible in higher resolutions
@@johnpp21since my Steam Deck is 800p, I I use "Hotkey Resolution Changer" on my PC and set a custom res of 1440x900 when streaming...(enables full screen on the Deck)
On the steam deck side I set it to 60 fps (LCD model) and transfer rate to 50mbps.
With this setup, I can use the deck as a controller for my pc and don't really notice any difference from an xbox controller.
So input lag is pretty low playing on the Deck....... plus the temps are low and the battery life is high.
@@johnpp21 it's not bad at all......I use hotkey resolution changer and set my pc res to 1440x900....this way I have full screen on my Deck and input lag is extremely low.
On the Deck side of things, I have the transfer rate set to 50mbps and 60fps (LCD model)
i like it, problem i have is my host is a linux machine and i am just struggling to get it to play nice and give me both a good looking stream AND a low input latency (not to mention any quirks)
I was lucky, got a Gigabyte GPU enclosure (that originally had a 1070 in it), with an RTX 3060Ti for 300€. Sold the GPU for around the same price so the enclosure was technically free.
it's got a 450W gold flex PSU in it so it can pretty much run most of the GPUs, tho size wise it's quite limiting, but if you disassemble it, it's fine in the end.
Great stuff as always. Little off topic but What would you suggest if the server in the garage is 500 ft+ away from 3 gamers ? either net amplifiers of some sort ?
Maybe follow up video that compares this eGPU with any Aliexpress TB3/4 enclosure and some GPUs?
Just started my lunch at work and this dropped. Cheers!
I got one of these from Ali about 2 weeks ago. It's amazing on my laptop as Spyro Reignited Trilogy has gone from 20-25FPS to a solid 60FPS with extra performance still available. PCSX2 Emulator is also better with constant dips to 50FPS but it's also solid 60FPS at under 20% GPU usage. Very recommended for those who travel but need their laptop to stay light for day to day work.
An example for me is that I need my HP Intel i7-12th gen laptop to be light for going to customers sites and have decent battery life but I do travel to our other offices out of town and don't want to setup a gaming PC out there with my own money.
Handheld gamer: I love my new handheld. It's small, portable, and I can take it anywhere!
PC gamer: What's all this other stuff?
Handheld gamer: Well, it's not really powerful enough, so I have this external GPU.
PC gamer: And what's with all the wires?
Handheld gamer: Well, the external GPU needs a power supply, and then it has to connect to the handheld, and since the screen is so little, I connect this monitor via HDMI.
PC gamer: Not so handheld anymore is it? Why not just use a PC?
Handheld gamer: . . . . Get out.
or "why don't you just buy a laptop?" 🤣
It should be a dock for your portable device! Many laptop users already dock at their setup of choice. The main point is so you can get the best of both worlds. Lets be realistic we will never have a same generation mobile equivalent to a desktop gpu at anywhere near the same power usage. So instead of getting that $800 4090 upgrade for the laptop you want, instead get a laptop with a great cpu/apu, and a desktop gpu that wont be power or heat limited, and dock via oculink (and x8 pcie in the future) and get a near desktop experience. My 7940hs @ 90w and 6900xt aio egpu runs faster and more efficient than all but one of my cpus (13700k, still more efficient than it though), it beats my 5700g, 3700 or 129450hx outright.
weird comment. The main reason why I got a legion go was due to its power efficiency compared to pcs. It uses a total of 45 Watts max which is lower than a lot of pcs at idle. And it was quite cheap like £476 with 2tb of storage.
@oo--7714 what, the legion go was that cheap? :O dam! I got a steam deck instead of spending over a grand on a decent laptop. Don't regret it one bit. I already have a pc 😁 edit: there like £650 every where I've seen
i mean if you already have a handheld/laptop/minipc, now you want more juice in it,
instead of buying new desktop PC, you can save a lot by just building an eGPU
About the only reason I can think of for one of these is if you only have one machine and it must be a super thin ultra book but you want to game with it occasionally. The battery life argument for the ultra book over a gaming laptop and extra CPU performance for the laptop over a second machine.
Thank you for actually mentioning the price up front. I appreciate that over other reviewers trying their best to never mention that.
That just kills any purpose for this product IMO.
The only way this makes practical sense is if you're incredibly limited on space, and a handheld is your primary machine due to other constraints on top of that, outside of cost. Let's say someone living in a super small apartment with a long public transit commute for work but making good enough money that the high cost won't matter to them. That's a bit niche, but situations like that do happen and it would be a nice thing to have for someone who's got almost no space, but plenty of money to pay the mini-sized tax and wants a super easy solution.
I can see this having a market in UK, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong - Limited living space in the large cities but relatively high wages to be able to afford this.
Have to say I find my eGPU very useful, about 3x the power of my laptop dGPU when I need it, don't always have it connected but it's nice to have. Speed alone is worth it but keeping the heat and noise away from my hands is another big benefit.
I guess it all depends, I just had no desire to carry around a gaming laptop and don't much like many of them any way especially since I don't always need the power they offer but did sometimes use the little 1650 Ti in my laptop so decided to get an eGPU for those times. I certainly didn't buy it new though, the number of cheap used eGPU enclosures out there - one of which I picked up and it seemed basically unused - is probably evidence they don't work for many.
DISCLAIMER: I haven't watched the video yet.
But sir, you are firing shots. I am feeling called out on my ex-box with your title. hahaha
Just like eGPUs, your ExBox is stupid and not practical, but I love that you made it :-D
@@CraftComputing fully agreed actually lol, it's dumb af and a dumb use of money. But it sure is fun.
I wonder if the eGPU has any extra considerations for mobility. As in, grab the devices for a drive to my brother's house.
If so, I think that's where this really shines. Especially if you travel a lot. Especially if you happen to travel by mass transit a lot (bus, train, or plane).
Laptop gaming doesn't really make sense unless you plug in a kb/mouse or a controller. That's not necessary with a handheld.
So during your travel, use the handheld as intended. Just one device without wires. No need to tuck or squeeze to avoid other people. Then, you arrive at your destination and you only need to request a monitor.
---
Maybe that's the next step? Skip the eGPU form-factor completely. Just build the GPU into a Lap-dock style device. Then you still get all the benefits I described above, but you also brought along your own monitor.
If you already have a GPU it makes way more sense to grab a thunderbolt enclosure and put that card in, an enclosure can handle whatever GPU you wanna put in and costs a little over $200, and, if you are purchasing a new handheld with the external GPU options look for one that can do Oculink, that gives you the equivalent to a PCIe slot, not sure what speed but not full 16x, still definitely faster than thunderbolt.
Mini PCs and handhelds feel too much like a console model.
Want more performance? “Buy the Better One” is here for you.
No silly upgrades, repairs, or customization to worry about.
With “Buy the Better One” you get the opportunity to spend more money, more often!
I absolutely love my onexgpu. It allows me not to carry down my gaming PC. I use it exclusively for my TV gaming experience.
Just at dinner time too! Thanks Jeff!
I ended up getting an eGPU because I needed a pen-compatible 2-in-1 at the time (notetaking at uni), and none of the business class models had a dedicated GPU. It served its purpose at the time, but in hindsight, I should've gone the other way around - a mobile workstation and a pen display. I would've even got upgradable RAM, and could've probably considered going AMD too.
With that being said, I bought my Sonnet eGPU off Marketplace for like AU$200 (~US$130) and used a spare R9 270X.
I own a gpd g1, and it's the sort of thing I want to like, particularly more for supplementing ultrabooks rather than gaming handhelds. But, the chips in the ultrabooks and upscaling solutions are getting too good to not just leave the egpu at home and live with any hitches and hiccups for someone that games here and there on the road.
Having said that, if this did have better utility, I'd go to bat for it at the price. I'm getting kind of tired of discussion around gaming-focused products defaulting to a race to the $200-400 range. Its okay for niche products to remain at niche prices until a big player can swoop in and start working their economies of scale magic for everyone.
The only reason is if you need the extra power and ports. I can see myself buying something like that as a temporary solution. For example my laptop, handheld is aging, if I need more power while at home / work, I can just use this. Or if you need the extra power from time to time eg for multiple monitors or rendering a video, or photo editing.
I have a GPD win mini a GPD g1 and a onexepu. They are the best things I've ever bought
Ive had a specific experience using a gaming laptop that my PC doesn't have. The CPU limitations due to cooling can lead to less GPU usage, stutter, and other jank across the board. It's clearly due to the constant boosting and throttling of cores, and I haven't yet found a way to resolve it in all games.
Good point about Minisforum HX99G or HX100G. For like 700-800 euros you get the whole mini pc combo, amazing cpu and directly linked gpu without thunderbolt loss. To think that the egpu like this costs 900 euros is a bit ridiculous. I don't believe the thunderbolt/oculink controller should cost that much. The 330w gan psus go for around a 100. If it was more like 400-500 for the specs it would make more sense. The whole egpu market would become more popular if only they weren't so out of reach with cost.
What would be really welcome, or maybe just interesting, is an external enclosure geared toward MXM gpus. They are already mobile parts so use lower power, so smaller power supplies and lower cooling requirements. Just a thought.
The problem with MXM is even though the slot is standard, coolers are not. Running them in an enclosure would require some amount of hackery to attach a cooler.
I love the Smell of October in Oregon! It Smells like.... bitter victory.
I still love the idea, my GPD WinMax 2 won't even play starfield because I got the 6800u version earlier on. I use it while at work, because I'm waiting for my work to show up for 10 to 15 minutes at a time, and I'm also going to school for cybersecurity during those breaks too. I think if I could get something like this to pipe back into my display, but just boost performance, I'd actually get this, or the G1.
Thunderbolt 5 eGPU is where its at, or a handheld (other than GPD) with the Oculink.
I like his ultra fast Sens of the mice in tiny wonderland :P
My use case: already have a handheld and I want to wall mount an egpu behind the tv for 4k gaming and reduce wear.
Does this carry over for laptop + external gpu for 3d work in stuff like unreal engine / C4d etc?
Maybe as a external GPU for someone on a laptop at all times. Due to my work, I travel a lot and don't have a desktop and laptops as you know are low power, but really it is the same GPU as a laptop. So for cost a use, not worth it in my opinion.
Great video, keep it up.
I almost bought the OneXPlayer X1 and OneXGPU until I realized I could get an Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 for the same money. Definitely made the right choice (for me).
Hey Jeff in your Opinion what would be the Best X99 Xeon for a Gaming System? I recently got a good deal on some Hunanzhi X99 Motherboards so am shopping around for some good options & I trust your judgement in this area since you have built so many of them. (Edit I did leave this comment on a 3 month old video but just in case you don't see that I figured I'd ask on a recent Video)
This is my favorite inexpensive X99 board right now: czcams.com/video/lhAflhMuAIQ/video.html
You'll be seeing more of this system in a couple weeks.
I've just realised, you've missed the fact that connecting an external display to the dock improves performance even more as data is going 1 way instead of returning to the device to render on the display.
also, this would be interesting to see if you could use crossfire with the Miniforum MS-01 and a 7600 installed in it (if possible). Or even just see if the performance is even better compared to using a handles CPU
The testing for both the 780M and RX 7600M XT were done through a connected display, as I was testing the perspective of a docked device and desktop monitor.
Besides which, there's not that much data being transferred during play, and normal PCIe has full duplex lanes with dedicated capacity. Backlink display is a minor latency issue, not much of a capacity issue.
Your segway is good. But im a crazy guy with a server rack on my garage. But i need more help to see if what i want to do is viable with the gear i have.
The other day I was curious, so I put together a PC part picker list that was a full PC, with the non mobile version of that GPU, and it was sub $700. There are no permutations where this thing makes sense.
If you want mobile gaming solutions, the floor is amazingly low, refurbished steam decks are sub $400. The 256 gb model is $320, the 64gb is under $300. Get one of those, and you have the budget for, say, a laptop with that mobile GPU as well, instead of buying this handheld and this mobile GPU.
I just want an egpu enclosure that I can use my own gpu with my ROG Ally. The only egpu they stock is the 4090 Mobile, which is not significantly faster than the desktop 3090 and costs $2000. The only egpu they had that was slightly reasonable was the RX 6800 XT Mobile and its basically been sold out forever to the point that second hand they sell for $800+ second hand.
The only "compact" eGPU is from GPD with PSU build-in can be a great thing for handheld... Everythink with external PSU can be trouble for portable gaming but GPD can be a solution. If in future they will manage high temps, noise and heat thanks to better/cooler GPUs with 60-100W range will be really great even with portable solutions when You can find some ac plug near by...
what abut video editing on the eGPU? :D
Couldn't agree with your assessment more. I purchased the OneX looking to get more performance out of my Linux Mint laptop to play with some local LLMs.. After 2 days and multiple hours of trying to get it to work, nothing. It just wouldn't. Thought I had done my due diligence...laptop Thunderbolt is compatible. Updated drives are available for the OS. Nope.
I did find a Reddit thread that seemed to have a solution, but after reading all the steps I decided "yeah, I'm not doing all..." for fear that it would just continue to be a headache down the line.
Boxed it up, sent it back and just got a decent renewed gaming laptop with better specs and fewer headaches.
I really wanted this form factor to work, but no so much that I was willing to do all the work. Especially when proper solution was just a little more, and I could have it delivered in 24 hours.
Shouldm't have nought an amd graphics card for ai
@@oo--7714 Yep. Just went with a laptop with NVIDIA graphics and proper Linux support.
Jeff, dont let the very loud minority talk you into Oculink(in its current state)
Yes they will loudly tell you that the latency and speed are better than thunderbolt
What they wont tell you, probably because they dont know, is that it is a very low endurance connector.
You may know this port from your work, as these are far FAR more common in servers, you may have even had one die on you before.
We've had a few die on us, seemingly in a few years with what we assume are less than 100 insertions.
What we would really need is at least 6 PCIe lanes with as re-designed connector, it could be based on Oculink, or even a revision from the body responsible for oculink. I think Asus's XG mobile port is on its way, basically being an oculink+USB-C but i think its still too fragile and not enough bandwidth.
I would like to see a monoblock connector USB-D with 2-3X contacts a much higher insertion rating than oculink while still supporting 100w power delivery.
And dont get me started on how most people talk about these crappy mobile GPUs in a choked enclosure, rather than a full desktop GPU in an enclosure.
As an enthusiast i want to like a tiny dock+GPU. My problem is that unless it attaches physically to the handheld, what use is a mobile GPU puck, if someone is just going to leave it at home connected to a monitor, why not just get a 100% faster desktop GPU in an even better dock that just takes up a little bit more desk area.
This has been my thought when the prices for these egpus were announced... i insted got an adt egpu board from ali express for under 100usd and then bought a second hand 3070... use it to desktop my legion go...
what makes eGPUs worth it is thunderbolt. I have a Sonnet 750ex and it works as a dock and as external gpu+dock combo. I use it with my gaming laptop to get a better gpu connected to it or with my backup laptop to give it a gpu. That is a massive advantage of intel over amd. Intel laptops/handhelds almost always have thunderbolt and amd laptops/handhelds almost never do. for $200-$400 depending on new/used or on sale/not on sale the Sonnet 750ex is one of the best in the market and being thunderbolt 3/4 it has longevity to connect to newer laptops/handhelds as well as older ones.
advantage of thunderbolt vs USBc is that it works as native PCIe lanes/connections vs requiring USB controller blah blah lol
If you are stuck in a dorm room of sorts for living quarters and want to save physical space, it would make sense. No need to assemble or disassemble a desktop computer either. It's more of a convenience thing (and possibly something that could pay for itself in terms of a lower electricity bill).
nah, laptops would make more sense and use less power. Only using the gaming handheld on it's own would you be saving energy.
To me the biggest issue with these handhelds is that the link between one and an external GPU is just not fast enough and the gear to use it is too expensive. If you could get something like the performance of an 8x PCIE connection and the price for a bare dock (as in one that you can install your own graphics card into) under the $250 mark I could see it making sense for a lot of people but a $600 - $800 unit based on a mid range mobile GPU that can't be upgraded is not even worth considering.
I was SO confused till I realised its a sponsored part at the beginning lmao
I travel for work, and they won't let me use my own laptop for the job, which is fine (security and all that), but as a gamer it's frustrating. I tried the steamdeck and i loved it, but it wasn't for me, so I switched to the legion go, which I absolutely do love, ESPECIALLY being on a window's platform, but it's not powerful enough. I've been thinking hard about getting an egpu, but one day I was sitting at my hotel room after a long day of work, and I wanted to game... but I gotta pull out my Legion Go, I gotta pull out my external monitor, I gotta pull out my foldable keyboard, I gotta grab my dongles and chargers and plug this in and plug that in, and once I do that, i have like this spaghetti monster of cords and cables on my desk. It's hard enough at the end of the night to take it all down and put it away, or wait until morning and put it all away and then rush to the job site, do I really want to add an egpu to that mess? And then I'm carrying an extra charger and more stuff in my bag...
I want it to work, I really do, but I just can't justify it. A laptop just makes more sense no matter how you slice it, and if I REALLY want to game in bed, I can either find some kind of travel bed stand, or I could probably use my travel router and just stream my laptop to my retroid pocket 3+, I think it has that capability.
Though now I'm entering the world of gaming laptops which has been annoying and irritating and I desperately don't want to carry a giant gaming laptop brick either, but performance wise it's gotta be loads better than an egpu.
Hey there. So. I bought the ROG Aly and found the XG Mobile 3080 on eBay. All in with XG Mobile, 1TB NVME upgrade, doc, etc. I was out about 2k. Ouch. For me the Aly was one big compromise after another and I decided a laptop would suite me better. I picked up the ASUS Flow x16 on a crazy sale. RTX 3060 Model, etc. I thought that I could boost performance with the 3080 XG Mobile and run it docked as an extra workstation at the office. Couldn’t be more wrong. The overhead going between the laptop and XG Mobile GPU just hamstrings performance even when directly connected to an external display and the internal disabled. There’s no advantage over the dedicated 3060. I ran several tests to see if I was missing something and nope. Total waste of money. I have an external TB3 Razer enclosure that I want to test just for giggles. Anyway, lesson learned. Very expensive lesson learned.
Cheers
Rick
Yep. My plan for my egu solution is probably going to be my 2070 super. I even have a 3050 8gb to go with a even smaller solution with a 200mm gpu.
I ended up buying a used egpu enclosure off of Craigslist some years back, and have simply been swapping in my older GPU as I update my desktop. I then use the egpu with my Surface tablet's TB port when I travel. I think there *is* a legit market for egpu's, but it is pretty niche. I would not buy an egpu for a handheld.
Meanwhile I’ve been wondering about adding an egpu to the MS-01 and passing it to a vm rather than upgrading my existing system - not completely sure about this yet though
"I need a burger with it to enjoy" is best description of a beer I've heard. I felt the taste of that beer on my tongue.
A thunderbolt dock will set you back about 200, an nvme enclosure about 100, and an external thunderbolt enclosure about 300. Plus you have to buy the video card which could add way too much. But this one x unit still doesn’t make practical sense. The tech is changing too quickly. Gigabit Ethernet on a dock? 2.5gb is easy to implement today between built in on most mini pc’s and TB4 to 2.5gb adapters on Amazon. A single nvme, but it’s limited to 4tb? I saw a review of a mini pc with 3 nvme slots all rated to 8 tb! Plus the pc had occulink support. So enjoy Reasonable Gaming TM on your handheld or go Xbox controller and a gaming/mini pc hooked up to your big screen.
I love the idea, but I'd much rather see cheap solution for external graphics enclosure and before someone comments, no 300e enclosures aren't good in value imo. I don't even have need for such, but with them I could begin to consider changing from desktop to laptop in my main rig. That being said I think I'll keep building PC's for max performance and use consoles for more random gaming. I got Steamdeck and I love it for older titles/emulation cause its versatility in controls. But even in handheld systems I won't be going for those really expensive models as they never can't deliver enough gaming experience and performance. As usual I think some middle ground between devices can usually deliver best for the money. Like consoles are great solution for many gamers, but still diehard gamer imo should have that Steamdeck or even fairly basic computer to enjoy stuff from ie. GOG for best value.
honestly part of the problem is using mobile gpus. which if you want to make a small and energy efficient egpu dock than fine. but i'd rather have a way to diy one and just use a desktop gpu that i likely have laying around that is orders faster than the handheld's gpu. if the steamdeck 2 has a usb4 (or preferably an oculink) i'll try and make an egpu dock for it.
could you show us the cheapest usable external gpu setup you can come up with? just for the lols
I had one for my Lenovo Legion Go, it worked great for about 2 weeks, then it started constantly disconnecting, after some research I found that the thunderbolt cable was the culprit and the fix was to buy a better cable as the one included is really cheap, the fact that I paid $1300 CAD for the unit itself (no extra storage) and the cable that connects the handheld to the external gpu is the achilles heel and I have to spend MORE money on it? NOPE, that's a deal Deal Breaker, to cheap out on such a crucial component when charging so much for the device, not cool, I returned it and built a gaming PC instead, and glad I did, My Legion Go is great on it's own for portability gaming, but nothing beats a dedicated gaming desktop, nothing !
What I don't get is if you want to add an external GPU why use an already cut down mobile part in the dock. I didn't get it with the Asus XG one either.
Do you happen to know how it performs hooked up to your WIN MAX?
Performance would be near identical. Ryzen 6800U, and connected via USB4.
While I agree cloud saves HAVE become standard, they are slightly harder to implement systemically unless you limit yourself to the steam/ xbox or other optimized eco-systems OR you painstakingly add cloud back-ups to any offline games that you have set up... A point in your favor AND the scenario you proposed earlier has a sneaky way of solving this... Get a desktop or powerful mini PC, hook it up to ethernet, install Parsec or leverage the Steam streaming feature and STREAM your high quality PC games and emulation to your handheld. In a way, you have centralized your saves, you still have access to cloud saves that were already supported, and now you can do something the eGPU cannot do. The eGPU cannot improve your experience wirelessly, but in home streaming OR a streaming service CAN. Oh hey look, Maximum Settings cloud gaming can do that.
The Christian guy sounds exactly like he is reading out something from an early version of chat GPT, the text doesn’t seem to have much relevance to anything that is more than a few words before it. Early chat GPT also often ended stuff with a peace and love message
$700 on top of a $900 handheld to get 1080p, high settings...deal = broken. Thanks for keeping me far away from this one, Jeff.
If you dropped the E-GPU price down to $375-400, it would turn more heads I think.
I could see taking this on a plane when you're strapped for luggage space. Rather than needing a 16 inch laptop, or a small desktop, you can have something with a screen and controller built in, but also the ability to hook it up to a hotel TV and just start playing games. Would I spend this much for it? Probably not, I have a hacked Switch and a desktop PC at home so I can just use game streaming. I get an i7, 32GB RAM, and a 16GB graphics card anywhere I go. And I'm pretty sure I paid less for the whole setup.
All i want is a cheap case to plug a PSU and GPU into that i already own anyway, just an aluminum box, with screw holes for a 120 or 144mm fan... 50 to 75 Euro, tops, nothing fancy.
With a universal "it just works" connector that i can plug into Steam Deck 2, or maybe even into my main gaming PC, or into my HTPC in the living room depending on what needs full GPU power for gaming at the moment.
For the moment i still got my old EVGA GTX1080 (unused in a box) and it beats the Steam Deck APU in performance no question, lets just put that thing in a case and get some use out of it again. ...but no, they won't let me. Cases like that cost 300-ish bucks because they are so niche, which is ridiculous, they come with a connector that isn't present on the Steam Deck and is hit and miss on other devices as well.
Instead they want to sell overpriced gimmicky underpowered Laptop GPUs in a case where it can't even be upgraded, only be replaced by the next one.
20:30 As far as mantras go, it's not a bad one
My answer is space I live in a studio less is more smaller the better more is better if it takes up less space! He have a handheld I don't have space for another device or want another thing taken up data on my buildings shared wifi network!
Do anyone know why the onexgpu keeps overheating and crashing
Never experienced that in my testing. What issues are you seeing?
The fan would get loud than it would turn itself off than on@@CraftComputing
It's hard to take this video seriously when it includes an advertisement for online gaming then showcase an external graphics card that is not being limited by the graphics card but by the USBC interface.
I don't think people are cross-shopping handhelds and laptops or SFF systems much. A handheld offers unique features that those devices don't, so buying a laptop or SFF system instead of a handheld and small eGPU is not really an option for those who seek a portable gaming experience that can fit in a large pocket of a cargo pant or jacket. And these small eGPUs make sense, because they don't impact your mobility nearly as much as a larger eGPU enclosure, which can be the size of an ITX SFF system. Again, not much cross-shopping between the sizes going on there, I'm pretty sure. If pickups were twice the price of comparable SUVs, but you really want a bed to haul stuff with, an SUV isn't really an option, no matter how much they have in common or how much more sensible it is.
"People aren't cross shopping for handheld/laptops/SFF"
My conclusion was maybe they should be. $835 for an eGPU, or $869 for a complete laptop with a faster GPU onboard? Use the handheld on the go, use the laptop when you're not. Better performance for the same cost to the user.
I feel like you'd be better off buying that $748 desktop pc and connecting to it using parsec if the hand held supports it
Super misleading title. Nothing stopping you from using a non-mobile eGPU enclosure with a beefy nVidia GPU. You’re comparing a super compact mobile eGPU with the price of gigantic custom built desktop tower?! wtf…
Unless you want to throw this thing into a backpack and take it with you, it doesn't make sense. Like you said, at this price point you can get a complete PC and just use that or stream the games to the handheld. And even if you are set on using a eGPU, I'd rather go with one of those eGPU boxes where I can insert my own GPU and upgrade it down the road.
Does discrete GPU work with Android phones?
No.... At least not yet
Hot take: Hand Helds that aren't fully upgradable are worthless buys in the first place. Seeing already rough numbers at launch doesn't really justify it for me personally. Within a few years, most owners will likely already be selling them off as they won't hardly be able to keep up with demanding titles.
The painful truth is that these aren't consoles (machines with one dedicated use case) they are full-blown windows PC's. The overhead and limited upgradability for a steep price puts me off from these at all. They will have maybe 3-4 years of "okay" use before only the lower end of system requirement games will function. Consoles of this size have games exclusively made to match the hardware they run on- but with PC games, they are planned with an array of specs in mind and have little to no assurance that they will work well on handhelds, as those are not the primary focus for devs.
If we had a handheld that had an upgradable CPU/GPU as well as a better, more cost effective eGPU solution for "docked modes" I'd be more enticed.
But as it stands right now, I just can't understand how one can truly justify the purchase.
I think they are a good option if people want more power for a handheld to use traveling or in a desktop mode at home. If I wanted a handheld to sit in the sofa and then sometimes plug-in for to a desktop I wouldn't be buying another PC for gaming. If you want a desktop gaming machine just buy one but if you work on a desktop and want to chill with the handheld that's a good option. Sitting working on a desktop 8 hours a day you don't want to game another 2-3 hours in the evening on a desktop, feels yuck
Also running that egpu on your laptop, tablet, mini PC, handheld, opens up a world of other uses.
I feel like a beer now!
Just need a handheld thin client that remotely games on local server or workstation.
can u imagine in 5 years time though when these machines are MUCH cheaper... damn....
Old PC case review: thermaltake dokker !
I have gpd g1 and it's barely works on windows or Linux over usb4.
Getting it work is a task on its own. I am going to help gpd get it working on linux atleast.
Wow, mines been pretty much plug and play. Sorry to hear you got a lemon.
But it’s so awesomely cute. And there are some places you can’t carry anything bigger that’s a good gaming experience. As long as you have the cash!
So you didnt try oculink. Smh.
Dear sir, pardon my negative thinking, but the title "never worth it" strikes me as clickbaity. There are some other eGPU solutions that suit the use cases of different people. To those people (including me), it definitely is worth it.
If I named the video "this eGPU is too expensive, as are most other models, but the technology is exciting and I'm happy they exist, but for most use cases don't make sense" would you have clicked the video?
@@CraftComputing well congratulations then, because it clearly attract my view. But I must say though, you gain some, you lose some.
If you do ever change your stance on this topic, I sincerely wish that you'd cover other solutions as well, e.g. DIY, oculink Vs TB/USB 4 etc. until then, have a pleasant day.
Running Chimera OS on a GPD WIN 4 with a G1. Its my only system and does what I need. When docked its pushes a ultrawide 1080p monitor. My setup is very niche i get that. But i wanted a steam deck experience that could give me better performance when docked. And I am so glad that GPD built the products to make that happen. I also hate windows and refuse to run it.
basically everyone wants to much power from a Nintendo Switch style device - good looking and playable games both in handheld mode, and docked even more so.
then reality hits like a truck and suddenly it make sense why Nintendo massively underclocked the Switch for a baseline - going up in power for this form factor cant be reasonably priced just yet
Get a CHEAP handheld to play the games you like that have LOW requirements, and get a DESKTOP PC to play the games that have HIGH requirements.
DO NOT play the low-req games on your desktop to keep yourself hyped for them whenever you are on the go and want to use the handheld. You get all the benefits this way, none of the drawbacks. On the handheld you will have good results, nice frames, and long battery time! On the desktop you will have all the power you actually need. And most importantly, your wallet will be happy.
Does this work on rog ally
Yes, it should work with any USB-4 capable handheld or laptop.
Other than miniscule power savings, I just don't know why you NEED this style of EGPU
I cant watch this video atm but oculink feels pretty solid as a hand held egpu solution
I'd just use a standard oculink to x16 adapter, a power supply and a regular gpu.