External graphics card: More performance for Thunderbolt laptops

Guide to graphics cards for laptops
External graphics card: Four cases in comparison

3/14/2022 3:32 p.m

6 min reading time

If you want the best of desktop graphics and the portability of a laptop, you’ll find external graphics fairly quickly, too eGPUs called. These are graphics cards that are connected to the laptop via a separate housing and thus give it their graphics power. Perfect for gamers who work on a laptop on the go and want to play a game at home – without having to buy a desktop PC.

Razer, Cooler Master or Sonnet have already put “mini” cases with power supplies for graphics cards on the market. In the following, the article explains what buyers have to look out for when buying an eGPU and whether the investment is really worth it. By the way: Most cases come without a graphics card. You have to buy them for this.

Nothing works without Thunderbolt

A Thunderbolt 3 port is essential for docking an external graphics card to the laptop. It looks like a USB-C socket. However, it is usually marked by a small flash. The main difference to USB-C is that Thunderbolt delivers higher data throughput. Typical devices with a Thunderbolt connection are MacBooks from Apple. But Windows laptops like the Razer Blade Stealth 13 or the Dell XPS 15 also offer the socket. And here is the next hurdle to consider: With MacBooks, buyers of an eGPU are limited to a few AMD graphics cards.

That’s because macOS and the lack of availability of corresponding drivers for Nvidia graphics cards. Because Apple mainly uses graphics cards from AMD installed, the tech giant does not develop any drivers for Nvidia hardware. And that’s why they don’t work as external graphics cards with Apple products. who up Nvidia sets, so needs one Windows-Laptop with Thunderbolt 3. Gamers also need to consider the size of the case for the external graphics card. High-performance cards in particular are particularly long and therefore do not fit in every case. It is also important to pay attention to the power supply: Not every case supplies enough power for every graphics card.

External graphics card: The comparison

1. Razer Core X

Razer is very popular with gamers. If you already have a laptop from the brand and want to buy an external graphics card, you can do that as a suitable housing Razer Core X Select. Of course, the case also connects to other Thunderbolt laptops and MacBooks. However, it does not contain a graphics card. After all, its 650 watt power supply provides enough juice for most graphics cards. Nice: The case supplies the laptop with a maximum of 100 watts of power via the Thunderbolt connection. So you don’t need to connect it to the power socket with its power supply unit. By plug and playfeature, laptops that also offer the feature do not need to be restarted when you connect the external graphics card. Normally the restart is necessary for the computer to recognize the graphics card.

2. Sonnet eGPU Breakaway Box 750ex

the Sonnet eGPU Breakaway Box 750ex supports graphics cards with a power consumption of up to 375 watts. Otherwise, it’s similar to the Razer Core X. It also works with Windows and MacOS, but unfortunately doesn’t offer a plug-and-play function. According to the manufacturer, the case supports full-length, full-height and double-wide graphics cards. With a weight of 3.2 kilograms, it is also 3.28 kilograms lighter than the Razer Core X. If you want to take the external graphics card with you on trips, you are better off with the Sonnet case.

3. Cooler Master MasterCase EG200

The Cooler Master brand is known to most gamers for its cooling solutions for processors, power supplies and cases. In the segment of external graphics cards, the manufacturer offers its Master Case EG200 at. At 5.4 kilograms, it’s not exactly lightweight. Otherwise it is similar to the cases from Razer and Sonnet: the built-in power supply Cool Master V Gold SFX offers with 850 watts enough power for performance-hungry graphics cards. What sets the case apart is a USB hub and a vertical one laptop stand. But the integrated one is particularly practical Hard drive and SSD dock on the front side. You can easily exchange different SSD storage devices. Ideal if you store projects for work on one hard drive and your games on another.

4. Sonnet eGPU Breakaway Puck RX 5500 XT

The Sonnet eGPU is a real midget among the external graphics cards Breakaway Puck RX 5500 XT. And it’s a special little thing: the other solutions all come without a graphics card. In the breakaway puck is the AMD RX 5500 XT integrated. Accordingly, the external graphics card is aimed at users of a Mac Mini or MacBook who want to give their computers a little more graphics power. But they shouldn’t expect too much performance: The AMD RX 5500 XT is one of the manufacturer’s entry-level cards. For uncompromising gaming enjoyment in full HD resolution, more performance is welcome.

External graphics card: the disadvantages

Passionate PC gamers know: Gaming on the laptop can only be an emergency solution. Compared to a desktop, the notebook hardware is simply at a disadvantage. This simply has to do with the nature of foldable computers and the hardware. Powerful graphics cards are large and consume a lot of power. And the more power the hardware uses, the more heat it generates that needs to be cooled away.

Both speak against the self-image of a laptop: it should be as light and energy-efficient as possible so that its user can work on it for as long as possible while on the go. The mostly flat devices simply don’t offer space for large fans that cool the graphics card. Not even when manufacturers label their laptops with all sorts of “gaming” fanfare – the notebooks don’t come close to a desktop.

That also changes that eGPU nothing. Why? It depends on the data throughput thunderbolt 3 together. The interface leaves maximum in theory 40gigabitsin the second of data, which in theory is sufficient for a graphics card to develop its full performance – but only in theory. In practice, they share 40gigabits in the second on different channels.

The Thunderbolt connection can be used with a corresponding dongle manage different types of transfers at the same time. That would be something like an Ethernet cable or USB-C devices like an external hard drive, mouse and keyboard, or multiple monitors. The data throughput for PCIe connections such as graphics cards shrinks accordingly. And this is exactly what can throttle the throughput of the eGPU.

Is it worth buying an external graphics card at all?

With the prices for the case and graphics card, it is questionable whether the purchase of an external graphics card is worthwhile at all, because with approx 300 Euro the cases are not exactly cheap – especially when you consider that the graphics cards may not be able to exploit their full potential. Alternatively, you could of course also have one Build your own gaming PC. But wouldn’t that be many times more expensive?

Cheap PC case cost around 65 euros, a decent one Power supply from a brand manufacturer around 100 euros. This is joined by 100 euros for 16 gigabytes of memory100 euros for that motherboardabout 200 euros for a processor like that Ryzen 5 3600X and 52 euros for a small one SSD. For a fully-fledged desktop (without graphics card) you spend around 317 euros more – and in return you get the full performance of the graphics card and, most likely, more processor performance. And the additional costs could perhaps be saved by using a less powerful laptop.

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