jadc007

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Jan 6, 2012
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Hi all,

Before I start please refrain from saying " Why don't you just get a gaming desktop and etc "

Right I have the MSI GS60 2QE which is a wonderful gaming machine but there are some games and programs where I need the extra power and I was wondering how well do the external graphic card caddys serve? As i cannot find any on the internet? if you know of any can you please link me or any advice which connections they use?

Thanks all
 

Rookie_MIB

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Jul 27, 2013
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In order to use an external graphics solution, generally you need a very high bandwidth connection - usually that means Thunderbolt. Since yours doesn't have a Thunderbolt port, you might be out of luck.
 


You may be able to upgrade the video card in that laptop, open it and see if it's sitting in an MXM slot.

For external PCIe adapter, they do make them, hooks up to an internal PCIe slot on the laptop motherboard, if you have one. http://www.amazon.com/Laptop-External-PCI-E-Graphics-Card/dp/B00Q4VMLF6

And keep in mind that to use that you will need to hook up the video card to a monitor, won't run off your laptop screen. And you will need a power supply running the card. And the interface looks to be PCIe 1x which could bottleneck quite a few modern video cards.
 
It is possible to use an external GPU with a laptop, there is no elegant solution unless you have an modern Alienware laptop which allows you to use the Alienware Amplifier. I think some company make something similar for MacBooks.

You will basically need 4 things; not guaranteed to work with all laptops:

1. EXP GDC Beast Laptop External Independent Video Card Dock
http://www.dealsmachine.com/best_265525.html?currency=USD&gclid=CjwKEAjw4s2wBRDSnr2jwZenlkgSJABvFcwQGqAZ6pNykCOz729iNrU-Di3qMkPfjV5W70qNceACaxoCM9Xw_wcB

2. An ATX power supply (Desktop PSU)

3. An external monitor

4. The GPU


Here's a video demonstrating how it works:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=in2RYwjWFyA


Good luck.
 

Rookie_MIB

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Jul 27, 2013
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That's really kind of cool. The only downside is that it's only (from what I can tell) going to be capable of PCIe.x1 - since the mini-PCIe spec is only up to a x1 lane assignment. Might be a little bit of bandwidth congestion depending on the particular card you choose.
 

chargersrool

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Oct 27, 2013
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If you choose to use thunderbolt, there may be an issue because egpu is not compatible with all computers I found out.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/thunderbolt-3-egpu-solutions-arriving-4th-quarter-2015-mainstream-in-2016.777013/