External Graphics Card (or Similar)?

[Ultimo]

Hello all,

I've been doing some searching, and learned about something called External Graphics Cards. The idea of this teases me, because it sounds so awesome, but the only search results I get on this are from 2013 or older. Nothing recent, and all the talk back then is either about Prototypes or people being disappointed to find out that no such thing exists, at least when they posted.

Has anyone heard anything about External Graphics Cards in the last couple of years? I know there are definitely prototypes floating around, but does anybody know of anything Good that your "Average Joe" can buy?

[SamRussell]

Hello all,

I've been doing some searching, and learned about something called External Graphics Cards. The idea of this teases me, because it sounds so awesome, but the only search results I get on this are from 2013 or older. Nothing recent, and all the talk back then is either about Prototypes or people being disappointed to find out that no such thing exists, at least when they posted.

Has anyone heard anything about External Graphics Cards in the last couple of years? I know there are definitely prototypes floating around, but does anybody know of anything Good that your "Average Joe" can buy?

I dont exactly follow it, but im pretty sure you can get certain enclosures for them Eg. the Razer Core but idk if its compatible with your average laptop or whatever and razer dont exactly have the best reputation. If you're willing to buy an external GPU you would most likely be better saving cash and just getting a PC as most laptops have dumbed down, low watt CPUs that would more than likely bottleneck your new GPU

[Ultimo]

most laptops have dumbed down, low watt CPUs that would more than likely bottleneck your new GPU

Good point. I know I've got a good one in my laptop (but know nothing about Wattage), and really the only low-end piece of hardware is the integrated graphics. I know its possible to make the BIOS ignore the integrated card, but I just need an external one to swap to.

[SleepKiller]

Your laptop needs to support Thunderbolt 3 in order to hook up one of the external enclosures recently announced/made. Other methods out there to my knowledge typically choke the card for bandwidth.

[Ultimo]

Your laptop needs to support Thunderbolt 3 in order to hook up one of the external enclosures recently announced/made. Other methods out there to my knowledge typically choke the card for bandwidth.

I see. Looked at the Wikipedia and did a bit of research on those, even though I already knew my laptop doesn't have one of those ports. I thought about an adapter, but that would be nonsense as it just diminishes what Thunderbolt is.

Thanks anyways, Sleepkiller and Sam Russell! I'm in no hurry to get external graphics, but I appreciate the help.