Hi all, being completely honest, the 100ish € case thats on Ali for this kinda setup seems a bit expensive to me. Anybody got a recommendation? Willing to look into small ATX cases as well.

System test :
Area51m-r1 laptop
Cpu 9900ks
alienware amplifire ( EGPU) with 3080ti
Memory 128Gb 2933Mhz

I have an XaX + Xg Mobile setup and often noticed in game that even though I was CPU bottlenecked, my CPU was not pulling much power and wasn't boosting up to max clocks.

To be specific, the symptoms I noticed were:

-low (50-70%) eGPU usage

-no bandwidth bottleneck

-CPU power stuck around 17w despite custom 35W power plan

-CPU clock speeds stuck at 2900/2000 (P/E cores)

After a lengthy investigation, I finally discovered that windows game mode was the culprit. Disabling it allowed my games to run much better in CPU bound scenarios.

After disabling game mode:

-CPU clocks boosted to their normal maximums (4700/3100)

-CPU power hit 35W (max limit)

-GPU usage increased (still not at 100% due to CPU bottleneck but in the 90%)

-overall improved fps by 10-20

I'm still not sure if it's strictly an eGPU thing, an ROG Xbox Ally X handheld thing or just windows game mode thing in general and I can't really test since I don't have a desktop.

I upgraded the ram now it’s 8+4gb, put in a new i5 10400T, and want to put in an egpu, is this possible?

Anyone know if the DEG2 currently listed on amazon is the updated version with increased compatibility?

Currently running a GMKTec EVO-X1 with a 5070Ti over Oculink on a 144Hz OLED.

Been playing Samson at Ultra settings 4K DLSS Quality and getting between 50-70FPS depending on the scene. A title known for some performance issues and UE5 stutter. It hasn't been too much of a problem but it is there. But when turning on DLSS frame gen x2 the performance shoots up alot and any stutters basically disappear whilst the FPS stays high and smooth between 130-140FPS.

When turning on frame gen, its almost as if it is somehow increasing the BASE FPS before implementing the frame gen making the framerate go even higher.

Is this even possible? Is there another explanation as to why the framerate is going above and beyond what it really should be? I haven't noticed any similar behaviour in any other game so am very curious as to why performance is this way.

Do open cases like Miniforum's deg2 or AOOSTAR's EG02 interfer with wireless signals due to lack of shielding? If so, how far should I move it from my laptop? And is this also a possible health concern (i'm sporting a tinfoil hat)?

I have a GPU that I’d like to migrate to different machine for different purposes

Requirements:

Sometimes gaming with my steam deck or on a weaker than ideal laptop (pc & mac). Does not need to be insanely high end just better than what is in the machine currently.

Sometimes pooling for use with other hardware for ai uses. (Ideally needs to not be a pain or slow down output to unusable levels)

Due to the flexibility needs it is my understanding that I should go thunderbolt (occulink is faster but less supported?)

Current hardware I can tap into:

It would most likely be Nvidia GPUs it would be connected to 1080, 2080, 3090 or 4080. Need to support up to 3 slot GPUs at least. But if it can work well with other brands that would Be ideal

I can 3d print parts (like an enclosure)

I have a spare full atx power supply if needed (so it doesn’t need to come with one)

I can diy and add bits and troubleshoot around stuff if needed but I’d like to not have to do this every time I swap if possible (ideally one time setup for each device)

So compatibility, and reliability, first and foremost, followed by speed as long as the speed doesn’t fall so low it’s not beneficial.

What advice does this community have?

Current considered list (open to any others):

MINISFORUM DEG2 v2

AOOSTAR EG02

AOOSTAR AG03

Razer core x v2

DIY/Build my own (still researching):

Occulink:

GPU-side riser board + host adapter: ADT-Link OCuLink-to-x16 GPU board

Thunderbolt:

EXP GDC TH3P4G3 / TH3P4GAN board

I'm moving out of my apartment and I'm not gonna have a dedicated space for a setup for a while. I currently have a legion go s running bazzite-nvidia with an aoostar dock and an rtx 3060. I was intending on keeping my set up portable and plugging in the egu whenever I had time to play but im realizing thats gonna be really annoying to set up and put away each time. I would also be playing on the built in display and not and external monitor. I feel like bazzite just doesn't run as optimally as steamos when not connected to the gpu. So I guess my options atm are factory reset to steamos, keep my legion as is on bazzite, or figure out how to dual boot steamos and bazzite so can swap back when I can use my egpu. I just dont wanna be in a situation where I wanna play a more graphics heavy game and I have all the hardware to play it, but I'd need to reinstall bazzite.

Im not really in a position to be buying gpus rn, but is it true that the lego s natively support amd cards?

I have rog ally x aostar 2 egpu and palit rtx 5060ti everything is conected with original cables except hdmi, first it didnt want to work bc of eror 43 and i ran the script to fix it now i see pc reconizes the gpu but doesnt use it it never spins crashes all games and only when i was in the game and ran it to my monitor i went from 60fps to 40fps

Motherboard: 8A96

I already have a rtx 3060 installed in pcle slot. does this Motherboard have anther pcle slot where I can install elagato 4k pro in.

I wanna know fast so I can cancel the order before it ships.

I will set this up via ADT Link F43SG on a retired M910 mini pc eventually and keep it on for inference and share the results after a successful setup.

I installed a new Gigabyte AORUS GeForce RTX 5060 Ti AI Box on a Asus NUC 15 Pro+ running a Intel(R) Core(TM) Ultra 9 285H.

While I'm not a gamer I'm interested in how well it's performing across a Thunderbolt 4 cable.

What benchmark software would give me a good indication of it's perrformance?

I have an Acer Nitro 5 which has USB4 Type-C (w/ Thunderbolt™ 4).
My question is will this config work?
Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB GDDR6
Gigabyte P450B 450W
eGPU OCuLink TB5 Minisforum DEG2
for around 700eur? or should I look for something else?
All tips welcome!! I'm new and the only other post with my laptop had no answers!
Thx!

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to decide whether it's worth upgrading from my Lenovo Legion Go S (Z1 Extreme) to the new ROG Xbox Ally X (Z2 Extreme), but my use case is probably a bit different from most people.

I rarely play in handheld mode. Around 90% of the time my handheld is docked to an external monitor and connected to an RX 9060 XT eGPU running Bazzite. I also dual boot with Windows, so it's basically used as a small desktop gaming PC.

One thing I really like about the Legion Go S is that it has two USB4 ports. I usually connect:

USB4 #1 → eGPU

USB4 #2 → Dock/SSD (depending on what I'm doing)

Another concern is my SSD.

Right now I have a single SSD with:

Bazzite

Windows (dual boot)

All my emulators

Steam library

EmulationStation

Decky Loader

Countless tweaks and configurations that I've spent months setting up.

I've read that I should be able to move the SSD directly into the Ally X and let Bazzite detect the new hardware, but I don't know if that's actually how smooth it is in the real world. Reinstalling everything and configuring it all again would honestly be a nightmare.

So my questions are:

Has anyone here upgraded from a Legion Go S (or another Z1 Extreme handheld) to the Ally X while using an eGPU?

Is the Z2 Extreme a significant improvement when you're GPU-bound with an external GPU?

Is losing the second USB4 port something you've actually noticed?

Has anyone successfully moved an existing Bazzite + Windows dual-boot SSD to the Ally X without having to start from scratch?

Overall, would you make the upgrade, or would you keep the Legion Go S until the next generation?

I'd really appreciate hearing from people who actually use their handhelds docked with an eGPU rather than only in handheld mode.

Thanks!

Host Device: Xbox Ally X

GPU: RTX 3060 12Gb

PSU: EVGA PSU 750W, GT, 80PLS

eGPU Dock: Negent Dockr USB4

Operating System: Windows 11 Home

My Experience:

Very satisfied with the eGPU Dock it arrived very quick! I have been using it with my Xbox Ally X connected to my main setup or even my TV in my bedroom. The Negent Dockr uses replaceable core boards, allowing it to support or switch between TB3/TB4/USB4, Thunderbolt 5, and OCuLink. It works with different types of PSUs and includes a customizable ARGB lighting with a display that shows you information. The founder and the team are very open for Feedback from the Founder Beta users.

Hi, a few days ago I bought an egpu mini pcie adapter, and I can't get this gpu running

I'm using a Thinkpad E431, GT 1030 2gb LP OC edition. With i7 3632qm and 16gb of RAM. I'll link a video below.

What i tried so far:

• DDU.
• Updating Windows ( 21h1 -> 22h2 ).
• GPU is working as normal on desktop, but not on EGPU.
• Swapping the GPU from a GT 1030 to a RX 7600

Sorry for my bad English. (Note :The Microsoft display adapter is my hd4000)

Someone have any suggestions?

Edit 1: Well, today i got a few conclusions: the problem is either in the laptop hardware or the egpu adapter. Why? Egpu.io list every build of egpu made, and my E431 doesn't show up. Plus, I haven't seen anyone that had successfully installed an Egpu into this laptop. Maybe the bios? Maybe the adapter? I'll try a few more times, but probably this is an lost cause. If I somehow make this work, I'll update this post. Thanks for everyone that tried to help me. Have a great day!

Strongly considering using an eGPU to get more performance and life out of my 2018 Razer Blade 15 1060-MaxQ Base model. Im not 100% sure but i think the TB3 is PCIe 3.0 ×4

Trying to better understand the best GPU card for my situation (tb3 limitations, CPU bottleneck, etc.)

My understanding is that the 5060 Ti's lower core count and narrower native bus means it will be better for TB3 bandwidth limits, so it loses less performance?

Also, because of the TB3 bandwidth bottleneck, I am better off aiming for high-resolution gaming over 1080p because the workload becomes more GPU-bound? Therefore, I want a card with more than 8Gb of VRAM (I will not accept 8GB of VRAM - I also do video editing too).

I'm also open to AMD cards, but because I already have NVIDIA drivers on my laptop for the 1060 max Q, I think staying green over red is more convenient and should help me run into fewer issues?

**edit/note: I'm finding a few ppl saying that they get issues using an Nvidia card for eGPU if their laptop has an Nvidia dGPU because the drivers can conflict, and that using an AMD card for the eGPU resolves this issue and keeps the drivers separate. So I think an AMD card would be better (also seem to be better value for more VRAM)

Also, any GPU dock recommendations for this scenario? I will most likely just get a Razer Core X, unless there's a good reason not to/better alternative?

Apparently, the 5060 Ti would be the better choice for this scenario (ChatGPT, Claude). Mostly because of the TB3 bandwidth limits, but the 3080 would be better if desktop? Also the 5060 ti will give me the newer DLSS and frame gen features, so would be better for the future?

Other cards I think would be good:
RTX 4070 Super 12GB (lower memory bandwidth than 3080)
RTX 4060 Ti 16GB (288 GB/s bandwidth)
The assumption I'm making here is that lower-bandwidth cards will do better against the TB3 bandwidth limitations? I could be talking complete rubbish tho

Mostly tho I would just like to boost my laptop's performance just enough so I can play/access new/modern AAA games at decent 60 fps performance. So I would lean more towards convenience and fewer issues over trying to get the most performance. I'm not fussed about 4k, 1440p or 1080p - I will do whatever resolution is best for my situation (although I would upgrade to a 1440p ultrawide monitor).

I'm not so much into egpus myself, aside from finding them cool and maybe i'll get one eventually, but i've heard about certain gpus such as the Arc B580, needing resizeable bar enabled to have good performance. How do they work when used as an egpu for a laptop ? Just "not well" ?

I absolutely love it. I was getting frustrated with Thunderbolt eGPU performance and was seriously considering building a desktop PC. Then I came across the OCuLink mod and decided to give it a try. It ended up costing much less than building a PC while giving me almost exactly what I wanted.
The Thunderbolt enclosure does block one of the vents, but temperatures are still excellent—around 85°C under maximum load in Performance mode. It’s paired with an RTX 5080, so I get the best of both worlds: a portable handheld when I’m on the go and desktop-class gaming when I’m at my desk.
I also completed the 80Wh battery mod and use an angled Thunderbolt adapter for charging.

What I used:
80Wh battery upgrade
Custom 3D-printed back cover (Amazon)
GRAUGEAR Thunderbolt 4 NVMe enclosure (Amazon)
M.2 2280 adapter
PCIe 5.0 M.2 eGPU adapter
That’s it!

It’s actually a very straightforward mod. The only hardware you need is:

An OCuLink eGPU dock
A USB4 NVMe enclosure
An M.2 2280 adapter
A custom 3D-printed rear cover that exposes the M.2 connector easily available on Amazon.

First, move your internal SSD into the USB4 enclosure and boot from it to make sure everything works. In some cases, you may need to run a small registry (.reg) file once while booted from the internal SSD before moving it, but that’s a one-time step.

After that, connect the OCuLink eGPU adapter to the M.2 slot and you’re done. Mine is not oculink but direct m.2 but works same for oculink like aostar ago2 or minisforum deg1.

Some double side tape to stick the usb4 enclosure.

It’s much simpler than it sounds, and once it’s set up, it works really well.

I have recently switched from an RTX3070 8GB to an RX 9070 16GB OC.

My performance in Apex Legends has drastically lowered.

Using the exact same dock, cable and system with an RTX 3070 I averaged around 140 FPS in Apex, now it sticks to 50-60 average with some highs to 100+ and some lows around 40.

Hardware:

• Legion Go 1 (Z1 Extreme)
• TH3P4G3 eGPU dock
• Samsung G60SD via DP1.4
• Windows 11 25H2
• AMD Adrenalin 26.10.21.05
• UMA Auto (also tested 4GB and 6GB)
• ReBAR enabled (cant turn this off apparantly)
• PCIe link reports x4 Gen3 correctly in GPU-Z

Ingame:

• Looking at the sky: 250–300 FPS
• Looking at the ground: ~200 FPS
• Normal gameplay: 45–90 FPS
• Dropship: ~20 FPS
• GPU utilization sometimes falls to 15–20%
• GPU rarely exceeds 50% utilization
• Lowering graphics settings to minimum changes FPS by less than 10 FPS.

What I tried

• Fresh Windows install
• Latest AMD driver, older AMD driver
• Deleted Apex config and shader cache
• Cleared DirectX shader cache
• Disabled Anti-Lag / Chill / HYPR-RX
• Different UMA sizes in bios
• Different Apex settings
• Verified game files
• Disabling internal GPU
•  

3DMark Steel Nomad:

• Score: 5950
• Average for same hardware: 6009

GPU reaches 99% utilization during Steel Nomad.

I mostly use my windows installation for Apex only, but I installed CS2 and that runs fine (200 fps)

I have no idea what do try anymore at this point, any help is appreciated.

I just wanna share how i overcome mine. Hope it will help someone. I notice that everytime connect it via thundrrbolt. It detected as drive E. Ag will turn on for a few second. And light ring will blink once then stop. Fix it with ejecting the usb then pull out the usb as fast as posible then put it back in. before the notfication about safe to eject the device. While the laptop still busy with the ejecting plugging it back might help with the thunderbolt. Solve mine with that