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Comment by prettyStandard | Hacker News Reader

Love framework.

My girlfriend needs a new gaming laptop. I'm setting her up with a framework and an external GPU.

Nothing says "portable gaming" like an eGPU

On the other hand I know multiple people who basically never move their laptop, and their list of reasons for getting a laptop boils down to "everyone has a laptop", "I've always had a laptop" and "it takes less space". For these people, an eGPU is a reasonable choice.

What about people who game on their laptop (at home) but don't need to game on the go? In that case an eGPU also sounds like a reasonable choice. They can just leave the eGPU at home and still be productive away from their desk.

I'm one of those people. My current laptop came with an eGPU enclosure, and I recently put a 3090 in it. The battery life on the laptop is so bad that it's basically a desktop now constantly connected to the eGPU and power supply. For gaming and resource heavy tasks it works great though, even if a bit loud at times.

I ended up getting a much better and slimmer laptop for actual portable work.

Originally she asked for a desktop. I talked her into a laptop with an eGPU because she has a medical condition that significantly limits her strength and flexibility. I thought splitting the GPU would be best for weight and did not want to burden her with a chonky gaming laptop.

My gaming laptop's mainboard recently got fried from overheating, could you tell me a bit more about this setup/where to look to find out more? I've never even considered this possibility, I was tempted to just give up on laptops for gaming for good this time and build a computer, but your setup sounds very interesting

Sure, we are settled on these parts for now, and tested the PCIe to nvme setup on my framework laptop already.

SilverStone Technology Ultra Small Form Factor Computer Case Mini-ITX in Pink SG13P https://a.co/d/exedSxn

SilverStone Technology SX800-LTI 800W, SFX-L, 80 Plus Titanium, Modular Power Supply with Japanese Capacitors https://a.co/d/3nPhC7D Yes I know the PSU is overkill, keep reading to understand.

ADT-Link M.2 NGFF NVMe Key M Extender Cable to PCIE x16 Graphics Card Riser Adapter 16x PCI-e PCI-Express for M2 2230 2242 2260 2280 (25cm) https://a.co/d/byrNLRB

OWC Envoy Express Thunderbolt 3 Enclosure for NVMe M.2 SSD https://a.co/d/1j8j9T2

IOmesh Black Universal IO Shield Plate - for All PC Motherboards That was Lost Original Backplate, Make New Custom IO Shield for PC Motherboard https://a.co/d/cccJpiA

Then we might share my 3060 until I feel like buying a 4000 series. Buying the parts in this way will also let us pivot back to this case holding a desktop if later desired. Weight is also a serious concern as she can't lift much due to a medical condition, so having a non chonky laptop for travel is useful.

Even still, my 11th gen framework played my game FF7 Remake, and her favorite, Second Life, just fine. So I figure a low end 12th gen frame.work should be perfect. Which will also let us salvage memory, wifi, NVMe from her old laptop.

Thinking about turning the old laptop into a lapdock.

https://www.instructables.com/How-to-Convert-a-Laptop-LCD-in...

Not sure if I should throw it in the trash, sell it for parts, or do a strange project with it.

Also, I've already checked the dimensions, I should be able to retire the old framework mainboards into the case I picked up for her. There is a frame.work main board to ATX stand off design file out there, will need a small adaptation to fit that case, but it should be fine.

Thanks for the detailed answer! So if I understand correctly you're planning to use a small computer case instead of an eGPU specific one? This is probably a stupid question but I don't quite understand it connects to the laptop

Yup, no worries.

GPU => PCIe-NVMe adapter => NVMe-THunderbolt adapter => Laptop with thunderbolt port.

I forgot one other useful product. This thing below will wire the PSU to always be on, but many PSUs have a switch on the back anyways.

ASHATA 24-Pin ATX Power Supply Jumper Bridge Tool,24Pin ATX Power Supply Starter Power Module 20+4 Pin PSU Reboot Connecter for BTC Miner Machine https://a.co/d/btOU8D9

Under the hood thunderbolt supports PCIe x4 Gen 3. Hence my previous question on if it was possible to bond 2 or 4 thunderbolt ports into a full PCIe x16 port, but that is definitely a bridge too far, lol.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34655290

In short, on a USB 3 port with thunderbolt (or a USB 4 port) you can connect an external GPU enclosure. I think the standard setup is to just get an enclosure (like a Razor Core X) and add your own full-sized GPU.

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