After struggling (and failing) to get an eGPU working with my 2019 13" MacBook Pro, I finally moved on and purchased the Lenovo Yoga C940.
System Specs
14" FHD (1920x1080) IPS 400nits Glossy, Dolby Vision
Intel Core i7-1065G7 (4C/8T,1.3/3.9GHz,8MB)
Integrated Intel Iris Plus Graphics
12GB LPDDR4X-3733
512GB SSD M.2 2280 PCIe NVMe
 |
 |
 |
 |
eGPU Hardware
Razer Core X
AMD Radeon 5700 XT
Connected to 43" Sony 4K TV and Acer 27" Monitor
Installation Steps
Simply connect to computer using the included TB3 cable and install the AMD drivers. It automatically detects the eGPU and sets up AMD XConnect. There isn't much to it.
Benchmarks
 |
 |
||
 |
|||
| The benchmarks are running at 3840x2160 (4K) on High. | |||
| Borderlands 3 (not very detailed but shows FPS):  |
Far Cry New Dawn: |
||
Unigine Valley |
|||
Comments
I've always loved the idea of an eGPU. Decoupling a powerful GPU with all its heat and bulk from a ultraportable laptop is a dream come true. The Razer Core X handles the task incredibly well. As you can see above, even newer games such as Borderlands 3 and Far Cry New Dawn run fairly well at 4K, high settings. Honestly, this is better than I ever expected from a 2-in-1 laptop/tablet. In actual gaming, I'll scale down the resolution/quality for more stable FPS. But overall, for a mobile CPU and a mid-tier GPU, I'm extremely happy with the results.
Thanks to all who run and participate on this site. This is my first post, but I wouldn't be posting at all if not for all the information provided by everyone at eGPU.io. You guys rock!
Lenovo Yoga C940 | Razer Core X | AMD Radeon 5700 XT
2019 14" Lenovo Yoga C940 [10th,4C,G] + RX 5700 XT @ 32Gbps-TB3 (Razer Core X) + Win10 1909 [build link]
@topher Welcome aboard and thank you for sharing this excellent build! Which brand/model is your internal NVMe drive? Your benchmark numbers look great!
• external graphics card builds
• best laptops for external GPU
• eGPU enclosure buyer's guide
2020 14" MSI Prestige 14 EVO [11th,4C,G] + RTX 3080 @ 32Gbps-TB4 (AORUS Gaming Box) + Win10 2004 [build link]
Thanks! Yeah....really happy with it. The NVMe is Samsung, but probably an OEM variant of the 970 EVO based on benchmarks.
Lenovo Yoga C940 | Razer Core X | AMD Radeon 5700 XT
2019 14" Lenovo Yoga C940 [10th,4C,G] + RX 5700 XT @ 32Gbps-TB3 (Razer Core X) + Win10 1909 [build link]
Could you run Unigine Heaven at 1080p Ultra with max AA (Extreme HD) preset as well? Standard settings would help in direct comparisons to other builds. AIDA memory read seems to be the highest I've personally seen, and write is decent. Maybe due to the 10th gen Intel CPU.
purge-wrangler ✧ tbt-flash ✧ purge-nvda ✧ set-eGPU
Insights Into macOS Video Editing Performance
Master Threads:
2014 15-inch MacBook Pro 750M
2018 15-inch MacBook Pro
2019 13" MacBook Pro [8th,4C,U] + RX Vega 64 @ 32Gbps-TB3 (Mantiz Venus) + macOS 10.14.6 & Win10 [build link]
Lenovo Yoga C940 | Razer Core X | AMD Radeon 5700 XT
2019 14" Lenovo Yoga C940 [10th,4C,G] + RX 5700 XT @ 32Gbps-TB3 (Razer Core X) + Win10 1909 [build link]
@topher
I ordered the same laptop myself, only difference is that i got 16GB RAM (only option available here) and the 1TB SSD instead of the 512GB. My eGPU worked right from the start as well, just plug in, install drivers and ready to go. However, I'm a bit curious, does yours also have an issue with waking from sleep (no eGPU connected) after Windows Updates decides to force driver updates, no matter if device installation is set to disabled and using software to "force disable" automatic driver updates? Since mine keeps behaving like that (and I already reinstalled Windows 3 times to try and fix this issue since I got it last Friday) I already asked Lenovo to send it back though, but I'm still curious if that's just a one time tough luck situation or a general issue?
How To Undervolt Your GPU, Login Screen - GPU Driver Workaround
2017 13-inch MacBook Pro TB (7th,2C,U), macOS 11 (not in regular use with eGPU, mostly for testing)
2019 Intel NUC10i7FNK (10th,6C,U), Windows 10 20H2
Aorus Gaming Box 1070 (EVGA GTX1060 3G) - silent mod #1
Aorus Gaming Box 1080 (Gigabyte GTX1070 ITX OC) - Custom Case solution (TBD)
Hello there! Made an account in this website just to reply on your thread 
. Do you mind testing Heaven 4.0 benchmark with all settings cranked up @1080?
I've decided to get this card as well by next week and am just curious about it's performance on that particular benchmark because I haven't see any native Windows benchmark on this eGPU setup yet.
And oh, are you using internal or external display for the benchmark?
To do: Create my signature with system and expected eGPU configuration information to give context to my posts. I have no builds.
.I may be able to help you out a bit on this one.
Before I put mine back into it's box, I let it run some benchmarks with the eGPU.
I used Unigine Superposition for it, in order to also see some more recent CPU bottleneck possibilities (only the 720p scores are influenced in this concern):
Yoga C940-14IIL, i7-1065G7, 16GB [email protected]
eGPU: Aorus Gaming Box with Gigabyte GTX1070 ITX OC
| Preset | internal screen | external screen | Desktop (i5-4690K) |
| low - 720p | 19704 | 20841 | 18357 |
| medium - 1080p | 10477 | 11019 | 12151 |
| high - 1080p | 7868 | 8171 | 8739 |
| extreme - 1080p | 3276 | 3217 | 3323 |
| 4K - optimized | 4948 | 5040 | 5291 |
| 8K - optimized | 2227 | 2241 | 2268 |
Since I didn't get to do some undervolting back then, all scores but the 720p ones are lower than what the card can do due to some thermal throttling.
I also would like to mention, that while testing, the box and it's PSU were not closed and the smaller side fans missing (this is my second box and I'm still waiting on the fans I planned to put in. I will add another post in the related thread since this will be a slightly modified version of my previous silent mod on my other Aorus Box)
(EDIT: I forgot to add the desktop scores earlier for comparison, just added them so you can see the influence of the lower bandwidth)
How To Undervolt Your GPU, Login Screen - GPU Driver Workaround
2017 13-inch MacBook Pro TB (7th,2C,U), macOS 11 (not in regular use with eGPU, mostly for testing)
2019 Intel NUC10i7FNK (10th,6C,U), Windows 10 20H2
Aorus Gaming Box 1070 (EVGA GTX1060 3G) - silent mod #1
Aorus Gaming Box 1080 (Gigabyte GTX1070 ITX OC) - Custom Case solution (TBD)
@topher
I ordered the same laptop myself, only difference is that i got 16GB RAM (only option available here) and the 1TB SSD instead of the 512GB. My eGPU worked right from the start as well, just plug in, install drivers and ready to go. However, I'm a bit curious, does yours also have an issue with waking from sleep (no eGPU connected) after Windows Updates decides to force driver updates, no matter if device installation is set to disabled and using software to "force disable" automatic driver updates? Since mine keeps behaving like that (and I already reinstalled Windows 3 times to try and fix this issue since I got it last Friday) I already asked Lenovo to send it back though, but I'm still curious if that's just a one time tough luck situation or a general issue?
Ah....would have loved that option for increased RAM and SSD. But I got this on sale at Best Buy for $1199 so I can't complain too much. I haven't noticed any issues with the system waking, but I'm not sure if there have been any forced driver updates. Only real issue I had was random errors out of the box. So much so that I did a clean install of Windows. I'm guessing the problem was either all the bloatware they installed or just a faulty image in the factory. Hopefully that is just a rare issue you encountered, but I will certainly keep on eye out for it.
Hello there! Made an account in this website just to reply on your thread
I've decided to get this card as well by next week and am just curious about it's performance on that particular benchmark because I haven't see any native Windows benchmark on this eGPU setup yet.And oh, are you using internal or external display for the benchmark?
I'll run the Heaven 4.0 benchmark tonight and post the results. I'm using an external display for the results.
Lenovo Yoga C940 | Razer Core X | AMD Radeon 5700 XT
2019 14" Lenovo Yoga C940 [10th,4C,G] + RX 5700 XT @ 32Gbps-TB3 (Razer Core X) + Win10 1909 [build link]
Lenovo Yoga C940 | Razer Core X | AMD Radeon 5700 XT
2019 14" Lenovo Yoga C940 [10th,4C,G] + RX 5700 XT @ 32Gbps-TB3 (Razer Core X) + Win10 1909 [build link]