System specs (model inc screen size, CPU, iGPU, dGPU, operating system which eGPU is being used)
16GB Memory
1TB Storage
UHD+ Touchscreen
i7-1065G7 Ice Lake Processor
eGPU hardware
Using the short TB3 Cable included
Asus Dual-RTX2060-O6G
External Display
Samsung 34" WQHD
C34J79 Model
Hardware pictures
Installation steps
1. Insert Graphics Card into eGPU. I was worried that it might not fit, but it did.
2. Connect Display Port cable from eGPU GRaphics Card to Monitor.
3. Connect TB3 cable bundled with eGPU to Laptop
4. Download Razer's software, which might have been unnecessary.
5. Download Drivers from Nvidia. Just Google "nvidia drivers" and manually select the appropriate driver from the drop down menus. I selected the Studio driver instead of the Game Ready Driver.
6. Restart computer.
7. Enter in Windows Recovery Key
8. Success
Benchmarks (Include a CUDA-Z or AIDA64 bandwidth pic. Optional: Valley, 3dmark, noting if it's on internal/external LCD )
Using External Display:
Using Internal Display:
Comments
eGPU charges laptop just fine.
Hot plugging unplugging works with no issues most of the time.
Single BT dongle for both wireless mouse and wireless keyboard inserted into one of the USB-A ports on the back of the eGPU. haven't noticed any issues.
Issue with the laptop is that it just does not connect via TB3 directly to my monitor, which is very strange. But since I have my current setup it's moot.
I use it for 3D modelling, video editing. Life is much better
Problems / Solutions
Problem: I have encountered issues where the computer will occasionally just freeze when using the eGPU, and I will have to reboot. I haven't been able to isolate what is triggering this problem. It is very annoying.
Solution: Open the NVIDIA control panel, navigate to Mange 3D setting -> Global setting -> Power Management Mode. Set to 'Prefer Maximum Performance'. No freezes since.
Problem: When connecting the TB3 cable from the eGPU to the laptop the eGPU would connect properly (the RGB light inside and outside would light up), but the actual graphics card would not load. Going into the device manager, you can see that the RTX 20260 is detected but with a problem: "This device is not working properly because Windows cannot load the drivers required for this device. (Code 31)"
Solution: Uninstall Razer Synapse.
Problem: After the laptop has been asleep for a while and i resume work, the wireless keyboard and mouse (with the dongle on the eGPU USB-A port) would not be responsive.
Workaround: Go to device manager, find the USB port giving the problem. Disable it, and then Enable it. The keyboard and Mouse are responsive after that.
What sorta speeds do you get? What sorta settings do you play on your games, and how much did the gpu and enclosure cost you?
To do: Create my signature with system and expected eGPU configuration information to give context to my posts. I have no builds.
.@fromthevault, I don't really play games on my setup. Just use it for work.
I got the Razer Core X Chroma brand new on Amazon for 450 SGD. I purchased the Graphics card second hand (but lightly used) for 420 SGD
Do you have HWinfo64 installed on your Dell 9300? I was interested to see whether the two thunderbolt ports were on the same PCIe bus or on separate.
To do: Create my signature with system and expected eGPU configuration information to give context to my posts. I have no builds.
.
@ambronet, It should be similar to the MacBook 13 inch 2020 or MacBook Air 2020. The Thunderbolt controller is integrated in the Ice Lake CPU. All ports are basically independent. There's maybe a 5 GB/s max bandwidth which is plenty for two Thunderbolt 3 ports. On Ice Lake, all four Thunderbolt ports appear under their own root port. Each root port reports 2.5 GT/s x4 (8 Gbps) but the speed is actually faster than that (more like 22 Gbps).
https://egpu.io/forums/laptop-computing/ice-lake-cpu-on-die-thunderbolt-3-controller-bandwidth/
@ambronet, It should be similar to the MacBook 13 inch 2020 or MacBook Air 2020. The Thunderbolt controller is integrated in the Ice Lake CPU. All ports are basically independent. There's maybe a 5 GB/s max bandwidth which is plenty for two Thunderbolt 3 ports. On Ice Lake, all four Thunderbolt ports appear under their own root port. Each root port reports 2.5 GT/s x4 (8 Gbps) but the speed is actually faster than that (more like 22 Gbps).
https://egpu.io/forums/laptop-computing/ice-lake-cpu-on-die-thunderbolt-3-controller-bandwidth/
Thanks for clarifying @joevt. That’s good to know, so essentially on Ice Lake cpus there is no PCH and therefore shared PCI busses?
To do: Create my signature with system and expected eGPU configuration information to give context to my posts. I have no builds.
.