Installation steps
Installing a GPU in the HP Omen Accelerator is difficult because of the poor visibility of the pci-e slot. The Accelerator is huge and to me it feels like a waste of space.
After that everything is easy: support.hp.com/..Accelerator.. about the Accelerator gives all the drivers required.
Disconnecting it's also easy:
I had some low performance with the XPS 13 9370 because my bios was not updated (even if Dell SupporAssist was saying so) so I flashed the latest bios.
So keep in mind to double check all the driver/firmware versions.
I've also updated to windows 1809 the XPS 13, while the XPS 15 is still on 1803.
eGPU hardware
- HP Omen Accelerator
- GigaByte GeForce RTX 2070 WINDFORCE 8G
- External monitor HP 27w FullHD, 60Hz refresh rate
System specs
| notebook | Dell XPS 13" 9370 | Dell XPS 15" 9560 |
| CPU | Intel i7 - 8550 | Intel i7 - 7700 |
| Ram | 16 Gb | 2x 8 GB DDR4-2400 |
| Storage | 512 Gb ssd nvme | 512 Gb ssd NVMe |
| iGpu | Intel UHD Graphics 620 | Intel HD Graphics 630 |
| dGpu | - | GeForce GTX 1050 |
| cuda-z |
 |
 |
Benchmarks
I kept the RTX 2070 in default config, without OC.
| XPS 13" 9370 + RTX 2070
|
XPS 15" 9560 + RTX 2070
|
XPS 15" 9560 + GTX 1050
|
|
| Ungine Heaven | 2798 (111.1 fps) (29.9 - 234.6) fps |
2616 (103.8 fps) (23.0 - 214.1) fps |
787 (31.2 fps) (7.0 - 78.8) fps |
| Ungine Valley | 3937 (94.1 fps) (22.3 - 177.7) fps |
3587 (85.7 fps) (27.7 - 150.1) fps |
1155 (27.6 fps) (12.8 - 57.6) fps |
| Battlefield V | ~60 FPS (ultra settings, read below) |
~60 FPS (ultra settings, read below) |
Playable at constant 40 FPS (Low settings, max FPS lock: 40) |
Battlefield V
Xps 13" 9370, RTX 2070 Ray Tracing, DX12:
15-50 fps (avg. < 30fps)
Actually there are no big difference in ultra or low settings: it's just a couple of frames. The game may exceed 50 FPS only when Ray tracing isn't being used, for example inside a building. For me the game is not playable because I'm getting lower than 30 FPS in most scenarios.
Xps 13" 9370, RTX 2070 no Ray Tracing, DX12:
Ultra: 45-80 fps (avg. 50fps)
Low: 45-90 fps (avg. 55fps)
Ultra, locked at 60fps max: at least 55 fps
For me the most enjoyable gameplay is ultra settings at 60fps max. The fans of the XPS 13 spin at 5500~6000 rpm while the CPU is used 80~95%. Given that the max is 8000 rpm, maybe repasting and undervolting the CPU and overclocking the GPU may result in some more fps, but for now there is no need.
The XPS 15" 9560, RTX 2070:
Ultra Ultra: 40-95 fps (avg. 50fps)
Has a little bit more fps than the XPS 13 with RTX 2070(let's say +5 fps in all cases), maybe because the cpu keeps better the clock. Anyway i've never exiperienced termal throttling.
As said before Ray Tracing is too taxing on the system, and even in the XPS 15 the game was barely playable.
I've only played using DX12. I'm going to update the review with info about the gamplay with DX11.
Anyway to me, playing with the XPS 13 in 5Ghz WiFi was better than the XPS 15 in 2.4GHz WiFi standard connection.
XPS 15" 9560, dGPU GTX 1050:
barely holds the game soi had to set:
low settings
70% virtual resolution
MaxFps locked at 40 fps (editing user.cfg)
doing so the game is playble and it never goes under 37 fps. I played with the dGPU 1050 for more than a month so it's not that orrible.
Can someone suggest me a program to record the fps during the game? So that i can se the (min-avg-max) as a result.
Pending: Add my system information and expected eGPU configuration to my signature to give context to my posts
Do you mean recording gameplay like nvidia shadow play or relive or FPS counter like fraps or afterburner OSD? Never recorded my gameplay but I always use afterburner onscreen display for monitor FPS like this
Your xps15 seemly has only 2 lanes that makes bandwidth on cudaZ lower than xps13. With external monitor maybe due better cpu it’ll perform better.
I am also using 2070, Evga Black. Ray Tracing is unusable with UCPU very laggy, but on medium 1440p is fine on H cpu (8750H) on blade 15, depends on area though but worse case is around 40fps, so for Story is fine but not on competitive to me. Without dxr on, on ultrabook I think I could even play 4K hitting 60fps on dessert map.
About cpu thermal, xps 15 I believe similar with my Blade 15, it’ll share overall temperature with dgpu and leave more cooling room inside laptop. I got up to 20 Celsius thermal improvement depends on titles, unlike on ultrabook that stress the cpu more and hitting often 90ish on demanding titles like FFXV and AC Odyssey, undervolting is needed on ultrabook cpu.
For OC i use +185 core and +700 on memory. OC scanner was actually showing +260 on core but it wasn’t working on real gaming usage, but mostly I run over 2Ghz as shown on that picture, higher than default 1620Mhz default boost clock.
Razer Blade 15 2018, i7 8750H 16gb ddr4 2666mhz 1tb 970Evo
Razer Blade Stealth 12,5 2016 i7 7500U 8gb ddr3 1866mhz 500gb 970Evo
MacBook Pro 13 mid 2012 i5 3210M 12gb ddr3 1600mhz 500GB HDD
Razer Core V2 rtx 2070 Black 2040mhz Boost clock
Previous setting: rtx 2080ti Asus Turbo, rtx 2080 xc gaming, rtx 2080 Fe, Zotac Mini 1080ti, Evga 1080 FTW2 gaming.
Dual Monitor Predator XB241YU 165Hz 1440p, LG l24UD58 60Hz 4K
Portable Monitor Magedok 1440p HDR 60Hz usbA/C monitor
Do you mean recording gameplay like nvidia shadow play or relive or FPS counter like fraps or afterburner OSD? Never recorded my gameplay but I always use afterburner onscreen display for monitor FPS like this
Your xps15 seemly has only 2 lanes that makes bandwidth on cudaZ lower than xps13. With external monitor maybe due better cpu it’ll perform better.
I am also using 2070, Evga Black. Ray Tracing is unusable with UCPU very laggy, but on medium 1440p is fine on H cpu (8750H) on blade 15, depends on area though but worse case is around 40fps, so for Story is fine but not on competitive to me. Without dxr on, on ultrabook I think I could even play 4K hitting 60fps on dessert map.
About cpu thermal, xps 15 I believe similar with my Blade 15, it’ll share overall temperature with dgpu and leave more cooling room inside laptop. I got up to 20 Celsius thermal improvement depends on titles, unlike on ultrabook that stress the cpu more and hitting often 90ish on demanding titles like FFXV and AC Odyssey, undervolting is needed on ultrabook cpu.
For OC i use +185 core and +700 on memory. OC scanner was actually showing +260 on core but it wasn’t working on real gaming usage, but mostly I run over 2Ghz as shown on that picture, higher than default 1620Mhz default boost clock.
I mean that while I play there is also some program that records the fps and later it tells me the min-max-average fps that Ii had (i don't mean record the gameplay like video record). How can i do that?
By the time I will improve this tread adding some temperature's screen of aida64. I'll try to push the eGPU at it's limit to see ho much i can improve the results.
Pending: Add my system information and expected eGPU configuration to my signature to give context to my posts
Do you mean recording gameplay like nvidia shadow play or relive or FPS counter like fraps or afterburner OSD? Never recorded my gameplay but I always use afterburner onscreen display for monitor FPS like this
Your xps15 seemly has only 2 lanes that makes bandwidth on cudaZ lower than xps13. With external monitor maybe due better cpu it’ll perform better.
I am also using 2070, Evga Black. Ray Tracing is unusable with UCPU very laggy, but on medium 1440p is fine on H cpu (8750H) on blade 15, depends on area though but worse case is around 40fps, so for Story is fine but not on competitive to me. Without dxr on, on ultrabook I think I could even play 4K hitting 60fps on dessert map.
About cpu thermal, xps 15 I believe similar with my Blade 15, it’ll share overall temperature with dgpu and leave more cooling room inside laptop. I got up to 20 Celsius thermal improvement depends on titles, unlike on ultrabook that stress the cpu more and hitting often 90ish on demanding titles like FFXV and AC Odyssey, undervolting is needed on ultrabook cpu.
For OC i use +185 core and +700 on memory. OC scanner was actually showing +260 on core but it wasn’t working on real gaming usage, but mostly I run over 2Ghz as shown on that picture, higher than default 1620Mhz default boost clock.I mean that while I play there is also some program that records the fps and later it tells me the min-max-average fps that Ii had (i don't mean record the gameplay like video record). How can i do that?
By the time I will improve this tread adding some temperature's screen of aida64. I'll try to push the eGPU at it's limit to see ho much i can improve the results.
On gaming benchmark tools, like tomb Raider and Assassin Creed Franchises, Gear of war 4, GTA V, they’re have those benchmark. If you want your real gaming experience average use Afterburner OSD, and set average FPS to show on tray, pause the game and look at windows tab the average FPS. The setting is like this.
Razer Blade 15 2018, i7 8750H 16gb ddr4 2666mhz 1tb 970Evo
Razer Blade Stealth 12,5 2016 i7 7500U 8gb ddr3 1866mhz 500gb 970Evo
MacBook Pro 13 mid 2012 i5 3210M 12gb ddr3 1600mhz 500GB HDD
Razer Core V2 rtx 2070 Black 2040mhz Boost clock
Previous setting: rtx 2080ti Asus Turbo, rtx 2080 xc gaming, rtx 2080 Fe, Zotac Mini 1080ti, Evga 1080 FTW2 gaming.
Dual Monitor Predator XB241YU 165Hz 1440p, LG l24UD58 60Hz 4K
Portable Monitor Magedok 1440p HDR 60Hz usbA/C monitor
As i tought you have to tell to afterburner when to evaluate the fps average. To do so go 'settings, benchmark' and assign hotkeys. Then during the game i am able to enable/disable it!
Pending: Add my system information and expected eGPU configuration to my signature to give context to my posts