2018 13" HP Spectre X360 [8th,4C,H] + GTX 970 @ 32Gbps-TB3 (Razer Core X) + Win10 [James Atilla Goodwin]  

System specs

HP Spectre x360 ap0028ca ($1450 CAD on Black Friday, down from $1900)

i7-8565U (1.8 GHz base frequency, up to 4.6 GHz with Intel® Turbo Boost Technology, 8 MB cache, 4 cores)

16 GB DDR4-2400 SDRAM (onboard)

512 GB PCIe® NVMe™ M.2 SSD

Intel® UHD Graphics 620, Win10

 

eGPU hardware

Razer Core X + GTX970 4gb

 

Hardware pictures 

Image 1

Image 2

 

Installation steps 

SUPER plug n play. Very impressed how it immediately recognized my card (especially now that its a bit older).  See comment at bottom for ongoing difficulty with recognizing on re-connects.

I took the GTX970 out of my old desktop, which will now function as a media/NAS for my house. I have never been a tinkerer, but taking out and installing a GPU is something anyone can do. I am not mechanically inclined, so believe me when I say that.

 

Benchmarks 

Cuda Core

Cuda Performance

Comments 

So nice to play games on higher settings smoothly. I mainly play strategy and rpg games so mainly it affects how pretty my game looks, not how quick my reactions can be.

Razer Core X is pretty heavy and no easy transport handles. I will be using this on some LANs so I'll need to pick up some sort of bag for it, no biggy though.

I used the foam the enclosure came with to make a little vertical laptop stand which I have found helps airflow dramatically. Even connected to egpu the laptop can run a bit hot, so propping up vertically seems like a no brainer.

Is it advised to turboboost the CPU? I am very newb at all this so your input is greatly appreciated!

One challenge I am having is disconnecting and reconnecting. 1 out of 2 or 3 reconnects I have to uninstall driver and perform a scan+update of drivers which is a pain. Is this because I am not unplugging correctly? Or missing software/driver that helps with this? Minor speedbump when hooking back into game mode. Your input is much appreciated!