These are the look out for you when you are either buying for yourself or someone else. Read the following information carefully and prepare for the purchase better so that you really understand the parameters and pay for the best functionality.
eGPU
The ever-growing race of latest Graphic Processor Unit or video cards keep on surprising with the latest technology they are bringing out forth in the market. Video Card manufacturers taken advantage of the modern lightning fast throughput of the USB and thunderbolt busses to create the external graphics processing units or eGPUs, standalone boxes with the video cards for processing and gaming.
Since the launch of the eGPU lot of users have been migrating or adding up to their video processor. Since it does not take up space inside your case and clog the space on the motherboard this is becoming extremely useful thing to do since your are just plugging it into the USB or Thunderbolt and put it aside as stand alone GPU. This is a perfect use case for portable computers.
eGPU also enables you to edit 4k right on the go and then play graphics intensive games on portable computers like Ultrabooks and MacBook pros. With this, the portable device stays the same ultra-thin and portable unlike one of the gaming portables. Additionally, if you are into high spec video edition or graphic intensive tasks and gaming but in need of an ultra portable computer, you do not need to necessarily shell out for a dedicated video production or gaming computers.
eGPU manufacturers
There are different video and peripheral companies out there such as GigaByte, Alienware and ASUS offer various kind of eGPU in terms of appearance and components. For instance, the GIGABYTE AORUS gaming box comes with a power supply, high end Gigabyte-branded NVIDIA gaming card, a circuit board, an enclosure with HDMI, DP and DVI for video output. Additionally the enclosure has four USB ports. Connectivity to the portable ais made through thunderbolt.
The Alienware Graphics Amplifier has an enclosure specifically for Alienware notebooks. It does not necessarily come with a graphics card but offers a circuit board with a PCIe slot to insert your GPU of your choice that is compatible with your system of course. Connectivity to the portables are done via proprietary Alienware connector. The ASUS ROG XG station 2 offers a likewise case to the Alienware but does not come in with the proprietary things.
Is it better to build your own hardware or get a ready-to-use one?
The difference between a full featured and DIY (do it yourself) builds is generally found in the price. The Gigabyte generally rolls around at $600 while the Alienware can be found at as low as $200. ASUS loves it enclosure more than the internal components and more for its design. They sell the box for over $500 without a vidoe card. How about that?
While all of these may sound too promising but don’t just step right in and make a good research before buying one. Also, you will find plenty of controversy as well in the community since these eGPUs do have some drawbacks. What are they it really varies based on the user and the applications they are using with it.