External Graphics Card

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shoultzy

Junior Member
Sep 9, 2013
4
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Well 2 years ago Best Buy screwed over my parents when they tried to buy me the best pre built computer in the store.

Everything is perfect, but the graphics card only has 64 mb dedicated memory...
That's completely and utterly horrible.

But now since my interest has moved to some newer games besides the ones i've been playing for the past 6 years, I need to be able to run them.

I have a laptop, so i can't replace my video card. I'm planning on buying an External Graphics Card.
Everything in the laptop is PERFECT, except for the graphics card. Right now I can't even run BF3 on Low, I compare my specs and everything passes except for the graphics card. So if i get a new graphics card I'll be saving a lot of money.

But I need more information on them, I google them and i don't know what adapter is best? What kind of adapter, if certain video cards don't work for certain adapter, basically just any information.

So if I could just get some information them from somebody that would be great.
 
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Mushkins

Golden Member
Feb 11, 2013
1,631
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Long story short: don't waste your time.

Can you make an external GPU work? Yes. You aren't just gonna buy a GPU and an adapter and plug it into a USB port though. I've seen people hack together external GPUs for a Macbook using the Thunderbolt connector, but they're clunky, extremely expensive, have a lot of issues, and don't perform as well as they would in a discrete solution.

Unless you're a serious hardware enthusiast doing a hardware mod for fun, it's cheaper and easier to save your money and just buy a new PC with the graphical power you want.
 
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blackened23

Diamond Member
Jul 26, 2011
8,548
2
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If your GPU is 64MB, your laptop is from the dark ages most likely. There is no external GPU. External GPUs via thunderbolt, which is found on Apple portables, has been toyed with but the cost is ridiculous and there is a severe performance handicap for being on the thunderbolt bus. There is no PC ultrabook that has thunderbolt that i'm aware of, and even if there were - external GPUs cost well over 1000$ with a severe performance handicap at that.

You're better off getting a new laptop. What you're asking for realistically isn't possible.
 
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blackened23

Diamond Member
Jul 26, 2011
8,548
2
0
Mushkins said:
Long story short: don't waste your time.

Can you make an external GPU work? Yes. You aren't just gonna buy a GPU and an adapter and plug it into a USB port though. I've seen people hack together external GPUs for a Macbook using the Thunderbolt connector, but they're clunky, extremely expensive, have a lot of issues, and don't perform as well as they would in a discrete solution.

Unless you're a serious hardware enthusiast doing a hardware mod for fun, it's cheaper and easier to save your money and just buy a new PC with the graphical power you want.
Click to expand...

He doesn't have a macbook. His graphics card is 64Megabytes? (In other words, extremely old)

I have a feeling that his laptop is from 2008, and it isn't a macbook with thunderbolt anyway, so there's no way he can make this work even if he wanted to deal with the frustration and ridiculous cost associated with it.
 
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shoultzy

Junior Member
Sep 9, 2013
4
0
0
Mushkins said:
Long story short: don't waste your time.

Can you make an external GPU work? Yes. You aren't just gonna buy a GPU and an adapter and plug it into a USB port though. I've seen people hack together external GPUs for a Macbook using the Thunderbolt connector, but they're clunky, extremely expensive, have a lot of issues, and don't perform as well as they would in a discrete solution.

Unless you're a serious hardware enthusiast doing a hardware mod for fun, it's cheaper and easier to save your money and just buy a new PC with the graphical power you want.
Click to expand...

blackened23 said:
If your GPU is 64MB, your laptop is from the dark ages most likely. There is no external GPU. External GPUs via thunderbolt, which is found on Apple portables, has been toyed with but the cost is ridiculous and there is a severe performance handicap for being on the thunderbolt bus. There is no PC ultrabook that has thunderbolt that i'm aware of, and even if there were - external GPUs cost well over 1000$ with a severe performance handicap at that.

You're better off getting a new laptop. What you're asking for realistically isn't possible.
Click to expand...

blackened23 said:
He doesn't have a macbook. His graphics card is 64Megabytes? (In other words, extremely old)

I have a feeling that his laptop is from 2008, and it isn't a macbook with thunderbolt anyway, so there's no way he can make this work even if he wanted to deal with the frustration and ridiculous cost associated with it.
Click to expand...

Actually my laptop is fairly new. It has an i5 so it can't be from 2008
The best buy guy told my parents that it was top of line.
And how are they supposed to know differently, let me get my specs

Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2430M CPU @ 2.40GHz
2.4 GHz Performance Rated at: 6 GHz
6.1 GB RAM
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Edition Service Pack 1 (build 7601), 64-bit
Intel(R) HD Graphics Family 3000 is the GPU

My actual computer is http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...FeoWMgodGlQAgQ
 
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blackened23

Diamond Member
Jul 26, 2011
8,548
2
0
shoultzy said:
Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2430M CPU @ 2.40GHz
2.4 GHz Performance Rated at: 6 GHz
6.1 GB RAM
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Edition Service Pack 1 (build 7601), 64-bit
Intel(R) HD Graphics Family 3000 is the GPU
Click to expand...

The first lesson to be learned here, is never trust a Best Buy drone. That being said, if your computer was bought in the 2011 time frame it wasn't a bad machine. That was a pretty good CPU for the time - however, the graphics is merely the integrated HD3000 which isn't adequate for gaming.

So the computer was new - surprisingly, the best buy drones didn't lie to you. But it isn't fit for gaming, really. Unfortunately, you'll need to get a new machine if you want something for gaming - look for a portable with something along the lines of a quad mobile i7 or an i5 with a GTX 780M GPU. (if cost isn't an issue to you). I've seen some pretty good mid range laptops with mobile discrete GPUs around the 1000$ mark, in fact.
 
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