Be sure to check it out before you buy!Īkitio has gone all-in on external graphics card docks by offering not one but three models: the Node, Node Lite, and Node Pro. PowerColor maintains a list of supported graphics cards and host systems in the specifications section of its Gaming Station webpage. The newer box is rocking a 550 watt power supply, ethernet, and five USB 3.0 ports. PowerColor’s preferred enclosure is the simply named Gaming Station ( $300 on Newegg Remove non-product link). It’s still listed on PowerColor’s site, but it isn’t easy to find. PowerColor’s Thunderbolt 3-based Devil Box was a similarly fancy box that sold for $450 in the early days of external graphics docks. You’ll also need a relatively new notebook equipped with a Thunderbolt 3-compatible USB-C port. These days most Thunderbolt 3 laptops and graphics card enclosures play nicely together thanks to Intel’s Thunderbolt 3 external graphics compatibility technology, which PC makers must specifically enable. Enclosures are, for the most part, still a pricey proposition-much more so than the DIY method we’ll outline later. Thunderbolt 3 levels the playing field, and several companies now offer TB3-based graphics card docks, complete with dedicated power supplies, additional ports, and-of course-room to slot desktop graphics cards.Īll is not perfect in the world of Thunderbolt 3-powered graphics, however. For resource-intensive activities like gaming, a speedy connection between your laptop and an external graphics card provides a big boost for performance.Įarlier attempts at external graphics card docks existed, but they were usually overpriced and relied on proprietary connection technologies. Thunderbolt 3 (TB3) is Intel’s high-speed external input/output connection, capable of speeds up to a blistering 40 gigabytes per second (GBps) over a compatible USB-C port. Thunderbolt 3 graphics card docks Adam Patrick Murray/IDGĪ Razer Core connected to a Razer Blade Stealth laptop via Thunderbolt 3/USB-C. First, let’s tackle the modern approach of using a graphics card dock via Thunderbolt 3. We’ll walk you through the DIY process for configuring an external graphics card later in this article, along with the sudden rise of streaming PC games from the cloud.

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