Does it make sense to buy an external graphics card?

Nowadays PC New model ultra laptops are very popular in the world, with which you can handle many professional tasks such as gaming and video editing and editing. But these laptops are often used for business and gaming performance in order to increase to external graphics card may need it. Because although they are produced for work and gaming performance, these laptops generally use the internal graphics card on the processor.

For this reason, users can turn to external graphics cards. But here again, there are a few issues that users need to consider. Firstly, external graphics cards have high prices, and secondly, these external graphics card boxes make portability difficult. Let's look at the pros and cons of external graphics cards and Does it make sense to buy an external graphics card for better gaming performance? 

Performance:

When we look at the table we shared in this title; It has a 10th generation Intel i7 processor, 12 GB RAM and 512 GB NVMe SSD Lenovo Yoga C940There is a comparison of the version with an external graphics card and the version without an external graphics card. Also, to clarify the issue, let's compare Alienware m15 R2 A real player computer has been added. In this comparison, as an external graphics card NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 is being used.

When we look at the FPS values ​​obtained at 1080p Ultra settings in the Metro Exodus game, Lenovo Yoga without an external graphics card 6.73FPS while remaining worth Lenovo Yoga 23 FPS with external graphics card connected goes up to values. In general, almost 4x the performance The increase seems numerically quite high. However, while a desktop system with the same graphics card can reach up to 63 FPS, the gaming computer Alienware m15 with RTX 2080 manages to surpass Lenovo Yoga with an external graphics card with a value of 44 FPS.

In line with these results, it can be seen that external graphics cards may not provide maximum gaming performance to users, as stated by the brands. These results also make us think about price (Test source: egpu)

Price

When we look at the prices of external graphics cards, especially in our country quite high The sums welcome us. To give an example: Imagine having a mid-segment laptop like the Lenovo Yoga we just mentioned. The prices of affordable external graphics card boxes sold in our country are At least around 2 thousand lira It starts. Desktop graphics cards that you can put in this external graphics card box also have very high prices. Considering the total price we pay for all this hardware and the computer, the prices are quite high. At this point, users are faced with the choice of buying an external graphics card or buying a gaming laptop directly.

When we want to buy the Lenovo Yoga C940, an external graphics card box and the RTX 2080 graphics card used in the performance test today. 24,000 TL We need to spend around an amount. However, when we wanted to buy the Alienware m15 gaming computer with RTX 2080 used in the test, 20,000 TL In this band, we can have a 2-card performance increase compared to this computer and a computer with an external graphics card. You can access our content, where we list the prices and features of the most popular external graphics cards in the market, here.

External graphics cards are not without their advantages:

Continuous update opportunity

Although external graphics cards have disadvantages in terms of performance and price, the fact that this hardware can be updated is the most attractive plus for users. Users when having an external graphics card box for years By changing the graphics card in it according to the developing technology, it is constantly improving the hardware in its laptops. ability to keep up to date can have the opportunity. But unfortunately, there is a minus point in this plus point.

With new technology desktop graphics cards coming out every day, the motherboards and processors of laptops may not be compatible. The processors used in laptops are different from desktop graphics cards. to get full performance can prevent it. For this reason, even if we replace the hardware video card we have created, it may not last very long in terms of performance.

Portability

Although external graphics cards are not as large and heavy as a desktop computer case, they still require external graphics cards. the performance increase it provides It may not be easy to carry it everywhere we go. Although external graphics card boxes, which you can consider as an extra hardware that you need to carry with your laptop, have portability, this portability does not offer much convenience to users.

However, in addition to carrying a desktop computer case and monitor, you can simply throw your laptop and external graphics card box in a bag and carry it. easier It is worth noting that .

Conclusion: Does it make sense to buy an external graphics card for better gaming performance?

External graphics cards may have more disadvantages than pros. Although this technology is good in terms of portability and upgradability, it does not seem like a logical decision to choose today in terms of price and gaming performance for the price. However, if you are someone who travels frequently and does heavy work on the computer in addition to gaming, ultra light and thin laptop External graphics cards that can power your computer and handle all your work may be a logical option.

When it comes to the gaming part, it seems like a more logical option to spend the price you would pay for an external graphics card on a real gaming laptop. If you want to play every game without any problems, instead of strengthening your laptop with an external graphics card, you may prefer to buy a gaming computer that can provide up to twice the performance. the most logical decision it could be.

What do you think about external graphics cards? Do you think it makes more sense to buy a gaming computer directly? Or do you want to strengthen your computer with an external graphics card? You can share your opinions and thoughts with us in the comments section.

Footnote: Brief history of external graphics cards

In general, everything, first Razer ultra laptop in 2016 Razer Blade StealthWe can say that it started when he announced. Introduced as a gaming laptop, Blade Stealth used the 7th generation Intel i7 processor and internal Intel graphics card. As you can imagine, this laptop announced for gaming was not a computer that could provide very high gaming performance. But at this point users Razer Core V1 together with external graphics card He started to get acquainted with the boxes.

These external graphics cards, which could be connected to laptops via the Thunderbolt 3 port, allowed users to use the latest model desktop graphics cards on their laptops. As a result, many users began to tend to purchase Razer Blade Stealth computers with the Razer Core V1 external graphics card box, because Blade Stealth was having difficulty delivering the promised gaming performance. But at this point, unfortunately, the things that external graphics cards can do are limited. limited It remains as. Because the motherboards and processors in laptops can be a bit slow for high-performance desktop graphics cards. This can greatly affect the gaming performance part, which we will talk about a little later.