Build with USB-C external graphics enclosure

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rafeuk

Prominent
Mar 15, 2017
7
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510
Hi all - I'm looking for some advice / thoughts on a video card and monitor utilised with an external graphics enclosure. Specifically, this is in combination with the new model Razer Blade Stealth and probably the Razer core (also in link, not yet bought - £500). I would be happy to go with a different enclosure from a cost saving/performance perspective, interested in views!

To summarise my existing ultrabook:
256GB SSD (PCIe M.2)
16GB Dual-channel onboard memory LPDDR3-1866MHz
7th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-7500U Dual-Core Processor 2.7GHz / 3.5GHz (Base/Turbo)
Intel® HD Graphics 620 (yuck!)
12.5" IGZO 16:9 aspect ratio, QHD (2560 x 1440)

With £500 for the core I would say I'd be willing to pay up to another £500 on the GPU & monitor. The monitor isn't essential but the laptop screen is small and I have read that the use of thunderbolt to pipe the image back to the laptop throttles performance due to usb-c bandwidth.

My current thoughts:
Acer H257HU SMIDPX 25.0" 2560x1440 60Hz Monitor (£295)
Asus DUAL-GTX1060-O3G NVIDIA GeForce OC Edition 3 GB GDDR5 192 Bit Memory PCI Express 3 Graphics Card (£197)

I want to play Witcher 3 / Doom but I'm not bothered about twitch gaming - beautiful and smooth is my aim. I also do some basic video editing, watching Netflix/movies.

Grateful for thoughts on optimising the set-up given a reasonably flexible budget, but don't want to spend much more than £1,000 without good reason...
 
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greens

greens

Splendid
Jan 27, 2012
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i7-7500U

Witcher 3 at 1440p with high frames? Regardless of GPU or interface bandwidth - you're going to have trouble with that processor. It is a substantial bit slower than a i3-6100 so... isn't going to play very well on that.

Edit: also noticed you're looking at a GTX 1060. Next gen games, smooth and high settings at 1440p with a GTX 1060 will probably work on some games, but will quickly show just how much it is lacking.

1440p is kind of cutting edge - you need to get an enthusiast grade GPU to really take advantage of it like you want.
 
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boosted1g

Titan
Jun 12, 2013
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A 1060 can almost max out games at 1080p. At 1440p though it is quite insufficient.

As greens said your CPU is also quite insufficient at this. The U serries CPUs are all dual core-4 thread CPUs, this means your i7 is actually slower then a i3-6100.

With the enclosure, the power supply, and the monitor this is no longer a "portable" solution. Thus you are far far far better off having your desktop for gaming and your laptop for portable computing like it is ment to be.
 
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rafeuk

Prominent
Mar 15, 2017
7
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510


Thanks. I've been out of the pc gaming scene for about 12 years so I wasn't sure where the CPUs/GPUs stood. I remember the days of trying to max out QIIIA on 30 fps :D Maybe I should re-phrase: I'm well aware I'm off the high-end but I want to squeeze the most out that I can. 'Smooth' = playable without strongly noticeable drops.



I wondered how many posts I'd have to wait for until being told I should stop trying to convert my ultraportable into a desktop gaming machine ;) again - this is about making the most out of what I have. I'm not looking to take the enclosure/monitor, the laptop is the only thing going with me on my travels. I just want to plug it in to play some nice games at home. Unless... you're telling me I can somehow get a wonderful desktop beast for £1,000 which does a better job than what I have outlined?

Or, do you recommend getting a decent 1080p monitor and sticking with the same GPU?
 
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rafeuk

Prominent
Mar 15, 2017
7
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510


What if I don't want a separate gaming rig? No doubt you'd call me a fool!
 
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boosted1g

Titan
Jun 12, 2013
14,846
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74,965
It simply comes down to this, for the £1,000 price tag you can put into a desktop and get a level 7 performance or have your clunky laptop interface and get a level 5 (numbers are not bassed on any standardized scale but just for an idea for the example).

If you are dead set on the laptop setup then it is your money.
 
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rafeuk

Prominent
Mar 15, 2017
7
0
510


Thanks for the advice. I'll have a think about it. I must admit that I was attracted to the simplicity of the solution rather than having a separate rig.

 
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