External enclosure manufacturers are now developing new enclosures powered by Nvidia's latest RTX 5060 GPU. ETA Prime on YouTube showed off a highly compact prototype Thunderbolt 4-capable eGPU featuring an RTX 5060 GPU with desktop-level power. Paired with a ROG Ally X, the RTX 5060 eGPU is capable of running synthetic 3DMark benchmarks at almost the same speed as a full-blown desktop PC with an RTX 5060.
The prototype features the desktop version of the RTX 5060, which is equipped with 8GB of GDDR7 memory and a full 145W power envelope. The device features no external housing, as it's a prototype, so we can see a fully exposed PCB with a blower-style cooler. The eGPU is highly compact — only a little larger than a human hand.
To fulfill its eGPU duty, the eGPU sports two HDMI ports, two DisplayPort connectors, one OCULink connector, and a USB 4 Type-C connector. USB 4, by extension, also integrates Thunderbolt 3 compatibility, so the eGPU dock is compatible with Thunderbolt 3 devices. The USB 4 connector also supports 100W fast charging, thanks to its massive 280W power brick (the brick is the same size as the prototype).
The YouTuber tested the RTX 5060 eGPU prototype with an ROG Ally X sporting the Ryzen Z1 Extreme in CUDA-Z, Furmark, 3DMark, and several games. CUDA-Z reported a data transfer rate between itself and the console of 37 MiB/s, confirming the RTX 5060 eGPU is using a PCIe 4x4 link capable of saturating almost all of USB 4's 40Gbps bandwidth capacity.
In Furmark, the RTX 5060 easily hit its 145W power limit, staying at that wattage for the entirety of the run. This provided more confirmation that the eGPU houses the desktop version of the RTX 5060 and is capable of running the GPU at its maximum rated power envelope. The RTX 5060 laptop GPU, by contrast, has a maximum configurable power rating of 100W.
3DMark demonstrated the full potential of the RTX 5060 dock for handheld devices. The YouTuber compared TimeSpy results of the ROG Ally X/RTX 5060 eGPU combo against a desktop powered by a Ryzen 7 9700X and an RTX 5060 graphics card. Despite having a desktop-class CPU, the desktop rig was only 8% faster than the ROG Ally X-powered configuration, with a score of 13,433 points compared to the handheld's 12,370 points.
Cyberpunk 2077, at 1440p ultra with DLSS 4 balanced mode, ran at an average frame rate of 73fps — and, with 4x multi-frame generation, ran at an average frame rate of over 150fps. Forza Horizon 5 at 1440p Ultra ran at an average 93fps, Ghost of Tsushima 1440p at very high settings with DLSS balanced mode ran at an average 76fps, and Spider-Man 2 at 1080p high settings with DLSS balanced mode ran at an average 100fps. Doom: The Dark Ages was the worst-performing game: at 1080p high settings, the game ran at an average of 50fps.
The new eGPU dock will compete with other highly compact eGPU docks on the market, which are mostly powered by Radeon RX 7600Ms and 7600M XTs. With an RTX 5060 desktop GPU, this new prototype will be one of the most powerful (if not the most powerful) eGPUs in its class, once it launches.
