Newb Question : External GPU possible?

Rhino Windows Hardware
1

Hi, Someone just mentioned to me USB-C external GPUs as a possible means of ‘upgrading’ my laptop. I say ‘my laptop’ it’s the laptop assigned to me at work.. which is struggling with rendering.

Is the use of external GPU’s recommended (aver !?) will it help ? are there some which work well with Rhino ?

Any advice appreciated basically

2

Short answer is yes you can use them, I used one once. They’re not really recommended because they’re so expensive it makes little sense, but if it’s what you’re stuck with they’ll work fine for CUDA rendering, the reduced connection speed makes no difference.

3

Thanks Jim, really appreciated.

So the laptop has “15-inch Model: Features 2x USB-C® with USB4®/Thunderbolt™ 4 (supports charging, data transfer, and DisplayPort 2.1).” as I understand it.

So I need to get an eGPU enclosure + PSU + Graphics card by the looks off things ?

Any idea what is a good option that is worth the money (i.e. a noticeable increase in performance)

4

We’re talking about GPU rendering with Cycles right? Just get the best Nvidia you can afford, go used if you must.

The enclosure will need to be able to supply enough power for the card, beyond that I’ve got no idea…

5

Yes, thanks. Makes sense. Hoping someone who actually has/uses one working with Rhino 8 and a laptop can chime in with some real world examples

6

Thunderbolt 4 bandwidth is a lot less than the PCIe video slot a card plugs into so I suspect there is little point in going for a high-end card - stick to mid range models.

Make sure the enclosure you choose has sufficient airflow to allow the card to stay cool. And enough space to fit the card of choice in of course!

And consider that you might want an external monitor if you don’t already have one for your laptop. That way you can send the signals out via one of the card’s video ports rather than back down the Thunderbolt cable where you’ll be eating some of that precious bandwidth.

Regards
Jeremy

7

Thanks. Really helpful. Makes sense

8

Just to say I got a GPD G1 for a decent price from eBay and it’s made a decent enough difference to warrant the outlay. I’m glad I made the leap to getting the eGPU basically. Thanks for your advice. As you say other limiting factors outweigh the GPU after a certain point so no point over-speccing. A fairly cheap eGPU gives a decent enhancement in user experience