{"video_id":"GDyL2tPyXFA","title":"Put a Desktop GPU in a LAPTOP… The CHEAP WAY!","channel":"Linus Tech Tips","show":"Linus Tech Tips","published_at":"2018-05-06T14:53:29Z","duration_s":584,"segments":[{"start_s":0.18,"end_s":3.48,"text":"I love the idea of external graphics cards.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":3.48,"end_s":5.94,"text":"At their best, they allow you to have a super light","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":5.94,"end_s":8.94,"text":"and portable laptop that you can easily convert","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":8.94,"end_s":11.86,"text":"into a shockingly potent gaming system","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":11.86,"end_s":13.52,"text":"when you have time to sit down","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":13.52,"end_s":16.1,"text":"and you happen to have an outlet nearby.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":16.1,"end_s":19.82,"text":"But the main complaint we hear about them is,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":19.82,"end_s":24.24,"text":"come on you guys, you can get the same level of performance","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":24.24,"end_s":28.64,"text":"with a PCI Express card for way less.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":28.64,"end_s":33.64,"text":"But how do you put one of these in one of these?","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":33.66,"end_s":38.35,"text":"Ha, the answer is with one of these.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":38.35,"end_s":42.83,"text":"Meet the EXP-GDC or The Beast,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":42.83,"end_s":48.34,"text":"the cheap and dirty way to boost your laptop's gaming power.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":48.66,"end_s":51.34,"text":"Today's video is brought to you by PIA,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":51.34,"end_s":54.02,"text":"the VPN service that encrypts all your internet traffic","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":54.02,"end_s":56.14,"text":"and uses a safe, protected IP.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":56.14,"end_s":58.2,"text":"It's got a ton of other useful features as well.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":58.2,"end_s":59.32,"text":"You can check it out at the link","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":59.32,"end_s":69.68,"text":"below.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":69.68,"end_s":72.3,"text":"So there have actually been quite a few iterations","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":72.3,"end_s":75.1,"text":"of The Beast, but the previous ones","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":75.1,"end_s":78.06,"text":"never really appealed to us,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":78.06,"end_s":81.44,"text":"mostly because they connected to the system,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":81.44,"end_s":85.0,"text":"either to external ports like Express Card,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":85.0,"end_s":88.0,"text":"a dying, if not completely dead standard,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":88.0,"end_s":91.92,"text":"or to internal ports that couldn't be spared.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":91.92,"end_s":96.28,"text":"Most laptops only have a single mini PCIe slot","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":96.28,"end_s":98.42,"text":"that is usually taken up by the Wi-Fi,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":98.42,"end_s":103.42,"text":"a fairly essential component of the mobile experience.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":103.52,"end_s":108.52,"text":"But thanks to NVMe, version 9.5 here has some big advantages.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":111.4,"end_s":116.4,"text":"So first, it gets four times the number of PCI Express lanes,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":118.0,"end_s":121.32,"text":"four of them here running at Gen 3 speeds.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":121.32,"end_s":125.56,"text":"And second, some mobile devices actually have","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":125.56,"end_s":127.8,"text":"more than one M.2 slot, like this.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":127.8,"end_s":129.48,"text":"Like this one.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":129.48,"end_s":134.08,"text":"So you should be able to have both a high-speed boot drive","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":134.08,"end_s":138.66,"text":"and an external GPU connected at the same time.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":138.66,"end_s":141.86,"text":"Furthermore, because there's no protocol overhead,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":141.86,"end_s":144.44,"text":"it should actually perform better","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":144.44,"end_s":147.52,"text":"than Thunderbolt 3 enclosures like this one","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":147.52,"end_s":152.24,"text":"at a significantly lower cost, in theory.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":152.24,"end_s":156.18,"text":"So, to put that to the test, we are hooking our Beast up","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":156.18,"end_s":157.78,"text":"to the de-bottlenecker feature.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":157.78,"end_s":161.26,"text":"We've got a GTX 5,000 here, a powerful desktop","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":161.26,"end_s":163.9,"text":"with all three of the connectivity methods","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":163.9,"end_s":165.68,"text":"that we want to evaluate.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":165.68,"end_s":167.56,"text":"We also grabbed a GTX 1080.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":167.56,"end_s":171.96,"text":"So, this thing is obviously much more powerful","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":171.96,"end_s":174.0,"text":"than any laptop on the market,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":174.0,"end_s":178.16,"text":"but we need this combination of a fast CPU","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":178.16,"end_s":182.16,"text":"and a high-performance GPU to help us identify","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":182.16,"end_s":186.28,"text":"which interfaces, if any, are causing a bottleneck","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":186.28,"end_s":187.62,"text":"that will adversely affect","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":187.62,"end_s":190.7,"text":"the performance of our overall system.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":190.7,"end_s":191.8,"text":"This is pretty trippy.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":191.8,"end_s":194.14,"text":"This is like, I don't know,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":194.14,"end_s":195.94,"text":"just having your graphics card like out here.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":195.94,"end_s":198.9,"text":"It's kind of like, it's like if you had like a human body","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":198.9,"end_s":202.02,"text":"that's totally normal and then the heart is on the table","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":202.02,"end_s":203.46,"text":"next to it and it's just connected","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":203.46,"end_s":209.61,"text":"with tubes and wires and stuff, but it works.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":210.6,"end_s":213.48,"text":"So, in graphically intense games,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":213.48,"end_s":216.18,"text":"you can see the performance of the Beast","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":216.18,"end_s":218.64,"text":"ends up about where we would expect,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":219.32,"end_s":222.14,"text":"between the Razer Core with Thunderbolt 3","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":222.14,"end_s":224.84,"text":"and a graphics card running at full 16X speed","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":224.84,"end_s":227.1,"text":"plugged directly into the motherboard.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":227.1,"end_s":230.52,"text":"Although it should be noted that in older CPU-bound games","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":230.52,"end_s":234.58,"text":"like CSGO, the FPS was comparable for all three.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":234.58,"end_s":239.54,"text":"Okay, so that all sounds pretty great.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":239.54,"end_s":244.54,"text":"If you've got a laptop then with a spare M.2 NVMe slot,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":244.64,"end_s":246.86,"text":"like this one that we mentioned before,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":246.86,"end_s":248.5,"text":"you could get better than Thunderbolt 3, like I said,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":248.5,"end_s":250.74,"text":"and you could get a Thunderbolt 3 levels of performance","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":250.74,"end_s":254.56,"text":"on the cheap-ish.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":254.56,"end_s":257.6,"text":"However, I still find myself asking,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":257.6,"end_s":259.42,"text":"who is this actually useful for?","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":259.42,"end_s":263.52,"text":"Like, are you really gonna go out and buy a brand new laptop","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":263.52,"end_s":267.66,"text":"then literally cut a hole in the bottom of it","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":267.66,"end_s":271.44,"text":"for the Beast's cabling that will still need to be run?","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":271.44,"end_s":276.44,"text":"But, consider something a little older, like this MSI GL62.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":277.58,"end_s":279.28,"text":"It packs a GTX 960.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":279.42,"end_s":283.42,"text":"It's got a 740 M which, I mean, is better than nothing,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":283.42,"end_s":285.42,"text":"but barely.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":285.42,"end_s":290.14,"text":"So, if you're looking to play modern games,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":290.14,"end_s":292.3,"text":"you're basically plum out of luck,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":292.3,"end_s":297.43,"text":"even though your CPU is still decent, unless...","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":299.08,"end_s":302.34,"text":"Ah, yes, there it is.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":302.34,"end_s":304.82,"text":"Even though this is a couple of years old","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":304.82,"end_s":309.82,"text":"and our config of it actually used a slow mechanical hard drive","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":310.54,"end_s":315.54,"text":"the GL62 does feature an NVMe-capable M.2 slot,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":316.34,"end_s":319.2,"text":"which means that, thanks to that still-decent","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":319.2,"end_s":323.14,"text":"quad-core CPU I mentioned, and the upgradable RAM,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":323.14,"end_s":325.22,"text":"remember upgradable RAM, you guys?","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":325.22,"end_s":329.38,"text":"With a beast and something like a GTX 960,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":329.38,"end_s":334.34,"text":"you could turn the GL62 into a gaming-ready machine again","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":334.34,"end_s":338.98,"text":"for just a couple hundred bucks, at least in theory.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":338.98,"end_s":342.88,"text":"We have tried everything with this machine.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":342.88,"end_s":346.16,"text":"BIOS updates, disabling the integrated graphics,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":346.16,"end_s":349.22,"text":"disabling the dedicated graphics,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":349.22,"end_s":352.58,"text":"newer drivers, older drivers,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":352.58,"end_s":355.48,"text":"older cards, newer cards.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":355.48,"end_s":358.72,"text":"It just won't work.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":358.72,"end_s":361.62,"text":"So the working theory, based on some discussion","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":361.62,"end_s":363.14,"text":"over on the eGPU forums,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":363.14,"end_s":364.74,"text":"those guys are awesome, by the way,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":364.74,"end_s":368.66,"text":"is that passing a PCI Express signal","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":368.66,"end_s":373.6,"text":"over a fairly long couple of HDMI cables here","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":373.6,"end_s":376.2,"text":"leads to a fair bit of signal degradation,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":376.2,"end_s":379.64,"text":"which was fine on our X299 motherboard","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":379.64,"end_s":383.78,"text":"because the M.2 slot is physically close to the CPU socket","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":383.78,"end_s":385.58,"text":"and has a strong signal,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":385.58,"end_s":389.48,"text":"but might cause problems in laptops","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":389.48,"end_s":393.6,"text":"where the PCI Express signal might be within spec,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":393.6,"end_s":394.86,"text":"but a little bit lower.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":394.86,"end_s":398.6,"text":"Now, some folks suggested that a shielded,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":398.6,"end_s":403.6,"text":"M.2 to PCIe 4X adapter might actually do better in this case,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":404.06,"end_s":405.76,"text":"and they might be right,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":405.76,"end_s":410.76,"text":"but at 70 US dollars plus the cost of power","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":410.82,"end_s":413.18,"text":"and some kind of a mounting mechanism,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":413.18,"end_s":415.48,"text":"we don't consider that a viable solution","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":415.48,"end_s":417.78,"text":"outside of rare edge cases,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":417.78,"end_s":420.04,"text":"like recycling an old laptop","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":420.04,"end_s":425.08,"text":"as a no longer portable ghetto gaming desktop either.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":426.43,"end_s":427.55,"text":"With that said,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":427.55,"end_s":428.99,"text":"let's say that you were trying to do that.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":428.99,"end_s":432.19,"text":"What kind of compatibility could you expect?","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":432.19,"end_s":435.59,"text":"As it turns out, not that great.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":435.59,"end_s":437.31,"text":"Even the Dell Inspiron Gaming,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":437.31,"end_s":440.05,"text":"a machine that this approach could make sense for,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":440.05,"end_s":442.35,"text":"requires a custom BIOS,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":442.35,"end_s":445.55,"text":"and the rest of our efforts basically went","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":445.55,"end_s":463.89,"text":"a little something like this.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":463.89,"end_s":468.03,"text":"So yeah, we gave up because to get the beast to work","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":468.03,"end_s":470.17,"text":"with the Triton 700, for example,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":470.17,"end_s":474.21,"text":"we'd need a custom BIOS with RAID disabled,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":474.21,"end_s":477.97,"text":"and PCI Express hot swap enabled","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":477.97,"end_s":479.49,"text":"in order to get compatibility","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":479.49,"end_s":480.81,"text":"with anything that would be faster","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":480.81,"end_s":482.39,"text":"than what's already built into it.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":482.39,"end_s":485.09,"text":"So a 10th gen NVIDIA card.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":485.09,"end_s":488.82,"text":"So there are people out there","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":488.82,"end_s":493.82,"text":"who will happily fork over 100 to 150 bucks,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":494.4,"end_s":498.04,"text":"like the owners of the aging laptops","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":498.04,"end_s":499.96,"text":"that we alluded to before,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":499.96,"end_s":502.24,"text":"or I mean, another good example would be someone","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":502.24,"end_s":502.7,"text":"with like a mini ITX desktop,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":502.7,"end_s":503.38,"text":"like a mini ITX desktop,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":503.38,"end_s":504.22,"text":"like a mini ITX desktop,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":504.22,"end_s":504.26,"text":"like a mini ITX desktop,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":504.26,"end_s":504.28,"text":"like a mini ITX desktop,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":504.28,"end_s":504.3,"text":"like a mini ITX desktop,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":504.3,"end_s":504.8,"text":"like a mini ITX desktop,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":504.8,"end_s":506.96,"text":"who wants to add 10 gig networking","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":506.96,"end_s":508.78,"text":"or something along those lines.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":508.78,"end_s":513.08,"text":"But for everyone else, the compatibility,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":513.08,"end_s":515.56,"text":"both physical and in firmware,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":515.56,"end_s":518.58,"text":"the user unfriendliness, the general flakiness,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":518.58,"end_s":520.0,"text":"the lack of documentation,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":520.0,"end_s":522.34,"text":"the fact that you need to reboot","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":522.34,"end_s":525.4,"text":"to plug and unplug it from the system,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":525.4,"end_s":527.14,"text":"and the fact that you'll probably end up","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":527.14,"end_s":530.62,"text":"voiding your warranty are going to confine this product","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":530.62,"end_s":534.39,"text":"to a niche within a niche within a niche forever.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":534.39,"end_s":538.19,"text":"It's been forever since we've done a spot for Corsair.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":538.19,"end_s":541.35,"text":"Introducing Corsair's unplug and play series.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":541.35,"end_s":543.91,"text":"The dark core RGB SE mouse is quick,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":543.91,"end_s":546.25,"text":"features one millisecond, 2.4 gigahertz,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":546.25,"end_s":548.53,"text":"and low latency Bluetooth connectivity.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":548.53,"end_s":550.41,"text":"If you opt for the wireless charging model,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":550.41,"end_s":552.97,"text":"you can charge with Corsair's NM-1000","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":552.97,"end_s":555.69,"text":"or any compatible Qi wireless charging pad,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":555.69,"end_s":558.51,"text":"and their K63 wireless gaming keyboard","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":558.51,"end_s":560.99,"text":"features the same low latency connection options,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":560.99,"end_s":564.37,"text":"as well as cherry MX red switches and a blue LED backlight.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":564.37,"end_s":569.26,"text":"Check out their entire lineup through the links below.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":569.26,"end_s":570.24,"text":"So thanks for watching guys.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":570.24,"end_s":571.6,"text":"If this video sucked, you know what to do,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":571.6,"end_s":573.1,"text":"but if it was awesome, get subscribed,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":573.1,"end_s":574.54,"text":"hit that like button or check out the link","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":574.54,"end_s":576.16,"text":"to where to buy the stuff we featured","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":576.16,"end_s":577.68,"text":"in the video description.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":577.68,"end_s":579.38,"text":"Also linked down there is our merch store,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":579.38,"end_s":580.82,"text":"which has cool shirts like this one,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":580.82,"end_s":583.52,"text":"and our community forum, which you should totally join.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0}],"full_text":"I love the idea of external graphics cards. At their best, they allow you to have a super light and portable laptop that you can easily convert into a shockingly potent gaming system when you have time to sit down and you happen to have an outlet nearby. But the main complaint we hear about them is, come on you guys, you can get the same level of performance with a PCI Express card for way less. But how do you put one of these in one of these? Ha, the answer is with one of these. Meet the EXP-GDC or The Beast, the cheap and dirty way to boost your laptop's gaming power. Today's video is brought to you by PIA, the VPN service that encrypts all your internet traffic and uses a safe, protected IP. It's got a ton of other useful features as well. You can check it out at the link below. So there have actually been quite a few iterations of The Beast, but the previous ones never really appealed to us, mostly because they connected to the system, either to external ports like Express Card, a dying, if not completely dead standard, or to internal ports that couldn't be spared. Most laptops only have a single mini PCIe slot that is usually taken up by the Wi-Fi, a fairly essential component of the mobile experience. But thanks to NVMe, version 9.5 here has some big advantages. So first, it gets four times the number of PCI Express lanes, four of them here running at Gen 3 speeds. And second, some mobile devices actually have more than one M.2 slot, like this. Like this one. So you should be able to have both a high-speed boot drive and an external GPU connected at the same time. Furthermore, because there's no protocol overhead, it should actually perform better than Thunderbolt 3 enclosures like this one at a significantly lower cost, in theory. So, to put that to the test, we are hooking our Beast up to the de-bottlenecker feature. We've got a GTX 5,000 here, a powerful desktop with all three of the connectivity methods that we want to evaluate. We also grabbed a GTX 1080. So, this thing is obviously much more powerful than any laptop on the market, but we need this combination of a fast CPU and a high-performance GPU to help us identify which interfaces, if any, are causing a bottleneck that will adversely affect the performance of our overall system. This is pretty trippy. This is like, I don't know, just having your graphics card like out here. It's kind of like, it's like if you had like a human body that's totally normal and then the heart is on the table next to it and it's just connected with tubes and wires and stuff, but it works. So, in graphically intense games, you can see the performance of the Beast ends up about where we would expect, between the Razer Core with Thunderbolt 3 and a graphics card running at full 16X speed plugged directly into the motherboard. Although it should be noted that in older CPU-bound games like CSGO, the FPS was comparable for all three. Okay, so that all sounds pretty great. If you've got a laptop then with a spare M.2 NVMe slot, like this one that we mentioned before, you could get better than Thunderbolt 3, like I said, and you could get a Thunderbolt 3 levels of performance on the cheap-ish. However, I still find myself asking, who is this actually useful for? Like, are you really gonna go out and buy a brand new laptop then literally cut a hole in the bottom of it for the Beast's cabling that will still need to be run? But, consider something a little older, like this MSI GL62. It packs a GTX 960. It's got a 740 M which, I mean, is better than nothing, but barely. So, if you're looking to play modern games, you're basically plum out of luck, even though your CPU is still decent, unless... Ah, yes, there it is. Even though this is a couple of years old and our config of it actually used a slow mechanical hard drive the GL62 does feature an NVMe-capable M.2 slot, which means that, thanks to that still-decent quad-core CPU I mentioned, and the upgradable RAM, remember upgradable RAM, you guys? With a beast and something like a GTX 960, you could turn the GL62 into a gaming-ready machine again for just a couple hundred bucks, at least in theory. We have tried everything with this machine. BIOS updates, disabling the integrated graphics, disabling the dedicated graphics, newer drivers, older drivers, older cards, newer cards. It just won't work. So the working theory, based on some discussion over on the eGPU forums, those guys are awesome, by the way, is that passing a PCI Express signal over a fairly long couple of HDMI cables here leads to a fair bit of signal degradation, which was fine on our X299 motherboard because the M.2 slot is physically close to the CPU socket and has a strong signal, but might cause problems in laptops where the PCI Express signal might be within spec, but a little bit lower. Now, some folks suggested that a shielded, M.2 to PCIe 4X adapter might actually do better in this case, and they might be right, but at 70 US dollars plus the cost of power and some kind of a mounting mechanism, we don't consider that a viable solution outside of rare edge cases, like recycling an old laptop as a no longer portable ghetto gaming desktop either. With that said, let's say that you were trying to do that. What kind of compatibility could you expect? As it turns out, not that great. Even the Dell Inspiron Gaming, a machine that this approach could make sense for, requires a custom BIOS, and the rest of our efforts basically went a little something like this. So yeah, we gave up because to get the beast to work with the Triton 700, for example, we'd need a custom BIOS with RAID disabled, and PCI Express hot swap enabled in order to get compatibility with anything that would be faster than what's already built into it. So a 10th gen NVIDIA card. So there are people out there who will happily fork over 100 to 150 bucks, like the owners of the aging laptops that we alluded to before, or I mean, another good example would be someone with like a mini ITX desktop, like a mini ITX desktop, like a mini ITX desktop, like a mini ITX desktop, like a mini ITX desktop, like a mini ITX desktop, like a mini ITX desktop, who wants to add 10 gig networking or something along those lines. But for everyone else, the compatibility, both physical and in firmware, the user unfriendliness, the general flakiness, the lack of documentation, the fact that you need to reboot to plug and unplug it from the system, and the fact that you'll probably end up voiding your warranty are going to confine this product to a niche within a niche within a niche forever. It's been forever since we've done a spot for Corsair. Introducing Corsair's unplug and play series. The dark core RGB SE mouse is quick, features one millisecond, 2.4 gigahertz, and low latency Bluetooth connectivity. If you opt for the wireless charging model, you can charge with Corsair's NM-1000 or any compatible Qi wireless charging pad, and their K63 wireless gaming keyboard features the same low latency connection options, as well as cherry MX red switches and a blue LED backlight. Check out their entire lineup through the links below. So thanks for watching guys. If this video sucked, you know what to do, but if it was awesome, get subscribed, hit that like button or check out the link to where to buy the stuff we featured in the video description. Also linked down there is our merch store, which has cool shirts like this one, and our community forum, which you should totally join."}