You’ll also need a relatively new notebook equipped with a Thunderbolt 3-compatible USB-C port. These days most Thunderbolt 3 laptops and graphics card enclosures play nicely together thanks to Intel’s Thunderbolt 3 external graphics compatibility technology, which PC makers must specifically enable. Enclosures are, for the most part, still a pricey proposition-much more so than the DIY method we’ll outline later. Thunderbolt 3 levels the playing field, and several companies now offer TB3-based graphics card docks, complete with dedicated power supplies, additional ports, and-of course-room to slot desktop graphics cards.Īll is not perfect in the world of Thunderbolt 3-powered graphics, however. For resource-intensive activities like gaming, a speedy connection between your laptop and an external graphics card provides a big boost for performance.Įarlier attempts at external graphics card docks existed, but they were usually overpriced and relied on proprietary connection technologies.

Thunderbolt 3 (TB3) is Intel’s high-speed external input/output connection, capable of speeds up to a blistering 40 gigabytes per second (GBps) over a compatible USB-C port. Thunderbolt 3 graphics card docks Adam Patrick Murray/IDGĪ Razer Core connected to a Razer Blade Stealth laptop via Thunderbolt 3/USB-C.

First, let’s tackle the modern approach of using a graphics card dock via Thunderbolt 3.

We’ll walk you through the DIY process for configuring an external graphics card later in this article, along with the sudden rise of streaming PC games from the cloud.

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