Razer Blade 15" or EGPU opinions on a possible upgrade.

[maflynn]

I've been getting more into gaming thanks to the xBox game pass and such I've been kicking around the idea of maybe upgrading my experience.

Option 1. Buy an eGPU and desktop GTX2060/RTX2070. Pricing seems to have the EGPU in the 300 to 400 range, and the GPU another 400 to 500 - potentially looking at close to a grand.

Option 2. Buy a Razer blade 15" Price is close to the 2 grand, but once I sell the thinkpad, it should be closer to the same price of the EPGU/GPU maybe even less if I get more $$ for the thinkpad

I found this thread is helpful, though dated:
https://egpu.io/forums/builds/2018-...ps-tb3-asus-xg-station-pro-win10-1803-itsage/

Comparing the Razer Blade 15 1070 vs. an EGPU withg a GTX 1080TI, the EGPU does show some decent performance gains, but the price of the 1080Ti is well over my budget at grand. a 2060/2070 is in the 400 to 500 price range. That will probably mean the performance delta being smaller then what we see below. - translation: The performance delta between an EGPU and the Razer Blade will be close enough that performance alone cannot be the determining factor.

Thoughts/opinions/recommendations?

 

[Queen6]

As I upgrade at around the 24-36 month point, personally I'd opt for the GPU in the notebook. The difference between desktop and notebook GPU's is shrinking, I think the 1070 or 2070 offers the best performance and value in a notebook.

IMO the case for eGPU was more compelling when the mobile GPU's were far behind the desktop variant's, not the case today. To some extents smaller less powerful notebooks will be bottlenecked by the CPU, due to thermals and lack of cores. I do think eGPU's offer an avenue to Mac users as Apple's portable offerings are so very anaemic with zero options, on W10 a very different story, as there are so many options out there.

This Asus has a 1070 and I've never regretted it, next will likely be a 2070, as there's no reason not too. An eGPU isn't going to add a lot more performance, at an extra cost, as the notebook already has a strong GPU no need...

FWIW if static I'd opt for a desktop and an ultrabook, always on the go a notebook with a solid GPU is the solution.

Q-6

 

[bobbie424242]

I'd wait for the 10th generation (Ice Lake) of core i7/i9 H CPUs (45W) to upgrade, if you want to go the eGPU route.
Reason is improved TB3 performance due to the controller integrated in the CPU, which is already the case for the Ice Lake 25W U processors currently available. This thread has benchmarks and details:
https://www.reddit.com/r/eGPU/comments/e2lpbh

 

[soulreaver99]

Agree, I would get the notebook if you are willing to spend. Also, you can always slap on an eGPU on that notebook as graphics become more demanding and minimalize any CPU bottleneck at that time.

An even MORE sensible thing to do is to get a PC desktop for PC gaming and a laptop that is just good enough to comfortably do whatever work you need to do on the road. It will probably come out cheaper. But since all of us are or were Mac users... pretty sure sensibility has been thrown out the window

 

[Thysanoptera]

Thoughts/opinions/recommendations?

If you want to go eGPU route + 15 inch laptop wait for full power Ice Lakes. Looking at those benchmarks - On Razer Stealth with 4 core Ice Lake I get 4886/117 fps in Valley, 2992/119 fps in Heaven with 1080Ti. And it feels really smooth, the integrated TB controller makes quite a bit of difference. My scores with Blade 15 are in line with what you posted, like 10% ~ 20% slower. The gap is actually bigger in DX12.

 

[SteveJUAE]

I was a bit confused as this is a little dated and your new to be blade would presumably be a 2060 or 2070 card

Although I have the RTX 5000 similar to 2080 I ran the benchmark for you to give you some newer reference point, did not tweak anything other than match the display res in the benchmark

GPU sat happily at 70C, funny when I ran it previously not in extreme tessellation and ultra mode the GPU seem to be working harder and was 3C higher, benchmark scores were double of course

 

[Pangalactic]

As a Razer Blade 15 2080 Max-Q owner:

if you want to game in 1080p, then a Razer Blade with a 2060/2070 will cover pretty much any game at all you want to play. You won’t need any more horsepower than this, so I think it would be a better option than a more bulky eGPU. you also get a high refresh rate screen for gaming and (in my opinion) one of the best windows laptops.

 

[maflynn]

I was a bit confused as this is a little dated and your new to be blade would presumably be a 2060 or 2070 card

Yeah, that was confusing to me as well, because of my searches, I failed to see a more current discussion, but this was sufficient enough to provide the kernel of truth and point me in a direction.

if you want to game in 1080p, then a Razer Blade with a 2060/2070 will cover pretty much any game at all you want to play. You won’t need any more horsepower than this, so I think it would be a better option than a more bulky eGPU. you also get a high refresh rate screen for gaming and (in my opinion) one of the best windows laptops.

There are both advantages and disadvantages to either choice. Getting the egpu will introduce a bulky component that can be loud. When I'm traveling, I'll not be taking with me. On the other side of the coin, I'll get to keep my X1E which has proven itself a stable and well built laptop and Lenovo's tech support is superior to Razer's

As for the Razer, as I implied, I'll be rolling the dice on the quality, though to further complicate matters, I see that BestBuy has some open box units - I wonder if I should REALLY take a chance. The 2060 model is going for about 1,500 and change as an open box. My company covers a portion of the purchase, so that drops the cost down even more.

On the positive side of getting the razer, I can game where ever I go, I'm not tied to the desk with an EGPU, and as mentioned the 144hz screen will be rather nice.

One side note, I'm finding that the 4k screen on the laptop hard on my eyes, even with scaling, so the pendulum has swung the other way for me, I used to think that more is better, but for 15" screens a 1080p may be sufficient for my needs.

 

[c0ppo]

Whatever your choice may be, please do a follow up here. I'm curious more about the eGPU then on Razer, but either will do

P.S.
I would love to be able to help, but I have almost no experience with eGPU

 

[Thysanoptera]

There are both advantages and disadvantages to either choice. Getting the egpu will introduce a bulky component that can be loud.

That depends. I replaced PSU in my Core X with Corsair SF750 (keeps its fan off until 300W), replaced main fan with Noctua and use 1080Ti hybrid from EVGA. The end result is the laptop+egpu are virtually silent while gaming. But even with triple wide 2080Ti it was quiet, which, obviously, is not the case when you ask laptop internal components to do the same job.

 

[GoldfishRT]

After building a gaming PC for my nephew and discovering how relatively cheap performance is right now- my vote is for that. An eGPU isn't especially portable anyway and at $1000 you can get into some serious stuff.

Through my year long quest for 'the perfect laptop', all the do-it-all machines compromise in some way. I think it is better to use tools that are extremely good at their purpose in this case. And the desktop, after entry, can pretty cheaply be kept performant for longer than any laptop.

This goes out the window if you travel a lot of course.

 

[SteveJUAE]

Why I can see that a eGPU can suit some to me it defeats the purpose of a laptop. If I want to shut my self away in a study etc then maybe desktop is a more suitable companion than a eGPU for some

Personally I prefer to sit with my family ie my wife can watch her soaps etc an I can get on with my stuff etc

Similarly if I travel I am not limited to the same extent and if I don't want a 15" on holiday I take a ultra portable

Each to their own but I don't like static nature of eGPU or Desktops

 

[csurfr]

I think the one main draw to the eGPU is that you can put whatever card you want in it. I have the Core X Chroma and it supports pretty much anything you’d want to use, and in a couple of years if you want to upgrade, you can. If whatever laptop you have dies, or you switch back to the Mac, you still have that GPU (provided you choose AMD).

I used the the Core V1 for quite a while with a 13” Razer, 15” XPS, and performance wise the GTX1070 I had in it blew away both of the cards that came in those machines, even with the ~10% performance drop you get overall. The Core V1 has an issue with thunderbolt bandwidth, and as such the USB ports would drop out randomly. Razer sent me a new X Chroma as a replacement and it worked great for the week that I had it plugged in (the X Chroma adds a second thunderbolt lane)

If I hadn’t switched to a desktop machine and a Surface Pro 7 for my on the go tasks, I’d still be using the eGPU to this day.

If you go the eGPU route, I highly recommend one with USB ports (and Ethernet if you use that), as having that all in one desktop solution is pretty nice. Plug in one cable and everything attaches immediately. Noise was never an issue with either the Core V1 or the X Chroma. They weren’t silent, but neither was the 15” Blade with the RTX2070. In fact, I’d say the Blade was louder overall.

Edit: And make sure that the power supply that is in the eGPU will drive the card you want to use, as well as anything you might need in the future. The X Chroma comes with a 700w psu, whereas the Core X comes with a 650w I believe.

Also, Steve ^^^ is right. The eGPU is mainly targeted at the ultraportable crowd, since most 15” come with a dGPU of some sort. But, if you’re serious about gaming, then the eGPU might be worth a look.

 

[maflynn]

TL;DR
I obsessed for a month decided not to spend $$, details below

I can be a bit obsessive at times So its time to make some decisions

Again, do I get a Razer Blade 15 (its really the only gaming laptop I'm interested in), get an egpu, or do nothing [for now]

The Razer Blade 15" base model with RTX2060 is on sale for 1799, BestBuy open box is in the 1,600 dollar range (give or take a hundred). I love the look of the razer, but I already own a fairly new laptop (a year old). The ThinkPad does nearly everything I need, so why spend 1,800+? Especially this time of year, i.e., spending $$$$ on Christmas. I still may succumb to temptation but overall I think this option has been cast aside.

This brings me to the egpu, I'm leaning towards the Razer Core X Chroma - the chroma version includes the other ports as @csurfr recommended and I agree. If I opt for an RTX 2070 + EGPU, I'm looking at a 700 price. Hefty but still a lot cheaper than a new machine. How much improvement will I see? I'm not sure to be honest.

Except for Gears 5 and Rise of the Tomb Raider, my GTX 1050 Ti has been good enough. Granted, I'm not running on ultra but for the games I play it seems decent enough.

This leads me to think that about the "lets hold off" options. I recall one reason in selecting the Thinkpad over the Razer last year was due to the fact I'm not playing a ton of heavy-duty AAA games that stress the GPU. I think even with the xbox gamepass that is still the case.

I still love the look, feel and handling of the Razer Blade, and if I see a deal, I may still jump on it, likewise, after Christmas, I may see if I can pick up an openbox (or refurb) for short money.

 

[SteveJUAE]

TL;DR
I obsessed for a month decided not to spend $$, details below

I can be a bit obsessive at times So its time to make some decisions

Again, do I get a Razer Blade 15 (its really the only gaming laptop I'm interested in), get an egpu, or do nothing [for now]

The Razer Blade 15" base model with RTX2060 is on sale for 1799, BestBuy open box is in the 1,600 dollar range (give or take a hundred). I love the look of the razer, but I already own a fairly new laptop (a year old). The ThinkPad does nearly everything I need, so why spend 1,800+? Especially this time of year, i.e., spending $$$$ on Christmas. I still may succumb to temptation but overall I think this option has been cast aside.

This brings me to the egpu, I'm leaning towards the Razer Core X Chroma - the chroma version includes the other ports as @csurfr recommended and I agree. If I opt for an RTX 2070 + EGPU, I'm looking at a 700 price. Hefty but still a lot cheaper than a new machine. How much improvement will I see? I'm not sure to be honest.

Except for Gears 5 and Rise of the Tomb Raider, my GTX 1050 Ti has been good enough. Granted, I'm not running on ultra but for the games I play it seems decent enough.

This leads me to think that about the "lets hold off" options. I recall one reason in selecting the Thinkpad over the Razer last year was due to the fact I'm not playing a ton of heavy-duty AAA games that stress the GPU. I think even with the xbox gamepass that is still the case.

I still love the look, feel and handling of the Razer Blade, and if I see a deal, I may still jump on it, likewise, after Christmas, I may see if I can pick up an openbox (or refurb) for short money.

Let me put another spin on your thoughts

Your not a serious gamer but want to invest $700 on a EGPU thay may or may not be compatible in the future with a 20% hit in like for like gains

Yet a modestly priced new laptop at circa $1800 will give you all and probably more value than just a straight $700 on the EGPU given that you could possibly get $1000 back on your old laptop

With the Razor your higher spec is a constant companion not just at home and maximizes your enjoyment spec wise and aesthetics etc

Find a buyer now for your old laptop and have great time over the holiday period when everyone else is asleep with your new me to me present

 

[maflynn]

With the Razor your higher spec is a constant companion not just at home and maximizes your enjoyment spec wise and aesthetics etc

In all honesty that's been one of the logic points. The egpu seems like a solution until you delve into ita little deeper. If I had an ultrabook with a igpu, then the performance difference would be greater and thus reasons to buy higher.

Find a buyer now for your old laptop and have great time over the holiday period when everyone else is asleep with your new me to me present

You're not helping matters, I don't want you to increase my temptation (if I were to buy the razer, selling the current model, is what would be needed to justify the cost with the wife)

 

[TopherMan12]

TL;DR
I obsessed for a month decided not to spend $$, details below

I can be a bit obsessive at times So its time to make some decisions

Again, do I get a Razer Blade 15 (its really the only gaming laptop I'm interested in), get an egpu, or do nothing [for now]

The Razer Blade 15" base model with RTX2060 is on sale for 1799, BestBuy open box is in the 1,600 dollar range (give or take a hundred). I love the look of the razer, but I already own a fairly new laptop (a year old). The ThinkPad does nearly everything I need, so why spend 1,800+? Especially this time of year, i.e., spending $$$$ on Christmas. I still may succumb to temptation but overall I think this option has been cast aside.

This brings me to the egpu, I'm leaning towards the Razer Core X Chroma - the chroma version includes the other ports as @csurfr recommended and I agree. If I opt for an RTX 2070 + EGPU, I'm looking at a 700 price. Hefty but still a lot cheaper than a new machine. How much improvement will I see? I'm not sure to be honest.

Except for Gears 5 and Rise of the Tomb Raider, my GTX 1050 Ti has been good enough. Granted, I'm not running on ultra but for the games I play it seems decent enough.

This leads me to think that about the "lets hold off" options. I recall one reason in selecting the Thinkpad over the Razer last year was due to the fact I'm not playing a ton of heavy-duty AAA games that stress the GPU. I think even with the xbox gamepass that is still the case.

I still love the look, feel and handling of the Razer Blade, and if I see a deal, I may still jump on it, likewise, after Christmas, I may see if I can pick up an openbox (or refurb) for short money.

If you get an eGPU then I would recommend getting the Razer Core X rather than the Chroma. Bandwidth is crucial for an eGPU and every device you plug into it is going to take away from the thunderbolt 3. Better off getting a separate hub for other devices.

 

[SteveJUAE]

In all honesty that's been one of the logic points. The egpu seems like a solution until you delve into ita little deeper. If I had an ultrabook with a igpu, then the performance difference would be greater and thus reasons to buy higher.


You're not helping matters, I don't want you to increase my temptation (if I were to buy the razer, selling the current model, is what would be needed to justify the cost with the wife)

Just to rub more salt in to the wounds and add to the fire

What happens in a year or two and you buy a new laptop with a decent dgpu, what happens to the eGPU ?

The eGPU will always taint your future purchases

 

[TopherMan12]

Just to rub more salt in to the wounds and add to the fire

What happens in a year or two and you buy a new laptop with a decent dgpu, what happens to the eGPU ?

The eGPU will always taint your future purchases

Not necessarily. Why spend the extra $$$ on a laptop with a decent dgpu if have an eGPU? You actually extend the life of your laptop as you have the benefit of upgrading your GPU independently. That's the whole point. In two years, I can upgrade to the mid-tier GPU for around $400. A new laptop with a mid-tier GPU will cost well over $1000.

 

[soulreaver99]

Why not get both, try what works out best for you and return the other? Personally, I would just the the laptop with the best GPU you can afford because by the time that becomes obsolete to the point where you can't really enjoy the games anymore, you are going to want to get a new laptop again anyway.

 

[SteveJUAE]

Not necessarily. Why spend the extra $$$ on a laptop with a decent dgpu if have an eGPU? You actually extend the life of your laptop as you have the benefit of upgrading your GPU independently. That's the whole point. In two years, I can upgrade to the mid-tier GPU for around $400. A new laptop with a mid-tier GPU will cost well over $1000.

Interesting point but depends on individual priorities CPU vs GPU, portability and even warranty

But could favor those who less frequently replace their laptops as you note

 

[TopherMan12]

Interesting point but depends on individual priorities CPU vs GPU, portability and even warranty

But could favor those who less frequently replace their laptops as you note

Portability is definitely a consideration. If one travels a lot and wants to take their game with them then eGPU isn't much use.

 

[GoldfishRT]

The base model with a 1660 Ti - that GPU is roughly twice as fast as a 1050 Ti - and is on sale for 1299 at Razer.

just more fuel for the fire

 

[SteveJUAE]

The base model with a 1660 Ti - that GPU is roughly twice as fast as a 1050 Ti - and is on sale for 1299 at Razer.

just more fuel for the fire

I spotted a Stealth in Singapore last weekend and nearly bought it just because it was so compact

Had it been in Mercury White it would be sitting now next to my Blade Mercury white

 

[csurfr]

TL;DR
I obsessed for a month decided not to spend $$, details below

I can be a bit obsessive at times So its time to make some decisions

Again, do I get a Razer Blade 15 (its really the only gaming laptop I'm interested in), get an egpu, or do nothing [for now]

The Razer Blade 15" base model with RTX2060 is on sale for 1799, BestBuy open box is in the 1,600 dollar range (give or take a hundred). I love the look of the razer, but I already own a fairly new laptop (a year old). The ThinkPad does nearly everything I need, so why spend 1,800+? Especially this time of year, i.e., spending $$$$ on Christmas. I still may succumb to temptation but overall I think this option has been cast aside.

This brings me to the egpu, I'm leaning towards the Razer Core X Chroma - the chroma version includes the other ports as @csurfr recommended and I agree. If I opt for an RTX 2070 + EGPU, I'm looking at a 700 price. Hefty but still a lot cheaper than a new machine. How much improvement will I see? I'm not sure to be honest.

Except for Gears 5 and Rise of the Tomb Raider, my GTX 1050 Ti has been good enough. Granted, I'm not running on ultra but for the games I play it seems decent enough.

This leads me to think that about the "lets hold off" options. I recall one reason in selecting the Thinkpad over the Razer last year was due to the fact I'm not playing a ton of heavy-duty AAA games that stress the GPU. I think even with the xbox gamepass that is still the case.

I still love the look, feel and handling of the Razer Blade, and if I see a deal, I may still jump on it, likewise, after Christmas, I may see if I can pick up an openbox (or refurb) for short money.

If you decide to go with the eGPU, give me a shout. I'll sell you my Core X Chroma for 1/2 price, and it's still essentially new in box. I used it for a week before moving to a desktop.