Is it worth it to get an external gpu to hook up to the laptop? Looking for something I can hook up and game 4k to when home but also just carry around to do my normal work.
You can definitly get a thunderbolt eGPU and use that.
More performance needs something else, that’s why I’m lobbying for Oculink
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Possible, yes, “worth it” is a personal choice. You can see the prices on alternative GPUs, and factor in a performance hit over Thunderbolt 3’s 40gbps and the added cost of whatever GPU dock you choose.
There’s edgey Oculink stuff around you can play with already, they’re quite cheap (because Oculink is a pretty simple standard compared to Thunderbolt), and if they don’t work you’d find yourself buying a TB3 GPU dock and consigning the Oculink equipment to your box of “Technical curiosities” - always fun stuff to discuss with geeky visitors.
It’s just a pile of cash is all. But you totally can, and despite inefficiencies it shouldn’t end up a total loss. Worst case? You sell it and recoup some expenses.
Edit:
I thought about doing that, but I’m taking the 7600s module. Because pull-out GPUs is just awesome, and I’m only gaming very occasionally anyway. Being able to easily utilise it on the go is a plus. If it had been me 6 years ago, with more free time - I’d be doing the external system, or even building a full desktop as well, but then I couldn’t afford it in those days lol.
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I’d very much like to have a “classic” docking station in the first place, like many (business) laptops used to have. I do have two of these for my current laptop at two different locations, both with an assortment of accessories attached (3D mouse, 2D mouse, external monitor, ethernet, power). Just throw the laptop on there, no fiddling around with USB connectors. If it can house graphics cards externally, that would be an additional bonus.
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Thunderbolt to dock and than daisy chain to egpu is a bad idea. An egpu needs a dedicated connection for max banwidth
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That would be true, but eGPU docks often include a few USB ports and possibly Ethernet to make them advertise as docks. To… mixed results.
I think I found an obscure one with dual cables specifically to give the GPU maximum bandwidth. It’s just not quite a mainstream market, so attracts limited investment. IMO.
It is a product that suits the Framework particularly well though, so it keeps coming up here. Really cool seeing some of what’s going on, too.
For the record i dont own a framework, but I use a 7940hs @ 90w(realistically 75w, stock cooler wont sustain 90w for more than 45-60 seconds, and i lack time to modify the stock heatsink or make one or use a aio on the vaporchamber opposite side of the heatsink fin stack) with a 6900xt paired over oculink 4i 4.0 (pcie x4) running a 4k 120hz tv, and i find more often than not my 6900xt bottlenecks my 7940hs in the odd arrangement of old/new games that i regular.
Its basically a 7700 non x equivalent, with a cache difference if i recall correctly. Im also using poor timing 5600mhz ram currently.
I see no reason why someone cant design a breakout to oculink from the two gpu connectors, the pinout is available. There are already x8 oculink gpu docks out there, I own one, high quality cables are lacking though.
Its up to the userbase’s determination.
Well, I am down for the FW16 for all those reasons. Only competition I wanted to wait for was the XPS16, and yes, it is extremely beautiful and much smaller with same screen size, but damn, I am not paying 2000+ Euros to be stuck with a RTX4070 with 8gb of VRAM and 60Ws in 2024. Sorry, that train has left.
So I hope to use oculink for a true desktop performance asap with the FW16 ;).
I think an Occulink x8 bay to replace the discrete GPU bay would be ideal for docking and getting the most out of any GPU you could attach. PCIE4 at 8X (16GBps) blows away USB4/TB3 40Gbps(5GBps) which isn’t actually 40Gbps because of overhead and encapsulation (more like 32Gbps) etc. Remember Gbps != GBps, they’re very different! 8bits = 1Byte.
The real issue is firmware and max Occulink cable length to ensure PCIE4 is usable and doesn’t fallback to PCIE3 (still faster at 8GBps, but somewhat a waste). Even PCIE riser cables were having issues with PCIE4 so you should expect Occulink 8x to struggle to get PCIE4 speeds without proper shielding etc. But at PCIE4 x8 you should get over 90% of any external GPU you can connect.
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Completely agree, here is a good overview of current progress on the issue of signal stability, still mixed in the community…
Luckily handtalker, creator of onedock (v2) is apparently in touch with Lenovo for dedicated oculink ports on notebooks also for Western customers - but likely to late to reach before FW16 actually becomes an available product.
My money is on someone in the community building an adaptor (which thankfully is ongoing).
Its an expansion bay. Framework could totally create the expansion bay and sell it later this year. They didn’t release the NIC expansion card until later either, and I ordered it with my preorder of the FW16. Its simple enough to go directly from PCIE to Occulink with a redriver. I’d buy one the moment they released it.
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Same here. But Framework CEO signalled they will “probably not” build it themselves. So my money is on a rescue from the community. 
If anyone builds it, I will buy it on day one.
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There is already someone who designing a drop in PCB that will fit in the default empty expansion bay. So you theoretically wouldn’t need Framework to design it, they designed the bay and shell, and the community can design and sell the drop in PCB.
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Yes, Josh here in the thread has already designed a solution and is in testing phase. I bought it on day one. I personally trust his solution will be apt at ensuring safe oculink x4 and x8 speeds (I bought both). My current EGPU is One Dock v2 (arrived after weeks of hassle with EU customs finally) which is already I think an advanced solution for signal integrity. So that’s my plan for oculink x4 speeds for now (all I need for my trusted RTX 3090 for now).
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Do you have a link to buy it? Looking to run my 7900 xtx off my framework 16 for 4k, I have the 7940hs as well in mine so i wouldnt imagine that being a bottleneck.
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Thanks for a quick response! Are you able to use paypal for payment? I wouldnt mind paying a little more if theres a fee for it.
Such a kick-ass community. Every single one of you is awesome for trying to solve this problem
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Wow so will this allow me to run an oculink gpu on the framework laptop screen? Or do I have to run it on an external monitor?
There is a DP In port for using the internal screen