I really like the idea of a mobile VR setup. came across this on Amazon while searching RTX 2080ti.
Thoughts? Has anyone ever tried a setup like this?
AORUS RTX 2080 Ti Gaming Box (eGPU), Embedded GeForce RTX 2080 Ti, Thunderbolt 3 Plug and Play, Custom Quiet and Silent Waterforce AIO Cooling System, Dual Thunderbolt 3 Controller, Gv-N208TIXEB-11GC https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07ZS9GZRY/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_yz0gFbMZ4S022
You still need to plug it in, so not really “mobile”. And iirc those thunderbolt 3 enclosures hit a bottleneck so you won’t be getting the best from a 2080ti anyway - more like a 2070 would be the best worth running.
If you wanted a “portable” PC you would be better off building a microATX PC to actually be able to use a 2080ti
Micro or itx indeed is best over egpus.
I think @blitze has some experience with eGPU and Pimax.
Itx cases tend not to be able to fit full sized gpu’s like a 2080ti
Yes but you’re paying like WAY more to go over a thunderbolt connection that nerfs your GPU for what exactly?
I said to buy a microatx PC instead, helio suggested itx but itx usually wont fit a full sized gpu
Depends tbh, I use https://www.silverstonetek.com/raven/product-rv.php?pid=606&area=en.
Has a riser card and as long as the GPU isn’t too long I can fit it. My GPU current has 3 fans.
I am interested in the idea of portable VR but the whole E GPU is a dead end in that direction.
I also have an ITX build that would fit a 2080 TI (currently it is equipped with a 1080 TI). Using the A4-SFX which has the size of an external gpu - but also fits the cpu.
Some considerations are still necessary. So it e.g. is limited to cards with a width of 2 slots. So e.g. founder edition NVidia cards fit, many custom cards don’t though.
And the cpu cooler is also limited in size - so it is best to use 60W cpus to keep the system silent.
That sandwich design where the gpu is connected to the motherboard with a riser cable, so both cpu and gpu can face outwards is quite nice. Nowadays a number of cases exist with that design, think the A4-SFX was actually the first one.
eGPU and ITX builds have the same size, but a notebook+eGPU is not only mobile in the sense that it can be carried around but that it can actually be used while traveling. And it comes with a monitor and touchpad included. Sure, one can upgrade an ITX build with a 15" hdmi monitor and even a UPS. But desktop components aren’t optimized for power consumption, so it wouldn’t run long and ITX case+UPS+monitor becomes unwieldy.
So short (all imho):
I currently have the last variant. An ITX build, because I sometimes use(d) my PC at friends places for lan sessions (before corona…). And a tablet PC for mobile use and drawing. (And a mac notebook that is purely used as a “don’t touch” part of my mobile music setup, but that’s probably a little special)
the problem with buying the egpu listed above is that for around the same price you can get a RTX2080 laptop and the performance difference (because of the thunderbolt link) would be minimal - but actually this setup costs even more because a laptop with thunderbolt is also $1000
if you actually want to use a 2080ti without a massive bottleneck you need a full sized pcie slot
I can’t think of any situation where the egpu wins, it doesn’t give any extra performance but costs way way more than either a gaming laptop (which you can use on battery) or a portable desktop
Used the Razor eGPU case to connect to my laptop via Thunderbolt cable.
It worked but given the size and weight of the enclosure I went with a mATX case build instead eventually.
There were also performance loss compared and the mATX Ryzen build has been great once I put the CPU on a AIO Water Cooler. I was using a Gigabyte RTX 2080 GPU - still am but now in the mATX.
eGPU if you go that route - requires a decent CPU and eGPU case with minimal extra USB peripherals - don’t try to run drives off the same Thunderbolt port as the eGPU or have the display loop back over the connection, keep the signal as tight over Thunderbolt as possible and even then you might experience micro freezes. I don’t think there has been any significant Thunderbold spec upgrade over the last year that would give the headroom to do this and have same performance as in a desktop system.
Thunderbolt 4 afaik always offers 4 PCI3 lanes while TB3 only guarantees 2 lanes (some still had 4 lanes). So it’s getting a little better. Still not 16x PCI4. But it will probably still take some time until GPUs actually make use of that bandwidth…
ITX cases have their uses when you live in Asia. Also easier to carry to bring them for repairs.
There is this beast bit outdated now tho
1080 ski watercooled
bring for repairs?
wouldn’t you just do it yourself?
You need to look around as there are quite a few cases out there now for itx builds for full size Graphics cards like the 2080ti cards.
Fair nuff…
Thanks for all the replies and options to consider. Looks like an eGPU is way last on the list now 
Sometimes the troubleshooting everything doesn’t work.
