Current Events > Why did they stop making eGPU enclosures?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Seems dumb. At least the options to DIY it are still out there, just gotta bring your own PSU (not a huge problem) and build or print your own case (a bit more annoying).

Because who actually buys that crap? For the price eGPUs cost and the performance losses, might as well just build a desktop.

Probably has to do with money

Ultra niche market. Not many people want to pay hundreds of dollars for performance loss and an extra thing to plug in

IdiotMachine posted...

Because who actually buys that crap? For the price eGPUs cost and the performance losses, might as well just build a desktop.

I'd personally much prefer to retain the option of handheld play when undocked. Streaming, even over LAN, doesn't seem to be there yet. When it is, a smartphone and a controller grip will do the job. (Even so, I'll probably go back to regular laptops rather than desktops, but I can go to a laptop with a really good GPU.)

GPU is the only thing I'm gonna need to upgrade for a long time to come once I get a replacement battery, doesn't make sense to upgrade the whole unit.

It is nice that handheld manufacturers are making solutions here, but eh... None of them go over 8GB VRAM and I kinda feel if I'm gonna fork out for this, I wanna go higher than that. I don't need to upgrade just yet, integrated is carrying me fine for now, but I'm wondering if I should try to get an enclosure while it's still possible...

IdiotMachine posted...

Because who actually buys that crap? For the price eGPUs cost and the performance losses, might as well just build a desktop.

I did.

You can basically bypass the performance loss by plugging the GPU directly into the monitor.

They're intended to be used with miniature PCs like NUCs. It's clean and takes up less space. It's also easy to upgrade GPUs, and your GPU heat won't contribute to your CPU heat because they're separate so overall temps are lower across the board.

These days I don't really feel like it's worth the money anymore. Like a water cooling loop. I understand the benefits but seems like it's just not worth it.

Being able to use it only when I want, and just unplug it otherwise, is a nice advantage too. I don't need a 7600 XT (or more) powering Visual Studio or Firefox.

MarthGoomba posted...

Ultra niche market. Not many people want to pay hundreds of dollars for performance loss and an extra thing to plug in

I'd imagine the cooling benefits of placing the GPU outside the case, outweighs the performance impact of having the PCIe lanes physically span a longer distance.