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External GPU yay or nay

jboyle9808
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · External GPU yay or nay

I currently have a Lenovo X390 Yoga with an integrated graphics card. When I purchased the laptop in 2021 I was doing minor photo editing, as it is just a hobby, but I am finding the new denoise function in Lightroom to be excruciatingly slow. I am considering an external graphics card (possibly an RTX 3060 or comparable). I love the size and portability of the laptop, so don't really want to go to a new, larger laptop. My budget won't allow a $1500 + purchase of a new machine.

My questions are:

- Is this a viable route that can be done for around $500 or less?
- Has anyone else had success with this?

Any advice is appreciated.

~ Jason

May 31, 2023 at 09:26 AM

RoamingScott
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · External GPU yay or nay

Will your budget allow for an M1 or better MacBook Pro? Best money you can spend for photo and video processing today.

May 31, 2023 at 09:35 AM

jboyle9808
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · External GPU yay or nay

Unfortunately, I don't have the budget for a new laptop that would increase my editing capabilities. Also, I've never been a fan of Apple products. I realize they are considered the best for graphics work, but I really dislike the operating system. I'm just not willing to learn to use Apple products at this point.

May 31, 2023 at 09:53 AM

EB-1
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · External GPU yay or nay

An external GPU case and the GPU will be well over $500 and is a rather clunky setup. I'd wait and save up for a better laptop with a graphics card or maybe get a cheap desktop.

EBH

Jun 01, 2023 at 11:00 AM

jboyle9808
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · External GPU yay or nay

I probably should have been a little more specific in my description of how/when I would use the external GPU. While on vacation or traveling I'm okay with suffering through the lengthy editing for a few photos. When home I like being able to sit on the couch as opposed to sitting at the desktop in a proper chair to do editing. I would have no problem plopping an external unit next to the couch to do some editing. Knowing next to nothing about anything related to GPU's, it seems I can get a case for $200-$500 and a decent RTX card for $250-$350. I look at this as a "solution" for the next 3-4 years at which point I would consider spending $2k+ on a proper laptop for editing photos.

Anyone have any input on this "updated" scenario?

Jun 01, 2023 at 02:57 PM

rusty1958
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · External GPU yay or nay

From what I know, ext. gpu needs a thunderbolt3 connection. It seems you have 1 on you laptop. Also the out put of the gpu has to feed a monitor via HDMI or display port. I am not sure you can send it back into the laptop, so you will need a monitor. Hope this helps, Mike

Jun 02, 2023 at 05:35 PM

jeffbuzz
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · External GPU yay or nay

eGPU seems like a total waste of money for negligible gains. There are bottlenecks redirecting the signal back into the laptop display. Using an external monitor is going to give better performance. Considering eGPU costs, buying a similarly priced desktop PC would give you better performance.

Jun 05, 2023 at 11:04 AM

RustyBug
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · External GPU yay or nay

I can relate ... I'm an armchair / couch editor, also. The form factor of the laptop with built in display is convenient. I've considered a desktop / tower to put beside me, but the issue becomes that of how to get the monitor in front of you, the way a laptop does.

I too explored the issue of getting external processing power to my former laptop, but found no good solution, so I bit the bullet and upgraded to my (current) ThinkPad X1 Extreme with graphic card. That is now getting a bit long in the tooth, and I've tried out a couple different versions of a MBP.

Similar to your point about not getting along with the Mac ethos / OS ... I will say that once I was in my editing software (Bridge / ACR / PS), the "Mac" ethos wasn't really that bothersome. Granted, outside of the editing application presented more challenges for adjustment, but it did the job well ... FLUID, FLUID, FLUID for my brush work, etc. when pushing things that would bog down my X1 (with 64GB). If you value the GPU side of things ... I'd recommend taking a Mac out for a spin. Yeah ... I know, I know. It might not be a today thing, but as a long time "NOT MAC" user, I'm a bit of a convert in the making ... might be something to explore for saving up toward.

Not much help here ... just moral support to the dilemma ... since those who aren't "armchair" editors, may not relate.

One other thought, I've used LR (briefly) with an i-Pad Pro (M2 chip), so there's that wrt to how surprisingly well it works.

Wish I had more to offer that is direct in line with your eGPU quest, but I decided to save for the upgrade. Yeah, it stung for a little while, but that got forgotten in time, and you end up asking yourself, why you didn't do it sooner? Of course, we already know the answer, but ... it stings once, then you get on with things, and you're glad you did.

HTH

Jun 05, 2023 at 09:19 PM

jboyle9808
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · External GPU yay or nay

Thought I would give everyone an update on what I decided to do and how it worked out...maybe it will help someone else out in a similar situation.

I ended up buying a used Razer RC21 chassis on ebay with a GTX1080ti card. Sent it to our computer guy, who had a RTX3060 card left over from something else, so I got that card for next to nothing. All in I think I spent around $500.

The exciting part is that using Adobe Denoise AI went from 10-15 minutes to process a RAW file out of my D500 to 9 seconds!

Jul 21, 2023 at 07:04 AM

Gregory Edge
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · External GPU yay or nay

Thanks for reporting back. Always nice when people feedback on their decisions.

I always find it interesting that people hate Apple. Not sure why the hatred is there. Bill Gates and Microsoft are no better at stealing your data than Apple, Google, Amazon or any other big tech.

I have run both PCs and Macs for 30+ years. The Mac is a much better machine but the current differences between the two OSes is big. I have on PC laptop left in my household. I need it for a piece of software, not photography related, and it drives me nuts with all the updates and interface changes but the hardware was cheap.

Jul 22, 2023 at 08:42 AM

RustyBug
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · External GPU yay or nay

+1 for update.

Spawned a new question for me ... new thread.

Jul 22, 2023 at 11:37 AM

chez
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · External GPU yay or nay

Gregory Edge wrote:
Thanks for reporting back. Always nice when people feedback on their decisions.

I always find it interesting that people hate Apple. Not sure why the hatred is there. Bill Gates and Microsoft are no better at stealing your data than Apple, Google, Amazon or any other big tech.

I have run both PCs and Macs for 30+ years. The Mac is a much better machine but the current differences between the two OSes is big. I have on PC laptop left in my household. I need it for a piece of software, not photography related, and it drives me nuts...Show more →

I also run both Mac and PC and the MacOS updates breaks more hardware connections than I really like. It's always a mystery what will break when you upgrade your Mac. I find the Windows upgrades are much easier on hardware.

Jul 22, 2023 at 01:43 PM

Oscarsmadness
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · External GPU yay or nay

Also a thanks from me for the update. Glad you found success! I think your solution was absolutely brilliant.

Jul 23, 2023 at 12:22 PM

Gregory Edge
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · External GPU yay or nay

chez wrote:
I also run both Mac and PC and the MacOS updates breaks more hardware connections than I really like. It's always a mystery what will break when you upgrade your Mac. I find the Windows upgrades are much easier on hardware.

Funny that I have never really had an issue with hardware after upgrading the Mac OS. I usually wait until the first one or two decimal point updates. Maybe that is the key.

Jul 25, 2023 at 06:20 PM


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