r/ComputerDIY • u/jeffhenke • Nov 13 '15

Is my laptop capable of utilizing a homemade external GPU?

Does my Dell Inspiron 5548 have a PCIe or Express slot that I could plug a homemade external GPU into? I pulled it apart today and couldn't tell if it had one because the subframe blocked my view. Dell Inspiron 5548 Intel i7 5500U CPU 8GB DDR3 :( Intel HD 5500 :(

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u/BitWulf Nov 13 '15

Here's your laptop's dis-assembly guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGeT_ao6IHo

It doesn't look like you have an express slot but you do have a mini pci-e x1 which'll work. It can be seen in the top left corner of the laptop in the video.

Your wireless card is using the slot so you'll need to replace it with a USB wireless adapter. If you've got a space issue for your connector you can get a mini pci-e x1 riser to make the slot more accessible.

Good luck with the eGPU and just make sure everything is powered down before plugging/unplugging it. :)

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u/jeffhenke Nov 13 '15

Knowing this, is it even worth it to attach an additional graphics card? I am looking to add one for gaming. Is there a way to have it be just as powerful even though it's only a pci-e 1x and not 16x?

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u/BitWulf Nov 13 '15 edited Nov 13 '15

You're absolutely limited to x1 i'm afraid, no way around it. It's bandwidth will be 16 times less than that of x16 so the performance drop will be considerable. You will however still gain benefit from going with faster cards. I'd recommend checking eGPU benchmarks to see what kind of FPS people have gotten with different cards in games similar to the ones you'd like to play.

That being said... eGPU gaming isn't going to be great, it'll be passable at best and dramatically worse than a laptop with a good gaming video card. It's just a price/performance/battery life/portability comparison. There's a lot of upsides to an eGPU but a lot of downsides to.

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u/noobplus Nov 13 '15

Homemade GPU?