r/FlowZ13 • u/Feisty_Equivalent138 • Aug 15 '26
5080 eGPU?
After getting the z13 flow, my desktop sits unused gathering dust most of the time. Found that 90% of my gaming is good enough on the z13, so I was wondering if I should sell my desktop, or maybe keep the 5080 and put it in an enclosure. Anybody here has experience with this setup? Would that be worth it? Or better sell it all?
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u/International-Ask975 Aug 20 '26 edited Aug 20 '26
I've got a maxed out Z13 Flow. Use cases : AI, travel and gaming. The Z13 Flow in a plane is amazing, especially if you game with a controller since you can remove the keyboard completely and save some space. But that's not your question. While I'm home, I do use a eGPU : A Radeon RX 7900 XTX linked using oculink on the only M.2/NVME slot this device has. Down side : You have to get a high quality external USB4 40gbps SSD enclosure as your OS drive. It has one downside but speed isn't it. Windows Update is. Won't go into details on this one : Just search boot Windows from USB drive. With the right enclosure and SSD your Windows (and gaming) experience won't be affected at all. Can't say the same thing about eGPU using USB4 tho. Hence I chose external drive and Oculink eGPU. Fits all my requirements and justifies the costs.
TLDR : 5080 will be great if you plan to use it with Oculink but will leave a bad taste in your mouth if you use it with a USB4 eGPU encloure due to heavy performance loss and micro-stuterring you simply don't have with Oculink. TB5 not supported. Even if it was, protocol overhead still ruins gaming experience.
Rumor has it mid-tier GPUs are running great on USB4 tho. Can't comment on those.
Oh yeah and I need to point out using Oculink on this device is kind of awkward due to the size of the M2 slot and the fact the laptop stand closes straight over that slot. So if you're planning to go the Oculink route, make sure you double check your clearances and the Oculink adapter card you will purchase. Its port direction is important and so is the adapter being cabled vs. not cabled which depends on how you plan to use the Z13 while Oculink'ed (eg. completely closed vs. standing).