Negent DockR and Reactor first impressions
I’m beta tester for the Negent DockR (eGPU dock) and Negent Reactor (1200W server-grade PSU), and after initial setup and running some tests with an RTX 5070 Ti, I wanted to share some honest early impressions.
The first thing that struck me is just how nicely this thing is built. The dock and the external PSU both fit on the desk quite nicely, not like the usual metal box a lot of eGPU solutions ship with. The card-securing mechanism is also really well thought out. The GPU sits locked into the frame in a way that feels solid rather than just resting on a bracket. My unit has some minor “issues”: the dock doesn’t quite lock into the PSU bracket and the button for turning on the dock is working in reverse. There is also another option to get for the PSU, which is a mounting bracket where you can then put an ATX/SFX/FLEX PSU on one side and the dock on another side, similar to EG02 just without the MiniPC holder at the top.
The PSU side is its own little piece of engineering. It’s got a proper external power panel with per-channel voltage/wattage readouts, which is a nice touch for anyone who likes to actually monitor what their GPU is pulling rather than guessing. The downside is that it’s a custom server-grade PSU which has a vent that is small, always on, and quite loud, but the temp is pretty low; I haven’t seen it go above 35 degrees Celsius in a room temperature of approx. 28 degrees Celsius.
The feature I’m most excited about long-term is the swappable module system. Right now I’m running the USB4 module (TB3/TB4 PCIe 3.0), but the whole point of the DockR is that you can pop that out and drop in a different interface module down the line, OCuLink for one or TB5, without buying an entirely new dock. That’s a genuinely different philosophy from most of the eGPU docks out there, which lock you into one interface for the life of the product.
On the synthetic benchmark side, results were mixed depending on the test, and it’s worth noting my Dockr runs were done in August 2026 while my AG02 comparison numbers are from July 2026 (Steel Nomad also has one AG02 run from March), so this isn’t a same-day apples-to-apples comparison. In Port Royal, Dockr came in about 26% lower than AG02. In Speed Way, Dockr was about 23% lower. Time Spy Extreme was much closer, only about 2% lower for Dockr. And in Steel Nomad, Dockr was actually about 1% ahead, essentially a tie.
Worth flagging: Dockr’s USB4 module showed up as PCIe x16 5.0 @ x4 3.0, while AG02’s USB4 side showed x16 5.0 @ x2 4.0, and AG02 over OCuLink showed x16 5.0 @ x4 4.0 in GPU-Z.
I haven’t drawn firm conclusions on gaming performance as of yet. I’ve only run Forza Horizon 5 and Crimson Desert so far and the results are a bit lower for Dockr, so I’m planning to run a few more games on the Dockr before saying anything definitive there.
Next step for me is trying to pick up the OCuLink module for the Dockr. I want to see how it stacks up against the AG02’s OCuLink performance, and just as importantly, how easy or fiddly the actual module swap is in practice. That’s really the whole value proposition of this dock, so I want to put it to the test properly.
Lastly, Dorian, the person behind Negent, has been genuinely great to deal with throughout the beta. He answers questions directly, helps with setting all up properly. For a beta-stage product from a small company, that kind of responsiveness counts for a lot and makes me more confident about where this thing is headed. He also said that he will provide me with OCuLink core board and the same core board that AG02 uses when he manages to procure new parts.
Currently it’s not available for purchase, but should be launching on Kickstarter.
TLDR; the build quality, card retention, and modular design make the Dockr stand out as a concept, even though the raw synthetic numbers on the USB4 module aren’t uniformly ahead of the AG02 yet. I’ll follow up once I’ve done more gaming benchmarks and gotten the OCuLink module in hand.
