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Using an External GPU on an Alienware M9700
Using an eGPU on an Alienware M9700
II know I can't game on it. I just want to use it as a media center. So I will be hooking it up to my Tv to watch shows and movies. The internal gpus of course, overheat , as they are ancient. SO, I want to go the external route, IF possible. The riser is cheap. The card doesn't have to be monstrous. All I REALLY need to know, is if I can adapt the Express Card Slot /54mm as an output. I can get an adaptor that turns into USB 3. It will probably only run at usb2 speed. Can I then usb into the riser card? Or can any bright soul tell me if it is even possible with a different adapter? I am going to be loading Tiny 10 onto it and two new ssd drives. It has the max of 2 gig of ram in it. If I spend a hundred bucks in parts, that's fine. I just dont want to throw this out. It was a very expensive piece in its day. And it still works. Thanks in advance!
ejn63
10 Elder
10 Elder
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25.4K Posts
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July 20th, 2023 12:00
Only you can make the call, but there is no other hardware in the system that's usable as a video input from an eGPU.
For that matter, you can buy a complete, used desktop system at least ten years newer than this Alienware for under $100 -- which will run rings around anything you can jerry rig with this notebook.
ejn63
10 Elder
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25.4K Posts
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July 19th, 2023 13:00
PCIe x16 video cards expect a bandwith of between 16 and 32 Gb/s -- the express card slot at maximum will afford the card about 0.5 G/s, so if you decide to proceed with trying to build a connector for an Expresscard slot, realize that you'll be limiting the external GPU to about 1.5-3% of the bandwidth it needs to perform. In other words, the setup will throw away between 97 and 98.5% of its performance by being connected to this system.
You'll also need an external monitor -- there is no way to feed the video signal back into the system.
Hall442
8 Posts
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July 20th, 2023 10:00
The external monitor is the whole point. I want to use it to watch movies and tv in my living room. I dont think this thing even HAS a mini pcie slot for the modem or I'd try that route. This was the only other method / output I thought MIGHT work. These are my choices -
Anything there that might have MORE throughput? Thanks for the response, it is most appreciated.
Hall442
8 Posts
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July 22nd, 2023 07:00
That's disappointing. I had hoped to make good use of this old beast. but I guess her day of disposal has come. Thank you for your advise, Sir. It is appreciated.