Can i use the usb 3.0 jacks on the left side of my lenovo y50-70 to connect to an eGPU?

[philwhite728]

My laptop has an Nvidia GTX 960m 4GB already installed in it, but games getting released are starting to get to where I dont have a card capable of running them. Can i use the USB 3.0 jacks that my laptop has to connect to an external GPU setup, or am i going to have to remove the wireless card to connect that way, or get a new PC?

 

[DSzymborski]

Given you already have a 960m installed and running properly, it's Thunderbolt or bust.

 

[philwhite728]

Given you already have a 960m installed and running properly, it's Thunderbolt or bust.

To my knowledge, my laptop doesn't have a thunderbolt port on it, could i use an adapter to a standard usb 3.0?

 

[DSzymborski]

Given you already have a 960m installed and running properly, it's Thunderbolt or bust.

To my knowledge, my laptop doesn't have a thunderbolt port on it, could i use an adapter to a standard usb 3.0?

No, the problem isn't the shape of the connector, it's the bandwidth.

 

[Dragos Manea]

a usb 3.0 is too slow for an eGPU, you need a minimum 3.1

 

[jaguarskx]

There are no external GPU adapters that makes use of the USB 3.0 port.

There are only two ports that can be used for an eGPU.

#1 - Thunderbolt 3.0 = 4 PCIe lanes. These are used by current generation external GPU docks. The video signal can be sent back to the laptop's screen (but there is about a 15% drop in performance), or to an external monitor (no performance penalty other than only 4 PCIe lanes).

#2 - mini-PCIe = 1 PCIe lane (1/4th the bandwidth of Thunderbolt 3.0); this port is typically occupied by the WiFi card. The video signal must be sent to an external monitor.

 

[Jasiek95]

a usb 3.0 is too slow for an eGPU, you need a minimum 3.1

USB 3.1 Gen 2 to be exact. Since gen 1 is just USB 3.0 type A. It only got confusing after the USB-IF decided to change the definition after the release of USB 3.1 Gen 2: http://www.usb.org/developers/ssusb.
USB 3.0 is now USB 3.1 Gen 1 and USB 3.1 is now USB 3.1 Gen 2. BTW, salut romanule!

There are no external GPU adapters that makes use of the USB 3.0 port.

There are only two ports that can be used for an eGPU.

#1 - Thunderbolt 3.0 = 4 PCIe lanes. These are used by current generation external GPU docks. The video signal can be sent back to the laptop's screen (but there is about a 15% drop in performance), or to an external monitor (no performance penalty other than only 4 PCIe lanes).

#2 - mini-PCIe = 1 PCIe lane (1/4th the bandwidth of Thunderbolt 3.0); this port is typically occupied by the WiFi card. The video signal must be sent to an external monitor.

There also do exist M.2 NGFF eGPUs I believe that utilize x2 and x4 PCIe. Though they are rare and only come in B-key formats (ewww).

For the OP: Your only option is to open the back and buy an EXP GDC beast to connect to the WLAN port. but the x1 bandwidth will bottleneck you pretty hard. You'll also need to buy a USB 3 WIFI dongle if you want wireless connectivity, since you need to replace the WLAN card with the eGPU mPCIE connector. There are also problems associated with new drivers for the 10xx Nvidia cards (they are trying to phase out these mPCIe eGPUs) that prevent them being detected properly so you will need to use older drivers.