Help please (External graphics card on laptop)

[KATZGATZ]

Hello,
Im pretty new to PC gaming but i love it 1000x more than console gaming. About 4 months back i bought a Asus G55vw. The laptop is great and i love the gtx 660m because it fits most of needs, but not all of them. In Battlefield 3 my laptop runs at around 30 fps, which is OKAY. But i would it to be better. Apparently the G55's graphics card is soldered in so i cant replace it, bummer. So i was wondering if it would be possible to get some sort of adapter to plug into my laptop or whatever and then hook up a desktop graphics card. I want to put in a gtx 670 or higher into it. I get that there is something called an express card but i dont understand what it is. Any help would be amazing.

Thank you

 

[alvine]

sadly most laptops can't be upgraded. only the top end ones from Alienware for example have that option to change out the graphics. if you are a real gamer you will get a desktop, its cheaper and you can change parts out meaning you dont have to start over with a new system (expensive) but you can upgrade individual parts (sell your older video card and get the newest one for exmaple)

 

[larrym]

Not going to happen my friend. You will have to go desktop if you want that. The PCI Express is the motherboard interface for the PCI express video Card.

 

[KATZGATZ]

Damn, because i payed around 1300 for it and i just bought it a few months ago. And i don't i will be able to sell and i don't know how i would. I dont really have the money to buy an entire new desktop... wow this really sucks

 

[chugot9218]

Yes, this is a common laptop regret, unfortunately the time to do this kind of research is before purchase :/.

 

[unoriginal1]

A little quick research you can use a ViDock (if your lappy has a express-card slot) for an external video card.

Also found that it's quite expensive.... Money would be better spent towards a custom gaming desktop. Sucks :/

 

[J_E_D_70]

Doesn't help you now... but down the road when most laptops will come with a thunderbolt port there should be affordable external GPU enclosures. That's the dream, anyway...

 

[popatim]

There have also been a few usb3 based external gaming solutions demo'd but none that actually made it market afaik.

 

[KATZGATZ]

okay thank you guys... also what does thunderbolt port do exactly because i have one is my laptop.

 

[J_E_D_70]

Just a fast new kind of connection being pushed by Intel and Apple.

 

[TheLandman]

Well, there are some alternatives. You can use an external graphics card which plugs into the mini PCI Express slot (if your laptop has one)

Check out these links:

http://www.techradar.com/news/computing-components/graphics-cards/how-to-make-an-external-laptop-graphics-adaptor-915616#null

http://www.villageinstruments.com/tiki-index.php?page=ViDock

 

[PWK87]

woops... ignore this post.

 

[Guest]

There is hope!!! You can connect an external graphics card to your laptop. Follow this link: http://lifehacker.com/5851902/turn-a-low+powered-laptop-into-a-gaming-machine-with-an-external-video-card-dock

 

[smittycat88]

Hello,
Im pretty new to PC gaming but i love it 1000x more than console gaming. About 4 months back i bought a Asus G55vw. The laptop is great and i love the gtx 660m because it fits most of needs, but not all of them. In Battlefield 3 my laptop runs at around 30 fps, which is OKAY. But i would it to be better. Apparently the G55's graphics card is soldered in so i cant replace it, bummer. So i was wondering if it would be possible to get some sort of adapter to plug into my laptop or whatever and then hook up a desktop graphics card. I want to put in a gtx 670 or higher into it. I get that there is something called an express card but i dont understand what it is. Any help would be amazing.

Thank you

Considering your rig is pretty new, it would be hard to upgrade. I upgraded my older rig (P7811FX Gateway) to use a GTX 660 as an EGPU. Works great and I'm loving the feel.

I'm doing this through a PCI slot. I don't even think newer laptops ship with a PCI slots anymore.

 

[wolf3]

If you have an extra graphics card lying around you can connect that to your laptop through the express slot