Any laptop modders who can help with E6230 Dell (see below)

[Techie_hobby1]

Hi to all those laptop modders who can hopefully help me with my small project…

Please understand that this is a rather long thread, but I am disabled so very limited to funds as well as mobility, although I can at steady pace get my hands dirty (so to speak).

My Laptop…
I have a (although very old) extremely robust DELL E6320 laptop which has been my old faithful for many many years but only has the inbuilt HD3000 graphics card.

Additional info…
I have managed to install Windows 11 onto this laptop with some help from friends and it runs pretty comfortably, and is also running Direct X 12 although it sometimes says it’s DX11. So it could be DX11. Regardless Fusion 360 prefers to run on Direct X 11.

My Proposed Mod Project…
So I want to find a way so I can connect an External Graphics card (that I will build into a small enclosure), which can then be powered externally but make my laptop recognise that Graphics card and allow me to use that as an when I want to run a few designs etc.

***Before anyone criticises- I am very much disabled and cannot keep lugging around a Desktop PC…which is why I wish to mod my laptop instead, and use this Graphics card and my laptop since it will weight a lot less.

I have tried looking at several ways but I am unsure if they will work, but there are a lot of bright people obviously I am not one of those though.

Obviously my external graphics card will be used to run (NON Gaming software) I’m more of a design type person than a gamer… Fusion 360 is one example.

However I would like to know if anyone can assist me, by somehow utilising one of the spare ports available on the motherboard(internal/External) to somehow convert to PCI-E 16X, which the External Graphics Card (that I already own) will be connected to via a PCI-E 16X adapter.

It is a real challenge

Thank you to all that got down to the end of this request.

Note: Finally be advised this is not the only forum that I am sending this to, so if you are a member of others you might come across the same request.

[Dutch_Master]

Before committing your daily driver I’d suggest getting a replacement for “just in case”.

Does your laptop have USB3.2 (the 10Gbit version)? There’s USB3 to NVMe M.2 adapters that in turn can be converted to PCIe. Not that expensive either, via Aliexpress.

[Techie_hobby1]

No unfortunately it only has 1 x USB 2.0.
It is a very old Intel i5 2520M @ 2.50Ghz processor which I managed to get running on 16GB RAM

However, I own the 34mm Express Card that gives me 2 additional USB Ports at USB 3.0, but these are 5GB/s and not the 10GBit you mention.

But one of my main reasons to want to keep using this laptop is because it is very strong…accident prone because of the magnesium casing that protects its, since I am now disabled and not as strong as I use to be or have the mobility that I used to have.

[Data_Wizard]

I guess your laptop’s USB isn’t fast enough for an external GPU. The best way is to use the ExpressCard slot with a PCIe adapter for your GPU. It’s slower than a desktop but should help. Let me know if you need help.

[Techie_hobby1]

@Data_Wizard do you mean for me to use my Expresscard in the relevant slot (giving me 2 additional USB 3.0) and then using one of these
Pce164p N03 Ver007c Pci E 1x To 16x Powered Riser Adapter Card 3.0 Extension PC
Then I just need to power the GPU externally.

I have seen on YouTube somebody used external GPU through a wifi port, but I need my wifi port.
for additional info I do have a WLAN port with no card installed and another port that allows me to use an optional SmartCard Reader/Contactless/Fingerprint Reader
…are any of those an option to use/mod….
or just go with the above

[wizarddata]

Any port you could consider for egpu use would need pcie connectivity to be viable. Your laptop manual might help, but it’s unlikely any of those slots to have dedicated pcie lanes.

[Techie_hobby1]

I ran a Dell Support Assistant and I was actually very shocked. All this time I thought I had an i3 processor but it turns out that I have an i5 processor.

I have taken a screen shot of all the Hardware that the Dell Support Assistant has identified

Does any of this help me with my original request
(Note; I am only able to upload 2 images as a new user but there is a third to follow shortly

[Data_Wizard]

@Techie_hobby1

do you mean for me to use my Expresscard in the relevant slot (giving me 2 additional USB 3.0) and then using one of these
Pce164p N03 Ver007c Pci E 1x To 16x Powered Riser Adapter Card 3.0 Extension PC
Then I just need to power the GPU externally.

I have seen on YouTube somebody used external GPU through a wifi port, but I need my wifi port.
for additional info I do have a WLAN port with no card installed and another port that allows me to use an optional SmartCard Reader/Contactless/Fingerprint Reader
…are any of those an option to use/mod….
or just go with the above

@Techie_hobby1 Use the ExpressCard slot with a PCIe adapter like the EXP GDC Beast — it gives your GPU a proper connection and just needs external power. You could also use the WLAN port if it’s Mini PCIe or M.2, but you’ll lose built-in Wi-Fi (a USB Wi-Fi dongle can fix that). The SmartCard or Fingerprint slot won’t work for this, so no need to bother with it. If you have an ExpressCard slot, that’s your best and easiest option.