DIY External Graphics Card for Laptop... Am I insane or will this work?

Hardware Hub GPU
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ALRIGHT.

So very recently some stuff happened and I no longer have a functioning rig. I do have a laptop with an i3, but I really miss being able to actually run games above 800x600. I'm still in the process of planning, but here is what I'll be dealing with.

  • Dell Inspiron 3452
    i3, 4GB (8GB soon), 500GB HDD (will be ssd soon)

Pretty much just a laptop I've had for a few months, got it pretty cheap but it can do basic things I need. It's also all I have right now.

  • EVGA GeForce GTX 960 4GB (mini-ITX)
    Usual GPU specs, needs a 6-pin PCIe cable, 125w~ TDP

Bought it off a friend for around $100, works pretty well. Used it on his rig. I got the mini-ITX version on purpose as well. It's only 6.8" long, so it won't take up a lot of space or be an eyesore.

Now for the Adapter...

$8.75 without shipping

Just to help visualize this better i'm throwing in pictures. I have no idea if this is enough for the card. What I guess I'll be doing is putting the end piece where my Wireless Adapter Card is and just use Ethernet.

$24.99 with local pickup, 3.25" x 6" x 1.6", 220w, 40mm Fan

0457424_914176_03_family_zoom.jpg1000x1000 43.2 KB

So this is a pretty tiny power supply. It supplies enough for the graphics card and does what I need it to.

Total Cost: $48.65 ... Includes how much I still need to finish this

HOW WILL THIS WORK?

  • 1: Place GTX 960 in the PCIe Express x1 to x16 adapter
  • 2: Connect Power Supply's 2 Molex with the 2x Molex to PCIe 6 pin adapter and put it in GPU
  • 3: Connect both Molex to SATA adapter into power supply and the other end, Fan & PCIe x16
  • 4: (HELP) Put together a switch to power on the power supply when laptop powers up
  • 5: (HELP) Find/Make a case to close this together in
  • 6: Replace WiFi card with PCIe x1 adapter and use Ethernet (Or use a USB WiFi stick)

WHAT DO I NEED? (will check off once dealt with)

  • (BIG) Will this actually work? Am I missing some details?
  • How can I find something to enclose this in? I don't have a 3D printer for fancy tools
    • Need something compact, will include concept art below
    • How can I deal with extra cables? (Cut cables, insulate exposed wire?) Needs to be small
  • How can I put together a mechanism to have this turn on when the laptop powers on?
  • What am I risking here, what am I missing that will screw me up?

MS Paint Concept "Art"

mspaint.png845x480 6.32 KB

Thank you all for your support, it means a lot to me

EDIT 1: Spelling
EDIT 2: Professional Concept Art

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What will screw me?
-Drivers,drivers,drivers,drivers.....even though NVidia is releasing external gpu drivers I believe that there will be some type of check to see if you have a "legit" dock or ATLEAST that it has a usb type-c w/thunderbolt path....also you will have issues with the bios defaulting to the igpu and not accepting anything else...

not saying don't try.Even if you fail,you can learn something.

3

I've seen some of the adapters used on YouTube, but with those being around $60+, it goes way over my budget.
Is there anyway to solve the problems with the bios?

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Also would you recommend something like this?

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

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I'm not an expert but I have heard of people writing custom bios.....so theoretically yes you can overcome the bios issue

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I'm actually curious about this too, as I have everything but the software support to do it. I would also be curious if it functions differently/at all on ubuntu or the linux likes.
I'm not so worried about a case as much as just getting it to work. If anyone knows, I would appreciate it as well.

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Thanks! I definitely won't delay this trying to find an enclosure, I just need something to start working.

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that kit requires an express card slot.If you can and do go that route the main advantage is that others have already done it so many of your question can be answered...I think making your own would be way cooler..perhaps someone in this foroum has the technical knowledge you would need. would make a great project...best of luck

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PCIe x4 is already cutting a few corner if you want to run a gpu on it but I highly doubt that you will be able to reasonably run it on x1. Compared to most people around here I'm not much into this DIY thing, but thats the first thing that comes to mind for me, maybe it will work, but not properly

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PSU: If this goes south you may want to get a MB for the i3 and do a traditional build so I would go 300 watts or a used PSU
By all means go for it, I just don't want to see you spend 25 bucks on a PSU and have to buy another one.

Hold off on the Ram upgrade till you try the adaptor.

If you know anyone with a old emacines 1300 they have really good 220 watt PSU's.

Best of luck! To you it may look bad but other people will see it and think WOW!!!!!!!
You can get "explosive" stickers any truck stop.......they look great on road fares:)......kidding:)

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your better off with an adapter from Bplus since they have a tested design that's compatible with the pci-e 3.0 spec. I'm using one right now as a matter of fact. I had to mod the minipci-e part and my laptop casing to get it to fit but other then that it works out of the box. that said you can make it work better with the egpu setup software from http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects.

tech inferno should still have a few guides for making adapters from scratch as well if you want to continue this route.

also I would advize getting a more modern after market psu old oem ones can handle normal usage fine but they can't handel power spikes from gaming. I already lost 2 psu's due to this. the nvidia 900 series has been designed to spike higher then previous generations to achieve better performance so your highly likely to face this issue as well at some point.