Getting There...

Overall results are very interesting for this new eGPU + ultraportable combination. With the GTX 1080 and Core i7-8550U in dispute, across the games we tested there was a 61 percent performance improvement happening modal compared to the GTX 1070 and Core i5-7200U combo we looked at earlier. Much of games that were previously unplayable at level bes settings are today playable, addition stuttering was less of an upsho as evidenced by far more titles with 1% lows in a higher place 30 FPS.

This is also a such larger gain than we'd normally run into when comparison the GTX 1080 and GTX 1070. With a typical background or laptop system with the same CPU, the GTX 1080 is only 20 to 30 pct faster than the GTX 1070, just here we're seeing a 60 percent average gain. Information technology's quite clear that the additional CPU power helps to improve performance in a significant elbow room, and those with older dual-essence laptops North Korean won't necessarily be capable to attain expectant performance gains merely by pumping in more GPU power.

While mostly results are really good, and all game we tested is very playable at intoxicated caliber settings at 1080p (or yet high) resolutions, we calm aren't sightedness the full power of the GTX 1080 unleashed with this eGPU setup.

The 15W Core i7-8550U is still relatively weak compared to faster 45W gaming laptop CPUs and, of of course, even more powerful desktops. The go out from 2 to 4 cores under a 15W TDP limit does alleviate some of the CPU constriction, adequate to see great performance gains, but the these sorts of ultraportable + eGPU setups are unfortunately quiet CPU bottlenecked.

A second Major factor, the Thunderbolt 3 interface doesn't pitch quite enough bandwidth to the GPU. Even with a tetrad-lane Thunderbolt 3 setup providing PCIe 3.0 x4, stuttering is present in some games that can't be attributed to distant CPU mountain Beaver State memory allocation issues. Granted, the number of games that stutter is less with the faster ultraportable CPU, but a game like The Witcher 3, for case, still experiences performance hitches when the CPU is only at 60% load and memory allocation is well below the limits of the system.

It is possible this is a latent period issue rather than bandwidth, though either way, I'm assured it's related to Thunderbolt 3 which makes IT a hard problem to resolve away bu throwing in more CPU baron.

The end ensue is the GTX 1080 Gaming Box hooked up to a Nub i7-8550U laptop provides performance most similar to the GTX 1070 Max-Q in gambling laptops, particularly in more GPU-heavy games. Across the titles we time-tested, the eGPU jazz band was 4% slower on average than a GTX 1070 Max-Q laptop with the Core i7-7700HQ inside. IT's also 7% faster than a GTX 1060 laptop, which is great news for 1080p gambling.

Still, the GTX 1080 eGPU paired with a occurrent-gen 15W CPU ends up 24 percent slower on average than the GTX 1080 Liquid ecstasy-Q, and that's not even up a full-fledged GTX 1080. So if you're thinking of buying the GTX 1080 Gaming Box or a similar eGPU to use with an ultraportable laptop, assume't expect to pose contiguous GTX 1080 carrying out; instead you'll be throwing much of duplicate GPU power at what is essentially a CPU limited system.

Don't let that performance conflict withdraw from what is still a great setup for gaming, though. Thanks to outer GPUs, you lav carry around a thin and light laptop for productivity on the survive, then return dwelling house to a desk where you secure in just one cable to unleash very respectable gambling performance.

It's not as good as a proper gaming laptop or gaming desktop just yet, merely there's a bright future for this sort of technology as some of the archaic issues incur smooth out.