eGPU Recommendation for Flight Simulator 2020

[la3994]

Hi everyone,

Just want to preface this by saying I'm reasonably tech-savvy, but I'm not a traditional PC gamer, so graphics cards are an area I have limited knowledge about. While I'm not a traditional gamer, I'm a private pilot, and I've loved Microsoft Flight Simulator since I was a little kid. Now that FS 2020 is out, I purchased it and would like to get back into it. However, it's clear that running it on my laptop as-is is quite a struggle even on modest settings.

My laptop is an XPS 15 with fairly good (non-gaming) specs: i7-8750H, 32GB ram, and a GTX 1050 Ti. Just taking a look at task manager as I run flight simulator, it seems like the GPU is definitely the bottleneck here. To my understanding, I think I could potentially leverage thunderbolt here and add an eGPU to make things better. Does anyone have any recommendations for what might be good for this use? The enclosure bit seems relatively straightforward, but I just have no idea what card to put into it.

I don't need this to run really anything else, but I'd like to be able to run FS 2020 on moderately high settings with smooth frames. I don't want to waste money on something that won't improve things much, but I don't want to get more than I need either. Basically, I just want to know how much it's going to cost to make this happen (if it is in fact possible) so I can determine if it's worth it for me.

I really appreciate your recommendations--thanks!

 

[Oussebon]

What resolution and refresh rate are you running at? Using an external monitor or the laptop's built in display?

You could buy an eGPU and improve the laptop's performance. However, you're going to be limited by only 4 PCIe lanes, potentially the CPU's performance itself, and whatever overhead there is over TB3(?).

In other words, you'll lose a lot of the performance afforded by an expensive GPU (plus the cost of the enclosure). The PCIe lanes is already a significant limitation for higher end modern GPUs, and the new GPUs Nvidia are launching in a week will only make that more the case.

There's also some evidence that a beefier CPU can help as well.

So my recommendation would be to consider getting a desktop PC, with one of the new generations of graphics cards due out soon (both nvidia and AMD are launching before the end of the year). And if you don't already have one, an external monitor with adaptive sync (which could help smooth out the fact you'll be running relatively low framerate). If your budget allows for all of that.

 

[redhaven72]

I had a similar predicament. I have a pretty good business desktop with onboard graphics (i5-8500 etc) but it is small form factor PC and I discovered too late that I could not fit a PCI video card in the case. It has 2 slots but the single 16x slot is on the left side so a double slot card, which plugs in on the right, doesn't fit. Like you, I also did not know much about video cards.

The card I bought was a GTX 1050ti and I put it in another PC I had with a Core i5-4570 and 8GB of RAM so just over minimum spec.

The game runs but only on the lowest settings and even then it drops frames..

Oussebon and the article linked mentioned better performance is possible by beefing up the CPU. I could get a core i7 4790k and it would work in this configuration. If I did that and upgraded the RAM to 32GB, would that yield a significant performance boost or would I be better off taking my credit card to Microcenter (when my wife isn't looking lol) and getting parts to build a new machine? A used 4790K goes for around $175 but I feel like I could build a new system around a Ryzen 5 for about $400 if I scavenge the RAM and NVMe drive from my business PC. Building a PC from scratch seems like a better option to me.

 

[Oussebon]

@redhaven72 New machine rather than attempting to upgrade the existing platform.

I'd suggest making a fresh topic because if people advise both you and @la3994 (or indeed anyone else) in the same topic it's going to get really confusing who the advice is meant for

 

[redhaven72]

@redhaven72 New machine rather than attempting to upgrade the existing platform.

I'd suggest making a fresh topic because if people advise both you and @la3994 (or indeed anyone else) in the same topic it's going to get really confusing who the advice is meant for

Ok done. I cleaned it up a bit and posted it to a new thread. You are welcomed to remove my response and this response if you'd like. Thanks!

 

[la3994]

What resolution and refresh rate are you running at? Using an external monitor or the laptop's built in display?

You could buy an eGPU and improve the laptop's performance. However, you're going to be limited by only 4 PCIe lanes, potentially the CPU's performance itself, and whatever overhead there is over TB3(?).

In other words, you'll lose a lot of the performance afforded by an expensive GPU (plus the cost of the enclosure). The PCIe lanes is already a significant limitation for higher end modern GPUs, and the new GPUs Nvidia are launching in a week will only make that more the case.

There's also some evidence that a beefier CPU can help as well.

So my recommendation would be to consider getting a desktop PC, with one of the new generations of graphics cards due out soon (both nvidia and AMD are launching before the end of the year). And if you don't already have one, an external monitor with adaptive sync (which could help smooth out the fact you'll be running relatively low framerate). If your budget allows for all of that.

Thanks for your help!