Question External GPU solutions for Alienware PC?

[Monster Man Enishi]

I regretfully have an Alienware Aurora R12 PC, which the case has no room for retail GPU cards that would be an upgrade. I know they make external GPU housings for laptops via a Thunderbolt connection, but I've heard they can bottleneck and are not great for higher-end GPUs. Is there some connection that would use the PCIe slot where the GPU would go, and then connect to an external housing without any issues? I can't do anything now, but in the future, if I get the chance again, I'd like to know if there's some sort of compromise that'd work. Thank you.

If I had known then what I know now about Alienwear's smaller custom GPUs and their smaller PC cases, I would have tried harder to get a PC that could easily be upgraded. I think at the time; it was also one of the few places that had 3080s in stock too.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Welcome to the site.

Ive no experience with this myself, but I know that PCI-E riser cables exist for mounting a GPU sideways. I dont see why it wouldnt be possible, even if it might look a bit frankenstein. Probably takes a bit of planning though.

Maybe ask over at Toms Hardware. They are more hardware orientated and its more likely someone there may have done this.

 

[Zed Clampet]

I think I read a CES article that said that Alienware was changing to a new upgrade encouraging design. Not helpful here, of course.