True that. Not only portable GPU mean it is possible to have a PC handheld which can become as powerful as gaming PC at home, it also meant we don't need to upgrade our laptop for gaming. No need to waste a perfectly fine laptop monitor, keyboard, processor, speaker, webcam, just to play games.
yep they should be a thing more so then a laptop with a CPU and GPU so you can upgrade the e-GPU every so often rather than getting rid of the entire laptop every 3 ro 4 years because the GPU is too weak. the biggest issue is the cost though.
I can see the Steam Deck 2 having the option hooking up to an eGPU. That will effectively replace handheld, budget gaming pc and consoles all at the same time.
If Valve were going to offer a first party eGPU solution, they would want the experience to be very slick, and unfortunately there are many barriers to that currently. TBH I'd be happy if it just came with an Oculink port and they made a statement along the lines of "we might do something with this later, feel free to tinker with it in the meantime" and just left the implementation up to individuals / the community in lieu of an official solution.
i stream my pc games straight to the deck. 60fps locked, 4 hour battery life, no storage usage, future proofed. get a decent gaming router and you're golden.
@@therainmakerinsider what would be cool is if they had like a "diy edition" steam deck 2 like what retroid does you just buy the new motherboard and drop it in would be cool idk if it would work in this case
hmm i wonder if Nintendo ends up doing something like this with the switch 2 where the dock will actually come with a more powerful Nvidia gpu in their dock, that way they can still sell u a cheaper handheld, it also started making me think even playstation and xbox could expand their console without needing to release a whole midgen refresh, maybe this is low key the future 🤔
@@melxb not likely. Nintendo is using a custom tegra chip as they need to retain backwards compatibility. switch and steam deck is really aiming at 2 different markets
Valve is so gonna rock the Steam Deck 2 with that Community doing so much work It is just awesome to see how the Deck keeps on getting better And I'm still hoping for AMD to be like "hey, you gonna build another Steam Deck, we just happened to have that super awesome Apu for you, that is like 1.5x a PS5 with a range of 5-20 watts"
Eh, that is maybe the steam deck 3 performance. I'm not sure you can get that performance yet with those watts. Would drain the battery like crazy although i got a 2m extension cable for my charger anyway. So i'm on the couch or bed, but always plugged in.
@@browniersps fsr isnt the cure all pill, the 3x fps tech they will release soon isnt gonna work on the steam deck and it will be a suprise if fsr 3.0 comes at all since its all zen 3 and up and the steam deck is zen 2, i do however hope for a steam deck 2 in the next 1-2 years, the old apu it uses is already outdated and id wish i could play cyberpunk at 60fps on native 800p, tbh all id want now is a usb c egpu for few hundred that could boost the performance alot, an rtx 3060 in a box for like 400-500 id take and itdbe easy money for valve to release their e gpus
VERY cool. I've been dreaming about such a setup since last year when you started showing off the Steam Deck with an external GPU. This isn't the ideal setup with the Steam Deck but it certainly works. I think in the near future with docks like the G1 and/or new Steam Deck with Oculink or at least USB 4, we could see more people using setups like this because the Steam Deck is absolute hit with people who don't own a PC. They could potentially get gaming laptop class performance and super portable use too.
@@jaccetaylor3672Probably but I feel like the idea is if you already spent $400 on a deck you could upgrade what you currently have instead of buying a deck 2. Especially because the Z1 extreme will probably be significantly cheaper than $699 by the time the deck 2 comes out, whereas the deck 2 will certainly launch for $400-500 minimum Then again if you bought a deck 2 you’d have a more portable setup and get the full power even in handheld mode, so yeah, this is just impractical lol
Sweet video, I've been waiting for a creator to cover this use case as I'm watching this egpu closely. Really hoping the next deck provides better support for these kinds of accessories and system limitations. Traveling with compact egpus is a dream and opens up a lot of interesting travel setups for us frequent flyers.
It will almost certainly have USB 4 support, and therefore some kind of eGPU support is a given, official or otherwise. I am not sure they will support Oculink, given that it isn't hot swappable (as with most direct PCIe connections) and also as far as I know, it isn't rated for a high number of insertion cycles like a consumer oriented connector like USB-C is. But it certainly would be cool to have the option. Maybe they could have the connector on a little daughterboard to mitigate any concerns about wear.
@@daverhodus yeah i cant wait for a insane apu on the steam deck 2 with the egpu option with valve selling their own egpus, that would be a dream come true, id just make my steam deck 1 as a full old school emulator.
in 2019 you could not pull a egpu out of a backpack. Having an ultrabook w this is game changing as i am a frequent traveler. I carry tech for work so something small like this is worth over having to carry a gaming laptop + psu
i stream my pc games straight to the deck. 60fps locked, 4 hour battery life, no storage usage, future proofed. get a decent gaming router and you're golden.
For now. They should get cheaper as more company start making them and second hand market thriving. Handheld PC used to be $1000 with WinGDP and AyaNeo but look at them now. Thinking again, maybe Valve should make portable GPU too.
@skepticmisfit2 lol you could do that back in the early 2000's, external gpus aren't new. They were a thing because of the old laptops that had shared system and graphics memory.
I'd love for Valve to support this officially with a new version of their dock. That way it would extend the life of the present steam deck (which i really love, but it's getting a bit long in the tooth for some of the games I'd love to play). Maybe FSR3 will extend the life once it's released.
Can't see that happening as the only IO provided is USB, Valve won't want to turn their handheld into a tethered by making a dock that replaces the already limited data capacity. For a future version of the Deck I'd hope so though. Plus what are you wanting to play it can't handle? So far everything I've thrown at it you can crank the settings up to the point you can't really see the difference anymore on its screen at its native resolution usually with FSR off, and most games still run well on the external monitor at 1080, some will even work playable above that. I've yet to find a release it really really can't handle that any other Linux PC could - the problem tends to be Proton compatibility... Though obviously a bigger system will play the games with higher FPS.
@@foldionepapyrus3441 It's less a matter of "can it run it". I agree the Steam Deck is kind of magical in that way, that you can play current AAA titles like Jedi Survivor etc. and it still runs good enough for its screen and even on a TV with FSR upscaling. It's more a matter of fidelity. Immersion is just better if you can run a game at higher settings. Recently I've been playing Baldurs Gate 3 and I've found reasonable settings that make the beautiful game look ok/good. But I'd love to crank it up a bit more. I am also a special case I guess, since I do not own a gaming PC anymore. I stopped building PCs now 8 years ago and only owned Macs since then. Before that I was an exclusive Linux user and I wanted to have a beautiful PC in my living room, so Mac was the option to go. Now I have the Steam Deck and I love it so much. If it could do that last little thing, it would be beyond perfect. But I can wait... if Valve releases and updated Steam Deck in say... 2-3 years, going for a 5 year lifecycle that would be reasonable.
So apparently this can be done similarly on a rog ally. You have to use a dock with a ssd built in. Boot from the ssd and use a nvme to pcie/oculink adapter. There's a concept video on this by a dock manufacturer
yeah asus wanted all the money with their overpriced proprietary connector . It would be great if we could buy empty one with desktop gpu possibilities
the oculink on the new GPD devices is just as fast as the XG Mobile, maybe thats an alternative. The handheld is more expensive, but the egpu solution is much cheaper and potentially stronger
I still play on my 720p TV from 2008, and the other TV I have is only 1080p. I'm imagining that setup can run games in Ultra at those resolutions no problem.
Something like this is the future of handhelds and portable PCs, all it needs is a fluid transition between docked and portable modes, and look less messy
See hopefully steam adds external GPU support. Cause with a setup like this you could just have your dock with the gpu. So when you come home you pop it in and get better performance especially with an external display. This just makes so much sense hopefully this one day could become easier for most people to just do and seamless.
Would be nice, but bar for use is very high and essentially becomes tied to the desk which for the cost of the G1 you could purchase a decent desktop or laptop and not have the CPU bottleneck. I really want it to work and could recommend if we were at a $300 price point.
i stream my pc games straight to the deck. 60fps locked, 4 hour battery life, no storage usage, future proofed. get a decent gaming router and you're golden.
The biggest issue with this is, buy a deck and this, and yes, you can connect a tv or bigger monitor, but you also just spent $1300 and could have gotten a gaming laptop that could have done just as well. the deck by itself is a great handheld, but once you start adding something like this to it, that costs 1.5 times as much as the deck, your no longer using it as a portable system, cause you also need external monitor or tv, adding even more to the cost, easily into the $1500-1600 range for everything. and in that price range, very good laptops exist. If this was in the $200 range, it would be a good price, and good buy, sadly, it isn't even close to that
Easily the best mod of a Steam Deck have ever seen, if you have a full copy of Windows 11 you won't need another computer for a long time, and doubles as the gaming console.
When you account for the cost of the GPU, dock and SSD, you can buy another computer :) Not really that efficient from the cost perspective as you can have the Deck AND another computer totally separated for almost the same money basically, or spend a bit more but get way better performances
Idk about this. I think you’re better off just buying a powerful desktop and a deck, and just accepting that when you’re on the go you’ll need to turn settings down
awesome, I hope jsaux invest in an adaptor for ssd + oculink adapter, IMO the only drawback of steam deck and this new handhelds is the lack of external gpu support
The only problem with your setup is the opening that you have now. That seems like a dust magnet. If you can add an easy cover this could be a nice way to have a 1080p (or better res) for TVs.
@@ETAPRIME Just need to find someone to 3d print you a backplate for this and the rog ally. Then for some manufacturer to make a proper oculink supported egpu enclosure (i.e. not an open-air test bench looking thing). I think they are all afraid to start canablizing high end desktop or laptop sales.
Not just the opening, the removal of the heat spreader plate means the battery charger chip will burn out fairly soon if he leaves this mod as shown in the video.
lack of portable gpu is the only thing that stopped me from getting a handheld if i am going to spend that kind of money i want to replace my pc entirely
This was my first thought. Asus is so close to having the right idea, but then botched it with the proprietary connector. Imagine if the xg mobile supported both oculink and TB4, as did all of their devices. Then they could get you coming and going in the laptop market, the egpu enclosure market (they do have one) + video cards which they make, the xg mobile for a smaller more portable dock with integrated laptop gpus....so close.
@ertpechis Yeah you could, that M.2 to Oculink adapter would do the trick with any device that has an M.2 port on it. You could even use it on a normal laptop theoretically. You would have to be willing to cut up your device like in the video to get a clean setup though which will also very likely void your warranty.
@dreadlord9257 So it actually isn’t Asus’ fault in this case. I forget the exact details, but Nvidia has this stupid policy about mobile GPUs only allowed to be used on mobile devices and something about not being able to use desktop class GPUs on it. Something to that effect. It would be sick if they came out with an enclosure that uses their XG interface with desktop class cards though since it can actually provide more PCIE lanes to the GPUs than Thunderbolt. Linus on LTT talks in detail about how Nvidia screwed Asus over in his first video on the Ally if you want the whole story.
@@kiraqueen64 I guess that wasn't really my point. Asus has a desktop enclosure for desktop gpus (xg station). So 2 points really. 1. We need broader adoption of a loss-less (or nearer to loss-less) non-proprietary connector, like Oculink. 2. I still think there is a market for desktop class egpu enclosures where you provide gpu, or all-in-ones leveraging mobile gpus like the xg mobile/gpd solution for when you need maximum portability.
THIS, I 1000% agree with a 2nd usbc port on hand helds xreal glasses and power instead of a weird accessory setup. Or like here a egpu, not the priority connection like the Ally has.
I think the underlying OS in SteamOS supports it but the gamescope compositor doesn't know what to do with a second output. Does it work if you switch to desktop mode? If not, what is the output of this command: lspci -v | grep -e "^[0-f]" -e "Kernel" What this will do is to print what PCI devices are detected by the kernel (the "-v" argument enables verbose output). Then we pipe that into grep to filter out lines either starting with characters in the range of "0" to "f" or containing the word "Kernel". This is a sample of what it could look like taken from my laptop: 00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation HD Graphics 530 (rev 06) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller]) Kernel driver in use: i915 Kernel modules: i915 Edit: removed a leftover quotation mark in the command
Hey, thanks for the information on this product. Question: How does this compare to the onexgpu are they similar? Would this be a better Boosting performance with triple a games?
All you need now is an oculink to m.2 adapter yes and that due to occulent occulent to m.2 that way you can simply unplug and plug in your m.2 and go mobile
I'm not sure this kind of setup will ever see official support from Valve. They are aiming for a console-like experience with the Deck and that means maintaining control of the hardware and the software stack. Supporting external GPUs would mean losing the strict control of GPU drivers they currently have, and therefore also making the shader pre-caching system a lot less useful (it would basically work in the same way it does for normal PCs, without the scale of other users all using the same hardware and driver versions). Then you have to consider that Oculink is not hot swappable, which I'm not sure they would be willing to accept in terms of the user experience. I'd be very happy to be proven wrong though, of course. Thunderbolt external GPUs never really took off, so Oculink is really the main hope for anyone who would like to buy a gaming handheld or laptop, without also needing to build / buy a gaming desktop for acceptable performance when connected to a larger / higher res display.
Maybe i missed it, but which Oculink did you use? I don't see it in the description. And i think i just realized that you have to use an external drive as you need to remove the internal for the oculink.
Thats awesome. But $500? yes i know is a early bird discounted crowdfund price. on top of the $500 deck And sd 1TB cards , monitor , keyboard, mouse desk, chair. All RGB Lol so they know we gaming. (I would need all of that since i dont have a desk top pc) Could just get a mid spec gaming desk top? Idk i asolutley love my steam deck. Its Changed my life. Love it. Ability to Hand held current AAA games is def underrated
When Valve announces an upgraded version of the Steam Deck with USB4.0(80Gbps) support I will buy it immediately. I still love my Steam Deck but I really want it to just replace my ATX rig right now so there's far lesser heat going on in the room.
I wish they would just do a refresh, like Steam Deck Pro, with better i/o (oculink or usb4) and a slightly better display, more storage space/options, maybe a small cpu bump
Is there a similar adapter that would let you put the OCuLink port on the back of a SFF case? Having it directly on the card doesn't really make sense for any application other than this one. I suppose I could plug a cable into it and run the cable out the back but that would look a little janke. At that point I may as well use a PCIE slot type adapter.
Hey man, just wanted to correct something. Oculink, Thunderbolt, and USB4 all are NOT 40GB/s+ (Gigabytes per second). They are 40+ Gigabit per second (Gb/s).
Couldn't some of the laptop versions of graphics cards fit inside the body of a larger handheld system? I know currently there aren't, but I think a system like a steam deck is physically large enough to possibly fit a laptop version of a rtx4060 etc. Is the power requirements what is the reason why this hasn't been able to be used in any portable systems as of yet? I just feel like using one of the newer mobile versions of cards could easily run any game at 1080p. Figured I'd ask just to see if anyone knows. I figured power and thermals would be the roadblocks. Thanks in advanced.
At this rate you might as well install a rear case on the back that allows access to the ssd. Could be more practical to swap out the drive when at home for the occulink adapter and revert to the steamdeck drive when you go mobile
If valve would sell an official dock with an external GPU built in (and add steamos support) I'd buy it in an instant so I could play newer AAA games with solid framerate on TV.
I decided to do this with my deck, but I didn't want to have to sacrifice the m.2 slot when on the go, leaving an unused oculink port for no good reason. I tried to install an Oculink to M.2 SSD adapter so I could swap the GPD for an SSD with steamOS whenever going from desktop to portable, but unfortunately **SteamOS cannot be booted over Oculink** at least in my testing. Windows **can** but that would defeat the purpose of having an oculink port.
If we got some form of official egpu support on the next iteration of the steam deck then it could effectively replace all my devices, besides like 3 exclusives on ps4 not already on deck lol
Be interesting to see how the gpd unit works with macs because of the TB3/4 compatibility. This video highlights the use as an e gpu but the unit could also be seen as a super laptop dock. Not sure how the gpd’s video output would conflict with Mac OS and apple’s desire to control everything.
Tbh I haven’t really looked. Thunderbolt is one of those ‘grey’ areas. In theory Windows and Mac machines should work the same but implementation on the hardware makers is key. I have an OWC Nas I built around 4 nvme’s and it gets 1800mb/s on an m2 mini, but only about 800 mb/s on an HP laptop with a Thunderbolt 4 port. Would be nice if Apple and PC makers could get along. @@EugeneYunak
Just one clarification please, Why could you not add the OcuLink m.2 adapter to the external dock and not have to mod the Steam Deck? Is that a possibility?
Because if you add it to the dock, you are going to be using the usb-c data speed, which is waaaay slower than connecting directly to the internal m.2 slot on the Deck.
Hello bro, a question about how you managed to connect a USB C 4.0 to the SSD, I am impressed by your work since I am thinking of replicating the same method because I feel that I see it as feasible, I hope you can answer and thank you very much
steam deck cpu is just underpowered for egpu to take advantage of. Rog ally is a better solution for egpu implementation. at expense of battery life (need more power to just run same performance as steam deck). thats desktop cpu in ally despite its "custom cpu". its just a rebranding of 7840u with some adjustment.
The only thing keeping me from going out and buying a deck is that I want a single PC setup, and the Deck just doesn't have enough juices to do that for me, and neither do the other handhelds on the market. The thing is, I really want a handheld running a handheld Linux OS.
Well that was some clever angle and wire placement for the video thumbnail. Disappointed with the final build from that image. Still a cool idea though.
Neat little side project. But it costs too much if you want to just play games. If you don’t already own a Steam Deck or any portable gaming PC: There are 900 laptops with RTX 4050 GPUs in them which would give way better performances. Faster CPU, fast SSD drive, same 16GB ram. The 4050 comes with 6GB of VRAM, more than enough for 1080p gaming. Gaming laptops take less space in a backpack when you think about it. Steam Deck, Ally, etc.. with case on are actually quite bulky. This project may be interesting to people who already have steam Deck and don’t plan on using them portable anymore. But over 700 bucks for midrange GPU is a deal breaker for me.
- oculink M2 adapter + oculink cable: 35€ - steam deck: 420€ - external enclosure with 7600M: 660€ - good usb 3 hub with PD: 30$ Total: 1145 euro For that price you buy a brand new high end gaming pc and a second hand 3080 and game at 1440p with ultra settings and RTX ON. Heck if you go full second hand you get a very good gaming pc and you have spare for the steam deck. If the eGPU was half the price then perhaps.
This is awesome, but I feel like giving up the internal storage for Oculink kinda goes against the point of having a handheld console at all, unless the back could be easily opened and the adapter can be quickly swapped for the storage drive?
It's a nice proof of concept, but I really don't see the point you can't reliably use a steamdeck in portable with your Os installed on a micro-sd, it locks the deck as a docked use only.
because in theory that GPU should be able to do far better. Imagine putting a RTX 4090 in a PC that has a CPU from 6 years ago. It's not going to perform as well.
![External GPU for your Handheld PC [ONEXGPU]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/I_eA_IbB-mo/mqdefault.jpg)
Portable GPUs should be more of a thing.
i feel like this should and will be the future.
True that.
Not only portable GPU mean it is possible to have a PC handheld which can become as powerful as gaming PC at home, it also meant we don't need to upgrade our laptop for gaming.
No need to waste a perfectly fine laptop monitor, keyboard, processor, speaker, webcam, just to play games.
yep they should be a thing more so then a laptop with a CPU and GPU so you can upgrade the e-GPU every so often rather than getting rid of the entire laptop every 3 ro 4 years because the GPU is too weak. the biggest issue is the cost though.
Build them into cases
Nah, more heavy lifting should be done cloud based, faster internet connection is better option.
I can see the Steam Deck 2 having the option hooking up to an eGPU. That will effectively replace handheld, budget gaming pc and consoles all at the same time.
If Valve were going to offer a first party eGPU solution, they would want the experience to be very slick, and unfortunately there are many barriers to that currently. TBH I'd be happy if it just came with an Oculink port and they made a statement along the lines of "we might do something with this later, feel free to tinker with it in the meantime" and just left the implementation up to individuals / the community in lieu of an official solution.
By the time the steam deck 2 comes out, we probably won't need an eGPU
No one handheld should have this much power.
With the price of the three
i stream my pc games straight to the deck. 60fps locked, 4 hour battery life, no storage usage, future proofed.
get a decent gaming router and you're golden.
This would be a great idea that Valve could do themselves. Maybe even do it in the sense of a dock. A bit like what people wish Nintendo did.
They’re preparing for the Steam Deck 2.
I am guessing this would be the way and even further expend the life.
@@therainmakerinsider what would be cool is if they had like a "diy edition" steam deck 2 like what retroid does you just buy the new motherboard and drop it in would be cool idk if it would work in this case
hmm i wonder if Nintendo ends up doing something like this with the switch 2 where the dock will actually come with a more powerful Nvidia gpu in their dock, that way they can still sell u a cheaper handheld, it also started making me think even playstation and xbox could expand their console without needing to release a whole midgen refresh, maybe this is low key the future 🤔
@@melxb not likely. Nintendo is using a custom tegra chip as they need to retain backwards compatibility. switch and steam deck is really aiming at 2 different markets
Valve is so gonna rock the Steam Deck 2 with that Community doing so much work
It is just awesome to see how the Deck keeps on getting better
And I'm still hoping for AMD to be like "hey, you gonna build another Steam Deck, we just happened to have that super awesome Apu for you, that is like 1.5x a PS5 with a range of 5-20 watts"
Eh, that is maybe the steam deck 3 performance. I'm not sure you can get that performance yet with those watts. Would drain the battery like crazy although i got a 2m extension cable for my charger anyway. So i'm on the couch or bed, but always plugged in.
@@pablieto-veganson FSR3 Wants to know your location O.O
@@browniersps fsr isnt the cure all pill, the 3x fps tech they will release soon isnt gonna work on the steam deck and it will be a suprise if fsr 3.0 comes at all since its all zen 3 and up and the steam deck is zen 2, i do however hope for a steam deck 2 in the next 1-2 years, the old apu it uses is already outdated and id wish i could play cyberpunk at 60fps on native 800p, tbh all id want now is a usb c egpu for few hundred that could boost the performance alot, an rtx 3060 in a box for like 400-500 id take and itdbe easy money for valve to release their e gpus
@@Wattermelondog it was already confirmed it is going to work with the steam deck though...........
Lol they only updated the screen and its not worth AT ALL
VERY cool. I've been dreaming about such a setup since last year when you started showing off the Steam Deck with an external GPU. This isn't the ideal setup with the Steam Deck but it certainly works. I think in the near future with docks like the G1 and/or new Steam Deck with Oculink or at least USB 4, we could see more people using setups like this because the Steam Deck is absolute hit with people who don't own a PC. They could potentially get gaming laptop class performance and super portable use too.
With the total price tag of over $1200, you might as well buy a gaming laptop, this is just impractical level at these price point.
How is it super portable? This has more cables than my DESKTOP gaming PC lol
Honestly if the price is something over 699 you should just get a desktop pc
@@jaccetaylor3672Probably but I feel like the idea is if you already spent $400 on a deck you could upgrade what you currently have instead of buying a deck 2. Especially because the Z1 extreme will probably be significantly cheaper than $699 by the time the deck 2 comes out, whereas the deck 2 will certainly launch for $400-500 minimum
Then again if you bought a deck 2 you’d have a more portable setup and get the full power even in handheld mode, so yeah, this is just impractical lol
Sweet video, I've been waiting for a creator to cover this use case as I'm watching this egpu closely. Really hoping the next deck provides better support for these kinds of accessories and system limitations. Traveling with compact egpus is a dream and opens up a lot of interesting travel setups for us frequent flyers.
The next Steam deck will have external GPU support. You just know it.
It will almost certainly have USB 4 support, and therefore some kind of eGPU support is a given, official or otherwise.
I am not sure they will support Oculink, given that it isn't hot swappable (as with most direct PCIe connections) and also as far as I know, it isn't rated for a high number of insertion cycles like a consumer oriented connector like USB-C is. But it certainly would be cool to have the option. Maybe they could have the connector on a little daughterboard to mitigate any concerns about wear.
Yeah, when it's released in 2026
@@66kaisersoza It will be a pretty awesome jump if they wait that long.
@@liamness That is true with certain oculink connections. However, the ones that are being used are designed to be inserted many times before failing
@@daverhodus yeah i cant wait for a insane apu on the steam deck 2 with the egpu option with valve selling their own egpus, that would be a dream come true, id just make my steam deck 1 as a full old school emulator.
This was exactly what I was planning to do when I receive my G1. I'm glad to see it in action.
The only problem with the G1 is the cost. $650USD is enough to almost build a completely separate PC.
@@N_N23296They do is called laptop
in 2019 you could not pull a egpu out of a backpack. Having an ultrabook w this is game changing as i am a frequent traveler. I carry tech for work so something small like this is worth over having to carry a gaming laptop + psu
i stream my pc games straight to the deck. 60fps locked, 4 hour battery life, no storage usage, future proofed.
get a decent gaming router and you're golden.
For now. They should get cheaper as more company start making them and second hand market thriving.
Handheld PC used to be $1000 with WinGDP and AyaNeo but look at them now.
Thinking again, maybe Valve should make portable GPU too.
@skepticmisfit2 lol you could do that back in the early 2000's, external gpus aren't new. They were a thing because of the old laptops that had shared system and graphics memory.
I'd love for Valve to support this officially with a new version of their dock. That way it would extend the life of the present steam deck (which i really love, but it's getting a bit long in the tooth for some of the games I'd love to play). Maybe FSR3 will extend the life once it's released.
Can't see that happening as the only IO provided is USB, Valve won't want to turn their handheld into a tethered by making a dock that replaces the already limited data capacity. For a future version of the Deck I'd hope so though.
Plus what are you wanting to play it can't handle? So far everything I've thrown at it you can crank the settings up to the point you can't really see the difference anymore on its screen at its native resolution usually with FSR off, and most games still run well on the external monitor at 1080, some will even work playable above that. I've yet to find a release it really really can't handle that any other Linux PC could - the problem tends to be Proton compatibility... Though obviously a bigger system will play the games with higher FPS.
@@foldionepapyrus3441 It's less a matter of "can it run it". I agree the Steam Deck is kind of magical in that way, that you can play current AAA titles like Jedi Survivor etc. and it still runs good enough for its screen and even on a TV with FSR upscaling. It's more a matter of fidelity. Immersion is just better if you can run a game at higher settings. Recently I've been playing Baldurs Gate 3 and I've found reasonable settings that make the beautiful game look ok/good. But I'd love to crank it up a bit more.
I am also a special case I guess, since I do not own a gaming PC anymore. I stopped building PCs now 8 years ago and only owned Macs since then. Before that I was an exclusive Linux user and I wanted to have a beautiful PC in my living room, so Mac was the option to go. Now I have the Steam Deck and I love it so much. If it could do that last little thing, it would be beyond perfect. But I can wait... if Valve releases and updated Steam Deck in say... 2-3 years, going for a 5 year lifecycle that would be reasonable.
Definitely, and this also is the last missing link for me not to consider an AMD GPU when I ramp up my PC next time, it just comes in time!
I definitely love everything going so modular. Great hopes for the future of gaming.
Awesome work, this should be the next thing for the Steam Deck 2, as the GPUs enables efficiency and process large data volumes of speeds.
the amount of things we can do now with the steam deck that we couldnt a year ago is nuts.
So apparently this can be done similarly on a rog ally. You have to use a dock with a ssd built in. Boot from the ssd and use a nvme to pcie/oculink adapter. There's a concept video on this by a dock manufacturer
the Rog Ally has the Rog XG Mobile, they already have Portable GPU's as part of their product line
We need an OCulink setup for the ROG Ally. It would be the "Switch Ultimate" everyone has always wanted
yeah asus wanted all the money with their overpriced proprietary connector . It would be great if we could buy empty one with desktop gpu possibilities
They won’t do that since they have their proprietary XG mobile connection.
the oculink on the new GPD devices is just as fast as the XG Mobile, maybe thats an alternative. The handheld is more expensive, but the egpu solution is much cheaper and potentially stronger
this!
Wish Valve would hop on this trend and make a "Dock Pro" per say
This is how you do external GPUs. I don't get it why we don't have external docks with mobile GPUs that are also upgradable.
I still play on my 720p TV from 2008, and the other TV I have is only 1080p. I'm imagining that setup can run games in Ultra at those resolutions no problem.
My PC monitor is 1080p and my TV is 4K. I will definitely prefer playing in 1080p and push the settings further.
@@chamoo232 Exactly!
This kind of set up is what im waiting for my steam deck
Something like this is the future of handhelds and portable PCs, all it needs is a fluid transition between docked and portable modes, and look less messy
See hopefully steam adds external GPU support. Cause with a setup like this you could just have your dock with the gpu. So when you come home you pop it in and get better performance especially with an external display. This just makes so much sense hopefully this one day could become easier for most people to just do and seamless.
Would be nice, but bar for use is very high and essentially becomes tied to the desk which for the cost of the G1 you could purchase a decent desktop or laptop and not have the CPU bottleneck. I really want it to work and could recommend if we were at a $300 price point.
i stream my pc games straight to the deck. 60fps locked, 4 hour battery life, no storage usage, future proofed.
get a decent gaming router and you're golden.
The biggest issue with this is, buy a deck and this, and yes, you can connect a tv or bigger monitor, but you also just spent $1300 and could have gotten a gaming laptop that could have done just as well. the deck by itself is a great handheld, but once you start adding something like this to it, that costs 1.5 times as much as the deck, your no longer using it as a portable system, cause you also need external monitor or tv, adding even more to the cost, easily into the $1500-1600 range for everything. and in that price range, very good laptops exist. If this was in the $200 range, it would be a good price, and good buy, sadly, it isn't even close to that
Easily the best mod of a Steam Deck have ever seen, if you have a full copy of Windows 11 you won't need another computer for a long time, and doubles as the gaming console.
When you account for the cost of the GPU, dock and SSD, you can buy another computer :) Not really that efficient from the cost perspective as you can have the Deck AND another computer totally separated for almost the same money basically, or spend a bit more but get way better performances
Idk about this. I think you’re better off just buying a powerful desktop and a deck, and just accepting that when you’re on the go you’ll need to turn settings down
Thanks for video! amazing! Rog Ally next?
You and the phawx are my go to in that order lol. You two are both great
Every now and then i just binge your older videos bro please bring back the intro and song. Its just straight vibes
awesome, I hope jsaux invest in an adaptor for ssd + oculink adapter, IMO the only drawback of steam deck and this new handhelds is the lack of external gpu support
Steam deck with thunderbolt port and an egpu dock must be an industry kill monster
Knew it’ll work with Steamdeck. Time to buy one yeah
The only problem with your setup is the opening that you have now. That seems like a dust magnet.
If you can add an easy cover this could be a nice way to have a 1080p (or better res) for TVs.
Dust and Cat hair, lol that my issue having 2 long hair cats.
@@ETAPRIME Just need to find someone to 3d print you a backplate for this and the rog ally. Then for some manufacturer to make a proper oculink supported egpu enclosure (i.e. not an open-air test bench looking thing). I think they are all afraid to start canablizing high end desktop or laptop sales.
Not just the opening, the removal of the heat spreader plate means the battery charger chip will burn out fairly soon if he leaves this mod as shown in the video.
A case that has an egpu would be cool. Probably a few years off due to size and weight, but would be great to buy an upgrade case etc.
This will be better if the back plate has a custom ssd door to quickly switch from ssd to oculink and back.
lack of portable gpu is the only thing that stopped me from getting a handheld if i am going to spend that kind of money i want to replace my pc entirely
Can you do this on an ROG Ally? An alternative to the overprice and out of stock xg mobile device would be amazing!
This was my first thought. Asus is so close to having the right idea, but then botched it with the proprietary connector. Imagine if the xg mobile supported both oculink and TB4, as did all of their devices.
Then they could get you coming and going in the laptop market, the egpu enclosure market (they do have one) + video cards which they make, the xg mobile for a smaller more portable dock with integrated laptop gpus....so close.
@ertpechis Yeah you could, that M.2 to Oculink adapter would do the trick with any device that has an M.2 port on it. You could even use it on a normal laptop theoretically. You would have to be willing to cut up your device like in the video to get a clean setup though which will also very likely void your warranty.
@dreadlord9257 So it actually isn’t Asus’ fault in this case. I forget the exact details, but Nvidia has this stupid policy about mobile GPUs only allowed to be used on mobile devices and something about not being able to use desktop class GPUs on it. Something to that effect. It would be sick if they came out with an enclosure that uses their XG interface with desktop class cards though since it can actually provide more PCIE lanes to the GPUs than Thunderbolt. Linus on LTT talks in detail about how Nvidia screwed Asus over in his first video on the Ally if you want the whole story.
@@kiraqueen64 I guess that wasn't really my point. Asus has a desktop enclosure for desktop gpus (xg station).
So 2 points really.
1. We need broader adoption of a loss-less (or nearer to loss-less) non-proprietary connector, like Oculink.
2. I still think there is a market for desktop class egpu enclosures where you provide gpu, or all-in-ones leveraging mobile gpus like the xg mobile/gpd solution for when you need maximum portability.
THIS, I 1000% agree with a 2nd usbc port on hand helds xreal glasses and power instead of a weird accessory setup. Or like here a egpu, not the priority connection like the Ally has.
Could you test the GPD G1 on the other handhelds, such as the AOKZOE A1 PRO and the ONEXFLY?
I think the underlying OS in SteamOS supports it but the gamescope compositor doesn't know what to do with a second output. Does it work if you switch to desktop mode? If not, what is the output of this command:
lspci -v | grep -e "^[0-f]" -e "Kernel"
What this will do is to print what PCI devices are detected by the kernel (the "-v" argument enables verbose output). Then we pipe that into grep to filter out lines either starting with characters in the range of "0" to "f" or containing the word "Kernel".
This is a sample of what it could look like taken from my laptop:
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation HD Graphics 530 (rev 06) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
Kernel driver in use: i915
Kernel modules: i915
Edit: removed a leftover quotation mark in the command
Why did you not just use the GPD as the Steam dock by going from USB-C to USB-C, was confused as to why you wouldn't?
You need USB 4 or Thunderbold 4 to use an Egpu. The Deck doesn't have those. That's why he used an M2 to Oculink adapter.
Why not put the oculink adapter in the dock? This would leave the Steam deck totally stock and make this less warranty risky
Hey, thanks for the information on this product. Question: How does this compare to the onexgpu are they similar? Would this be a better Boosting performance with triple a games?
All you need now is an oculink to m.2 adapter yes and that due to occulent occulent to m.2 that way you can simply unplug and plug in your m.2 and go mobile
I love this channel! Salutes from brazil
I can see this being really useful for those that don't have a gaming PC at home, that have a steam deck
I don't see myself doing this anytime soon, but im pleased to know that it's possible!
I'm absolutely doing this when, and if, SteamOS add native support for eGPU.
Probably they will add soon. Next year or two.
Imagine a dock comes with gpu, storage, and anything you wanted
You just gave me a Great Idea of Running a 4tb Batocera Build on the Steam Deck using that Dock
Does it work on Rog Ally? Can you show us?
If it gets support for Linux including some kind of Official support from Valve then I would be tempted to give it a shot.
I'm not sure this kind of setup will ever see official support from Valve. They are aiming for a console-like experience with the Deck and that means maintaining control of the hardware and the software stack. Supporting external GPUs would mean losing the strict control of GPU drivers they currently have, and therefore also making the shader pre-caching system a lot less useful (it would basically work in the same way it does for normal PCs, without the scale of other users all using the same hardware and driver versions). Then you have to consider that Oculink is not hot swappable, which I'm not sure they would be willing to accept in terms of the user experience. I'd be very happy to be proven wrong though, of course. Thunderbolt external GPUs never really took off, so Oculink is really the main hope for anyone who would like to buy a gaming handheld or laptop, without also needing to build / buy a gaming desktop for acceptable performance when connected to a larger / higher res display.
linux sucks
@@liamness Unless, Valve make their own iGPU? Could happen.
this is the exact setup I brainstormed using the JSAUX dock, mainly so I could still charge the deck while the USB SSD is installed
Maybe i missed it, but which Oculink did you use? I don't see it in the description.
And i think i just realized that you have to use an external drive as you need to remove the internal for the oculink.
Thats awesome. But $500? yes i know is a early bird discounted crowdfund price.
on top of the $500 deck
And sd 1TB cards , monitor , keyboard, mouse desk, chair. All RGB Lol so they know we gaming. (I would need all of that since i dont have a desk top pc)
Could just get a mid spec gaming desk top?
Idk i asolutley love my steam deck. Its Changed my life. Love it. Ability to Hand held current AAA games is def underrated
Why does the shell cover the fan but has vents only around the m.2 drive slot. Something doesn't make sense.
When Valve announces an upgraded version of the Steam Deck with USB4.0(80Gbps) support I will buy it immediately. I still love my Steam Deck but I really want it to just replace my ATX rig right now so there's far lesser heat going on in the room.
I wish they would just do a refresh, like Steam Deck Pro, with better i/o (oculink or usb4) and a slightly better display, more storage space/options, maybe a small cpu bump
Is there a similar adapter that would let you put the OCuLink port on the back of a SFF case? Having it directly on the card doesn't really make sense for any application other than this one. I suppose I could plug a cable into it and run the cable out the back but that would look a little janke. At that point I may as well use a PCIE slot type adapter.
Hey man, just wanted to correct something. Oculink, Thunderbolt, and USB4 all are NOT 40GB/s+ (Gigabytes per second).
They are 40+ Gigabit per second (Gb/s).
Couldn't some of the laptop versions of graphics cards fit inside the body of a larger handheld system? I know currently there aren't, but I think a system like a steam deck is physically large enough to possibly fit a laptop version of a rtx4060 etc. Is the power requirements what is the reason why this hasn't been able to be used in any portable systems as of yet?
I just feel like using one of the newer mobile versions of cards could easily run any game at 1080p.
Figured I'd ask just to see if anyone knows. I figured power and thermals would be the roadblocks.
Thanks in advanced.
It is way too expensive at 665 dollars. You're better off buying an entire PC for that. :c
At this rate you might as well install a rear case on the back that allows access to the ssd. Could be more practical to swap out the drive when at home for the occulink adapter and revert to the steamdeck drive when you go mobile
Where can we get such an adapter? I was hoping you'd leave links in the descriprion to what adapter you purchased
If valve would sell an official dock with an external GPU built in (and add steamos support) I'd buy it in an instant so I could play newer AAA games with solid framerate on TV.
This made my day. Thanks for this video.😊🎉
I decided to do this with my deck, but I didn't want to have to sacrifice the m.2 slot when on the go, leaving an unused oculink port for no good reason. I tried to install an Oculink to M.2 SSD adapter so I could swap the GPD for an SSD with steamOS whenever going from desktop to portable, but unfortunately **SteamOS cannot be booted over Oculink** at least in my testing. Windows **can** but that would defeat the purpose of having an oculink port.
Have you tried to use VR alongside with the Steam deck?
I want to know if the cpu is going to bea bottleneck
They should make that external GPU with an Arduino next to it, both as one unit, and with a 2tb m.2 so it can play PC games as a single unit..
i take it with the external gpu used here that would mean the decks 16gb of ram is now used entirely for non gfx related tasks.
Great way to increase power and make this a true PC. A GPU dock would be fuckin awesome
Coming to check out whether SteamDeck supports eGPU without modding.😢
If we got some form of official egpu support on the next iteration of the steam deck then it could effectively replace all my devices, besides like 3 exclusives on ps4 not already on deck lol
Can you please tell me what is that device on your desk that looks like something out of Zelda? I would like to get it. I think it looks really cool
Be interesting to see how the gpd unit works with macs because of the TB3/4 compatibility. This video highlights the use as an e gpu but the unit could also be seen as a super laptop dock. Not sure how the gpd’s video output would conflict with Mac OS and apple’s desire to control everything.
yes i'm also interested in m2 air support. did you manage to find any information on such a setup?
Tbh I haven’t really looked. Thunderbolt is one of those ‘grey’ areas. In theory Windows and Mac machines should work the same but implementation on the hardware makers is key. I have an OWC Nas I built around 4 nvme’s and it gets 1800mb/s on an m2 mini, but only about 800 mb/s on an HP laptop with a Thunderbolt 4 port. Would be nice if Apple and PC makers could get along. @@EugeneYunak
Do you have bad latency with controller? I can't find a single way to use my Xbox controller without 1 sec input lag
wonder if you can get this to work with the Asus Rog Ally.
I supose you can don't know sure tho
im actually very interested. it may not be necessary when out and about but docked? yes please.
Just one clarification please, Why could you not add the OcuLink m.2 adapter to the external dock and not have to mod the Steam Deck? Is that a possibility?
Because if you add it to the dock, you are going to be using the usb-c data speed, which is waaaay slower than connecting directly to the internal m.2 slot on the Deck.
It just doesn't make sense to me. For $6-700 you could just build a whole gaming pc.
Hello bro, a question about how you managed to connect a USB C 4.0 to the SSD, I am impressed by your work since I am thinking of replicating the same method because I feel that I see it as feasible, I hope you can answer and thank you very much
steam deck cpu is just underpowered for egpu to take advantage of. Rog ally is a better solution for egpu implementation. at expense of battery life (need more power to just run same performance as steam deck). thats desktop cpu in ally despite its "custom cpu". its just a rebranding of 7840u with some adjustment.
Do you still need to buy a graphic card to go into the GPU port?
Clean Video. I love how you show everything ans explained it throughly.
The only thing keeping me from going out and buying a deck is that I want a single PC setup, and the Deck just doesn't have enough juices to do that for me, and neither do the other handhelds on the market. The thing is, I really want a handheld running a handheld Linux OS.
I love it when your videos start with a "So yeah"
Dood? This is what I’m going to use. But, I wanted to ask you if I dual booted can I still use this option??
It would be awesome if valve made it so when you dock your steam deck with a portable gpu plugged into the dock you get a performance boost.
Well that was some clever angle and wire placement for the video thumbnail. Disappointed with the final build from that image. Still a cool idea though.
Have you tried running manjaro on the deck? I am wondering if it would work igpu and with an egpu.
Neat little side project. But it costs too much if you want to just play games. If you don’t already own a Steam Deck or any portable gaming PC: There are 900 laptops with RTX 4050 GPUs in them which would give way better performances.
Faster CPU, fast SSD drive, same 16GB ram. The 4050 comes with 6GB of VRAM, more than enough for 1080p gaming.
Gaming laptops take less space in a backpack when you think about it. Steam Deck, Ally, etc.. with case on are actually quite bulky.
This project may be interesting to people who already have steam Deck and don’t plan on using them portable anymore. But over 700 bucks for midrange GPU is a deal breaker for me.
So can you still have handheld use if you run everything off the microsd card since the m.2 is gone?
- oculink M2 adapter + oculink cable: 35€
- steam deck: 420€
- external enclosure with 7600M: 660€
- good usb 3 hub with PD: 30$
Total: 1145 euro
For that price you buy a brand new high end gaming pc and a second hand 3080 and game at 1440p with ultra settings and RTX ON.
Heck if you go full second hand you get a very good gaming pc and you have spare for the steam deck.
If the eGPU was half the price then perhaps.
What about not opening the Steam Deck and installing the M.2 to Oculink adapter in the dock instead ?
I wonder if it is possible to piggyback that m.2 slot to have 2 devices plugged in at the same time (oculink + m.2 ssd)
I guess the bandwith wouldn't be enough.
This is awesome, but I feel like giving up the internal storage for Oculink kinda goes against the point of having a handheld console at all, unless the back could be easily opened and the adapter can be quickly swapped for the storage drive?
It's a nice proof of concept, but I really don't see the point you can't reliably use a steamdeck in portable with your Os installed on a micro-sd, it locks the deck as a docked use only.
is there any dock with oculink? or any docks can use oculink cable via thunderbolt? is there any converter from thunderbolt male to oculink?
HOLY SH. This was what I was literally brainstorming about last night!!! Only for a Ayaneo 2S and a 3080 on an OCulink dock.
ETA, how do you get that msi afterburner display the one I have is totally different than the one you have.
with the monitor you have, what axpect ratio is it and what size is the monitor?
Since when did something showing frame rate consistently over 60fps constitute holding gameplay back?
because in theory that GPU should be able to do far better. Imagine putting a RTX 4090 in a PC that has a CPU from 6 years ago. It's not going to perform as well.
Now you just need to do the same thing with the ASUS ROG ALLY!