Is it possible to connect an external GPU via Ethernet?











up vote
21
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I have laptop which has working Ethernet port but I always use WiFi . I am wondering if it is possible to run and use a graphics card (with external power supply) connected to the Ethernet port (with some kind of PCI emulation to emulate the Ethernet GPU as a PCI one).



A Cat6 cable can do 10 Gbps, which should be enough for a GPU to run and play games.



Could this be possible?










share|improve this question




















  • 11




    But does your laptop's Ethernet port support 10 GB/s? Link speed is usually measured in gigabits (i.e. 10 GB/s ≈ 100 Gbps, which is far more than Cat6 can deliver). Even if you meant 10 Gbps, I'd be really surprised if your laptop had that.
    – grawity
    May 22 '16 at 14:38






  • 9




    Just buy a desktop pc to fit that GPU in (also get good CPU and RAM to that) and use steam in-home streaming.
    – Ave
    May 22 '16 at 16:01






  • 3




    You're gonna need a bigger FPGA development board
    – Flexo
    May 22 '16 at 22:20






  • 3




    which laptop in the last decade can't play HD videos? Even an old pentium 4 can run at least 720p properly. If there's problem with performance, probably it's with your configuration, not hardware specification. Use a player with GPU rendering like MPC and make sure DXVA is running
    – phuclv
    May 23 '16 at 4:27






  • 1




    you might also need to turn on DXVA in VLC. Anyway using a separate environment is better as there'll be less overhead from OS
    – phuclv
    May 23 '16 at 7:36















up vote
21
down vote

favorite
5












I have laptop which has working Ethernet port but I always use WiFi . I am wondering if it is possible to run and use a graphics card (with external power supply) connected to the Ethernet port (with some kind of PCI emulation to emulate the Ethernet GPU as a PCI one).



A Cat6 cable can do 10 Gbps, which should be enough for a GPU to run and play games.



Could this be possible?










share|improve this question




















  • 11




    But does your laptop's Ethernet port support 10 GB/s? Link speed is usually measured in gigabits (i.e. 10 GB/s ≈ 100 Gbps, which is far more than Cat6 can deliver). Even if you meant 10 Gbps, I'd be really surprised if your laptop had that.
    – grawity
    May 22 '16 at 14:38






  • 9




    Just buy a desktop pc to fit that GPU in (also get good CPU and RAM to that) and use steam in-home streaming.
    – Ave
    May 22 '16 at 16:01






  • 3




    You're gonna need a bigger FPGA development board
    – Flexo
    May 22 '16 at 22:20






  • 3




    which laptop in the last decade can't play HD videos? Even an old pentium 4 can run at least 720p properly. If there's problem with performance, probably it's with your configuration, not hardware specification. Use a player with GPU rendering like MPC and make sure DXVA is running
    – phuclv
    May 23 '16 at 4:27






  • 1




    you might also need to turn on DXVA in VLC. Anyway using a separate environment is better as there'll be less overhead from OS
    – phuclv
    May 23 '16 at 7:36













up vote
21
down vote

favorite
5









up vote
21
down vote

favorite
5






5





I have laptop which has working Ethernet port but I always use WiFi . I am wondering if it is possible to run and use a graphics card (with external power supply) connected to the Ethernet port (with some kind of PCI emulation to emulate the Ethernet GPU as a PCI one).



A Cat6 cable can do 10 Gbps, which should be enough for a GPU to run and play games.



Could this be possible?










share|improve this question















I have laptop which has working Ethernet port but I always use WiFi . I am wondering if it is possible to run and use a graphics card (with external power supply) connected to the Ethernet port (with some kind of PCI emulation to emulate the Ethernet GPU as a PCI one).



A Cat6 cable can do 10 Gbps, which should be enough for a GPU to run and play games.



Could this be possible?







graphics-card ethernet gpu pci-express






share|improve this question















share|improve this question













share|improve this question




share|improve this question








edited May 22 '16 at 17:55









Ben N

28.9k1394141




28.9k1394141










asked May 22 '16 at 14:27









Suici Doga

1,3224925




1,3224925








  • 11




    But does your laptop's Ethernet port support 10 GB/s? Link speed is usually measured in gigabits (i.e. 10 GB/s ≈ 100 Gbps, which is far more than Cat6 can deliver). Even if you meant 10 Gbps, I'd be really surprised if your laptop had that.
    – grawity
    May 22 '16 at 14:38






  • 9




    Just buy a desktop pc to fit that GPU in (also get good CPU and RAM to that) and use steam in-home streaming.
    – Ave
    May 22 '16 at 16:01






  • 3




    You're gonna need a bigger FPGA development board
    – Flexo
    May 22 '16 at 22:20






  • 3




    which laptop in the last decade can't play HD videos? Even an old pentium 4 can run at least 720p properly. If there's problem with performance, probably it's with your configuration, not hardware specification. Use a player with GPU rendering like MPC and make sure DXVA is running
    – phuclv
    May 23 '16 at 4:27






  • 1




    you might also need to turn on DXVA in VLC. Anyway using a separate environment is better as there'll be less overhead from OS
    – phuclv
    May 23 '16 at 7:36














  • 11




    But does your laptop's Ethernet port support 10 GB/s? Link speed is usually measured in gigabits (i.e. 10 GB/s ≈ 100 Gbps, which is far more than Cat6 can deliver). Even if you meant 10 Gbps, I'd be really surprised if your laptop had that.
    – grawity
    May 22 '16 at 14:38






  • 9




    Just buy a desktop pc to fit that GPU in (also get good CPU and RAM to that) and use steam in-home streaming.
    – Ave
    May 22 '16 at 16:01






  • 3




    You're gonna need a bigger FPGA development board
    – Flexo
    May 22 '16 at 22:20






  • 3




    which laptop in the last decade can't play HD videos? Even an old pentium 4 can run at least 720p properly. If there's problem with performance, probably it's with your configuration, not hardware specification. Use a player with GPU rendering like MPC and make sure DXVA is running
    – phuclv
    May 23 '16 at 4:27






  • 1




    you might also need to turn on DXVA in VLC. Anyway using a separate environment is better as there'll be less overhead from OS
    – phuclv
    May 23 '16 at 7:36








11




11




But does your laptop's Ethernet port support 10 GB/s? Link speed is usually measured in gigabits (i.e. 10 GB/s ≈ 100 Gbps, which is far more than Cat6 can deliver). Even if you meant 10 Gbps, I'd be really surprised if your laptop had that.
– grawity
May 22 '16 at 14:38




But does your laptop's Ethernet port support 10 GB/s? Link speed is usually measured in gigabits (i.e. 10 GB/s ≈ 100 Gbps, which is far more than Cat6 can deliver). Even if you meant 10 Gbps, I'd be really surprised if your laptop had that.
– grawity
May 22 '16 at 14:38




9




9




Just buy a desktop pc to fit that GPU in (also get good CPU and RAM to that) and use steam in-home streaming.
– Ave
May 22 '16 at 16:01




Just buy a desktop pc to fit that GPU in (also get good CPU and RAM to that) and use steam in-home streaming.
– Ave
May 22 '16 at 16:01




3




3




You're gonna need a bigger FPGA development board
– Flexo
May 22 '16 at 22:20




You're gonna need a bigger FPGA development board
– Flexo
May 22 '16 at 22:20




3




3




which laptop in the last decade can't play HD videos? Even an old pentium 4 can run at least 720p properly. If there's problem with performance, probably it's with your configuration, not hardware specification. Use a player with GPU rendering like MPC and make sure DXVA is running
– phuclv
May 23 '16 at 4:27




which laptop in the last decade can't play HD videos? Even an old pentium 4 can run at least 720p properly. If there's problem with performance, probably it's with your configuration, not hardware specification. Use a player with GPU rendering like MPC and make sure DXVA is running
– phuclv
May 23 '16 at 4:27




1




1




you might also need to turn on DXVA in VLC. Anyway using a separate environment is better as there'll be less overhead from OS
– phuclv
May 23 '16 at 7:36




you might also need to turn on DXVA in VLC. Anyway using a separate environment is better as there'll be less overhead from OS
– phuclv
May 23 '16 at 7:36










11 Answers
11






active

oldest

votes

















up vote
63
down vote



accepted










No.



Chances are very slim that your laptop has a 10 gigabit ethernet adaptor - its uncommon on high end desktops. You'd also need some clever hardware to translate between PCI-e to ethernet, and the latency, oh the latency. You have a device which is typically put as close to the processor as possible with 16 dedicated pci-e lanes right into it, and you'd be adding a ton of latency.



Such a device would essentially be a video card, plugged into a PC, rendering what you want to play on the video card, compressing it, and sending it over as video.



Newer laptops may be able to do this with thunderbolt, but that's a whole different protocol, with the necessary clever hardware available.






share|improve this answer

















  • 1




    Thunderbolt isn't fast enough. Yet... I've heard that version 3.0 will have a maximum speed of around 80000Mbps. That should be enough for very basic cards. Nothing that fancy.
    – Ismael Miguel
    May 22 '16 at 19:57






  • 16




    @IsmaelMiguel 'Thunderbolt isn't fast enough' Source? My understanding is that thunderbolt to gpu does exist and works very well (only minor performance degradation due to thunderbolt).
    – NPSF3000
    May 22 '16 at 23:54






  • 1




    expether.org/products.html - it's not such an unheard of use case.
    – oakad
    May 23 '16 at 2:16






  • 9




    for GPGPU. With 40gb optical connections. For ludicious amounts of money I'm sure. Latency's not an issue, and would be less so, there's a lot more bandwidth, and those sure as heck arn't used for gaming. andrew's answer covers the possibility of that
    – Journeyman Geek
    May 23 '16 at 2:26






  • 2




    @datenwolf Those are real ethernet controllers which rely on Ethernet MAC and work with any stock L2 switch. That's the whole idea, to save on custom switching.
    – oakad
    May 24 '16 at 1:33


















up vote
16
down vote













Connecting a GPU by Ethernet is like connecting your PS3 controller to the PS/2 keyboard port: sounds like it's trying to fix a problem but the solution turns out to be completely outlandish and impractical. (Granted, if you can pull it off, you'll gain more popularity as that one crazy guy.)



That said, I advise you not to try to do this because the interface simply doesn't exist. You'd have to go through a lot of hoops to get your card to accept low-level commands through high-level interfaces and then bring back a video output. The latency would be absolutely horrible, unless you are willing to pay thousands and thousands of dollars for an enterprise-grade solution that lets you do this for one reason or another.



However, don't fret. You may still be able to connect your GPU to your laptop. For instance, if you have an ExpressCard slot, you can use an ExpressCard to PCIe adapter (along with a power supply unit) to have a seamless experience.



However, there may be compatibility issues due to the operating system's inability to set up resources for the PCI connection to the GPU, so browse around and make sure it's compatible before you buy anything. Consult guides such as PCWorld's eGPU tutorial to see if you have everything you need to use a desktop GPU with your laptop.



Regardless, do not expect 100% performance. Remember, it's a laptop.






share|improve this answer

















  • 4




    Actually, connecting the PS3 controller via PS/2 sounds like a very good idea to get steady performance on a dedicated connection. :D
    – Daniel B
    May 22 '16 at 16:44










  • @DanielB DualShock 3 controllers require a sort of "handshake" for the controller to initialize since it's a digital interface. DS2 is viable though, but not DS3.
    – oldmud0
    May 22 '16 at 23:25










  • The laptop has a ExpressCard slot.I have newer laptop with AMD integrated Venice which doesn't have an ExpressCard slot but has USB 3
    – Suici Doga
    May 23 '16 at 1:41










  • @oldmud0 PS/2 is a digital connection, too. It’ll require additional hardware or hardware modifications, that’s for sure. But it’s really not nearly as absurd as you make it sound.
    – Daniel B
    May 23 '16 at 6:16










  • @DanielB Considering you can run DS3 on PC with custom USB driver I think hardware modification would end at wiring (At first I couldn't calibrate one axis, then I learned DS3 have bubble level feature :)
    – PTwr
    May 23 '16 at 11:39


















up vote
9
down vote













Probably not at commodity pricing for another few years. The current offerings are all high-end, using 10/40 Gbps connections and Nvidia Tesla cards. Even then, it's not directly usable for gaming or graphics, but more for CUDA processing.



e.g. http://www.chelsio.com/gpudirect-rdma/






share|improve this answer




























    up vote
    6
    down vote













    Not with ethernet, but with PCIe and Thunderbolt. This article breaks down the external GPU (eGPU) landscape well.



    A number of companies sell PCIe/Thunderbolt enclosures. Some are limited by Thunderbolt's power, some have their own power.





    • MSI GUS II using Thunderbolt and limited to 150W.


    • Akitio Thunder2 PCIe Box using Thunderbolt 2, but only provides 25W.


    • Netstor sells a number of externally powered PCIe expansion systems which run on Thunderbolt.

    • The Razor Core is a Thunderbolt 3 external enclosure handling up to 375W.


    There's even a DIY kit.






    share|improve this answer























    • I figure its only a matter of time before you can pick up one of those external PCI adaptors that can connect to mini DP or a few other standards in thunderbolt.
      – Journeyman Geek
      May 24 '16 at 2:07


















    up vote
    5
    down vote













    Not by Ethernet, but PC Mag ran a story last Sept on using a gaming card with a laptop connected via PCIe adapter card, Express Card, or Thunderbolt for Macbooks.



    http://www.pcworld.com/article/2984716/laptop-computers/how-to-transform-your-laptop-into-a-gaming-powerhouse-with-an-external-graphics-card.html



    The author uses a 2011 Thinkpad and under $200 GPU and shows benchmarks for some modern games. I'd summarize him as pleased he could run them at all for a small expenditure (not a full new gaming box). Benchmarks are provided to make your own judgements.






    share|improve this answer























    • A 2011 Think pad and what?
      – Suici Doga
      May 23 '16 at 1:32










    • Welcome to Super User! Please read the question again carefully. Your answer does not answer the original question.
      – DavidPostill
      May 23 '16 at 9:07


















    up vote
    5
    down vote













    The closest you can come to what you want is, if you're gaming via Steam, to use the in home streaming option to use your network to route the display from the a gaming desktop to your laptop and user input from the laptop to the desktop running the game. This would require a full desktop somewhere in your home instead of just a laptop + external GPU; but you can hide it out of the way somewhere and only interact with your laptop.






    share|improve this answer




























      up vote
      3
      down vote













      If you have no technical skills, then the easiest way to break this down is simply: does your graphics card have an Ethernet port? The next question being "Can I get an adapter to make it so?" As far as I know, there is no adapter capable of adding an Ethernet port to a graphics card.



      If you simply want to beef up your laptop with an external graphics card, there does happen to be a solution for that, though it's obviously not cheap. A better solution would be buy or build a gaming specific machine, based on the specs required for the specific games and types of games that you want to play, for the number of years that you think the machine will last/stay relevant. Maximum PC usually has good articles recommending gaming rigs, I suggest you check out their build pages. They usually have 3 different tiers with parts lists and links. mid range linked earlier.



      If you insist on using the adapter, here is the tech: This device can use a Expresscard slot or a mini PCIe slot. The Expresscard can be found on newer laptops, and is externally accessible. The mini PCIe slot means you'd have to do surgery to your laptop and route a cable, assuming that your laptop had such a card slot.






      share|improve this answer























      • My laptop has a wireless card PCI slot but if I put a GPU I can't use WiFi
        – Suici Doga
        Jan 27 '17 at 4:07


















      up vote
      2
      down vote













      I believe VirtualGL might help you with this - it allows you to run the graphically-intensive program on device and view the results on another.






      share|improve this answer





















      • What device , the GPU ?
        – Suici Doga
        May 24 '16 at 1:48










      • Yep that's right.
        – Vadi
        May 24 '16 at 3:57


















      up vote
      0
      down vote













      I doubt you'd be able to run just a graphics card by itself via ethernet. But you could connect to another PC using some kind of remote desktop application (VNC, etc).



      There has been rumblings about being able to connect an external GPU via Thunderbolt or USB 3.1, and AMD says they want to make a standard for it:
      http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/03/amd-wants-to-standardise-the-external-gpu/






      share|improve this answer





















      • Is USB 3 SuperSpeed USB 3.1
        – Suici Doga
        May 25 '16 at 6:04


















      up vote
      0
      down vote













      It's 2018 and eGPUs are a widely available thing now, it's still missing in these answers so I want to leave it as an answer in case someone isn't aware of those great things:



      picturr



      (Amazon Link to the above product)



      These devices fit a GPU and a power supply (most of them have them built-in, the above one has a 400W one built-in to power the GPU). It's using Thunderbolt 3 which has a bandwidth of up to 40Gbit/s, offers 18V @ 550mA, can drive multiple 4K displays, and much more fancy things.



      This would be your best solution. It's simple, there's cheaper ones too, and it guarantees you a perfect system integration and performance (you can even run a GTX 1080 inside these things).



      As already pointed out, a solution involving ethernet has several flaws, the biggest being that your laptop's port most likely doesn't support more than 1Gbit/s.






      share|improve this answer




























        up vote
        -5
        down vote













        Likelier option may be PCI-to-USB. Might be a smarter move. If you don't have a free USB slot: Plug something out! Or get a hub.






        share|improve this answer





















        • Can downvoters say why they downvoted? its a more logical solution that plugging pci to ethernet
          – James Kirkby
          May 23 '16 at 15:09






        • 2




          It's lacking in detail. And I don't think USB is fast enough to run a decent card without seeing someone do it.
          – Schwern
          May 23 '16 at 21:45








        • 1




          And it's not useful. PCI (or PCIe) to USB doesn't solve anything, and USB to PCIe doesn't exist.
          – duskwuff
          May 23 '16 at 23:01











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        11 Answers
        11






        active

        oldest

        votes








        11 Answers
        11






        active

        oldest

        votes









        active

        oldest

        votes






        active

        oldest

        votes








        up vote
        63
        down vote



        accepted










        No.



        Chances are very slim that your laptop has a 10 gigabit ethernet adaptor - its uncommon on high end desktops. You'd also need some clever hardware to translate between PCI-e to ethernet, and the latency, oh the latency. You have a device which is typically put as close to the processor as possible with 16 dedicated pci-e lanes right into it, and you'd be adding a ton of latency.



        Such a device would essentially be a video card, plugged into a PC, rendering what you want to play on the video card, compressing it, and sending it over as video.



        Newer laptops may be able to do this with thunderbolt, but that's a whole different protocol, with the necessary clever hardware available.






        share|improve this answer

















        • 1




          Thunderbolt isn't fast enough. Yet... I've heard that version 3.0 will have a maximum speed of around 80000Mbps. That should be enough for very basic cards. Nothing that fancy.
          – Ismael Miguel
          May 22 '16 at 19:57






        • 16




          @IsmaelMiguel 'Thunderbolt isn't fast enough' Source? My understanding is that thunderbolt to gpu does exist and works very well (only minor performance degradation due to thunderbolt).
          – NPSF3000
          May 22 '16 at 23:54






        • 1




          expether.org/products.html - it's not such an unheard of use case.
          – oakad
          May 23 '16 at 2:16






        • 9




          for GPGPU. With 40gb optical connections. For ludicious amounts of money I'm sure. Latency's not an issue, and would be less so, there's a lot more bandwidth, and those sure as heck arn't used for gaming. andrew's answer covers the possibility of that
          – Journeyman Geek
          May 23 '16 at 2:26






        • 2




          @datenwolf Those are real ethernet controllers which rely on Ethernet MAC and work with any stock L2 switch. That's the whole idea, to save on custom switching.
          – oakad
          May 24 '16 at 1:33















        up vote
        63
        down vote



        accepted










        No.



        Chances are very slim that your laptop has a 10 gigabit ethernet adaptor - its uncommon on high end desktops. You'd also need some clever hardware to translate between PCI-e to ethernet, and the latency, oh the latency. You have a device which is typically put as close to the processor as possible with 16 dedicated pci-e lanes right into it, and you'd be adding a ton of latency.



        Such a device would essentially be a video card, plugged into a PC, rendering what you want to play on the video card, compressing it, and sending it over as video.



        Newer laptops may be able to do this with thunderbolt, but that's a whole different protocol, with the necessary clever hardware available.






        share|improve this answer

















        • 1




          Thunderbolt isn't fast enough. Yet... I've heard that version 3.0 will have a maximum speed of around 80000Mbps. That should be enough for very basic cards. Nothing that fancy.
          – Ismael Miguel
          May 22 '16 at 19:57






        • 16




          @IsmaelMiguel 'Thunderbolt isn't fast enough' Source? My understanding is that thunderbolt to gpu does exist and works very well (only minor performance degradation due to thunderbolt).
          – NPSF3000
          May 22 '16 at 23:54






        • 1




          expether.org/products.html - it's not such an unheard of use case.
          – oakad
          May 23 '16 at 2:16






        • 9




          for GPGPU. With 40gb optical connections. For ludicious amounts of money I'm sure. Latency's not an issue, and would be less so, there's a lot more bandwidth, and those sure as heck arn't used for gaming. andrew's answer covers the possibility of that
          – Journeyman Geek
          May 23 '16 at 2:26






        • 2




          @datenwolf Those are real ethernet controllers which rely on Ethernet MAC and work with any stock L2 switch. That's the whole idea, to save on custom switching.
          – oakad
          May 24 '16 at 1:33













        up vote
        63
        down vote



        accepted







        up vote
        63
        down vote



        accepted






        No.



        Chances are very slim that your laptop has a 10 gigabit ethernet adaptor - its uncommon on high end desktops. You'd also need some clever hardware to translate between PCI-e to ethernet, and the latency, oh the latency. You have a device which is typically put as close to the processor as possible with 16 dedicated pci-e lanes right into it, and you'd be adding a ton of latency.



        Such a device would essentially be a video card, plugged into a PC, rendering what you want to play on the video card, compressing it, and sending it over as video.



        Newer laptops may be able to do this with thunderbolt, but that's a whole different protocol, with the necessary clever hardware available.






        share|improve this answer












        No.



        Chances are very slim that your laptop has a 10 gigabit ethernet adaptor - its uncommon on high end desktops. You'd also need some clever hardware to translate between PCI-e to ethernet, and the latency, oh the latency. You have a device which is typically put as close to the processor as possible with 16 dedicated pci-e lanes right into it, and you'd be adding a ton of latency.



        Such a device would essentially be a video card, plugged into a PC, rendering what you want to play on the video card, compressing it, and sending it over as video.



        Newer laptops may be able to do this with thunderbolt, but that's a whole different protocol, with the necessary clever hardware available.







        share|improve this answer












        share|improve this answer



        share|improve this answer










        answered May 22 '16 at 14:37









        Journeyman Geek

        111k43216365




        111k43216365








        • 1




          Thunderbolt isn't fast enough. Yet... I've heard that version 3.0 will have a maximum speed of around 80000Mbps. That should be enough for very basic cards. Nothing that fancy.
          – Ismael Miguel
          May 22 '16 at 19:57






        • 16




          @IsmaelMiguel 'Thunderbolt isn't fast enough' Source? My understanding is that thunderbolt to gpu does exist and works very well (only minor performance degradation due to thunderbolt).
          – NPSF3000
          May 22 '16 at 23:54






        • 1




          expether.org/products.html - it's not such an unheard of use case.
          – oakad
          May 23 '16 at 2:16






        • 9




          for GPGPU. With 40gb optical connections. For ludicious amounts of money I'm sure. Latency's not an issue, and would be less so, there's a lot more bandwidth, and those sure as heck arn't used for gaming. andrew's answer covers the possibility of that
          – Journeyman Geek
          May 23 '16 at 2:26






        • 2




          @datenwolf Those are real ethernet controllers which rely on Ethernet MAC and work with any stock L2 switch. That's the whole idea, to save on custom switching.
          – oakad
          May 24 '16 at 1:33














        • 1




          Thunderbolt isn't fast enough. Yet... I've heard that version 3.0 will have a maximum speed of around 80000Mbps. That should be enough for very basic cards. Nothing that fancy.
          – Ismael Miguel
          May 22 '16 at 19:57






        • 16




          @IsmaelMiguel 'Thunderbolt isn't fast enough' Source? My understanding is that thunderbolt to gpu does exist and works very well (only minor performance degradation due to thunderbolt).
          – NPSF3000
          May 22 '16 at 23:54






        • 1




          expether.org/products.html - it's not such an unheard of use case.
          – oakad
          May 23 '16 at 2:16






        • 9




          for GPGPU. With 40gb optical connections. For ludicious amounts of money I'm sure. Latency's not an issue, and would be less so, there's a lot more bandwidth, and those sure as heck arn't used for gaming. andrew's answer covers the possibility of that
          – Journeyman Geek
          May 23 '16 at 2:26






        • 2




          @datenwolf Those are real ethernet controllers which rely on Ethernet MAC and work with any stock L2 switch. That's the whole idea, to save on custom switching.
          – oakad
          May 24 '16 at 1:33








        1




        1




        Thunderbolt isn't fast enough. Yet... I've heard that version 3.0 will have a maximum speed of around 80000Mbps. That should be enough for very basic cards. Nothing that fancy.
        – Ismael Miguel
        May 22 '16 at 19:57




        Thunderbolt isn't fast enough. Yet... I've heard that version 3.0 will have a maximum speed of around 80000Mbps. That should be enough for very basic cards. Nothing that fancy.
        – Ismael Miguel
        May 22 '16 at 19:57




        16




        16




        @IsmaelMiguel 'Thunderbolt isn't fast enough' Source? My understanding is that thunderbolt to gpu does exist and works very well (only minor performance degradation due to thunderbolt).
        – NPSF3000
        May 22 '16 at 23:54




        @IsmaelMiguel 'Thunderbolt isn't fast enough' Source? My understanding is that thunderbolt to gpu does exist and works very well (only minor performance degradation due to thunderbolt).
        – NPSF3000
        May 22 '16 at 23:54




        1




        1




        expether.org/products.html - it's not such an unheard of use case.
        – oakad
        May 23 '16 at 2:16




        expether.org/products.html - it's not such an unheard of use case.
        – oakad
        May 23 '16 at 2:16




        9




        9




        for GPGPU. With 40gb optical connections. For ludicious amounts of money I'm sure. Latency's not an issue, and would be less so, there's a lot more bandwidth, and those sure as heck arn't used for gaming. andrew's answer covers the possibility of that
        – Journeyman Geek
        May 23 '16 at 2:26




        for GPGPU. With 40gb optical connections. For ludicious amounts of money I'm sure. Latency's not an issue, and would be less so, there's a lot more bandwidth, and those sure as heck arn't used for gaming. andrew's answer covers the possibility of that
        – Journeyman Geek
        May 23 '16 at 2:26




        2




        2




        @datenwolf Those are real ethernet controllers which rely on Ethernet MAC and work with any stock L2 switch. That's the whole idea, to save on custom switching.
        – oakad
        May 24 '16 at 1:33




        @datenwolf Those are real ethernet controllers which rely on Ethernet MAC and work with any stock L2 switch. That's the whole idea, to save on custom switching.
        – oakad
        May 24 '16 at 1:33












        up vote
        16
        down vote













        Connecting a GPU by Ethernet is like connecting your PS3 controller to the PS/2 keyboard port: sounds like it's trying to fix a problem but the solution turns out to be completely outlandish and impractical. (Granted, if you can pull it off, you'll gain more popularity as that one crazy guy.)



        That said, I advise you not to try to do this because the interface simply doesn't exist. You'd have to go through a lot of hoops to get your card to accept low-level commands through high-level interfaces and then bring back a video output. The latency would be absolutely horrible, unless you are willing to pay thousands and thousands of dollars for an enterprise-grade solution that lets you do this for one reason or another.



        However, don't fret. You may still be able to connect your GPU to your laptop. For instance, if you have an ExpressCard slot, you can use an ExpressCard to PCIe adapter (along with a power supply unit) to have a seamless experience.



        However, there may be compatibility issues due to the operating system's inability to set up resources for the PCI connection to the GPU, so browse around and make sure it's compatible before you buy anything. Consult guides such as PCWorld's eGPU tutorial to see if you have everything you need to use a desktop GPU with your laptop.



        Regardless, do not expect 100% performance. Remember, it's a laptop.






        share|improve this answer

















        • 4




          Actually, connecting the PS3 controller via PS/2 sounds like a very good idea to get steady performance on a dedicated connection. :D
          – Daniel B
          May 22 '16 at 16:44










        • @DanielB DualShock 3 controllers require a sort of "handshake" for the controller to initialize since it's a digital interface. DS2 is viable though, but not DS3.
          – oldmud0
          May 22 '16 at 23:25










        • The laptop has a ExpressCard slot.I have newer laptop with AMD integrated Venice which doesn't have an ExpressCard slot but has USB 3
          – Suici Doga
          May 23 '16 at 1:41










        • @oldmud0 PS/2 is a digital connection, too. It’ll require additional hardware or hardware modifications, that’s for sure. But it’s really not nearly as absurd as you make it sound.
          – Daniel B
          May 23 '16 at 6:16










        • @DanielB Considering you can run DS3 on PC with custom USB driver I think hardware modification would end at wiring (At first I couldn't calibrate one axis, then I learned DS3 have bubble level feature :)
          – PTwr
          May 23 '16 at 11:39















        up vote
        16
        down vote













        Connecting a GPU by Ethernet is like connecting your PS3 controller to the PS/2 keyboard port: sounds like it's trying to fix a problem but the solution turns out to be completely outlandish and impractical. (Granted, if you can pull it off, you'll gain more popularity as that one crazy guy.)



        That said, I advise you not to try to do this because the interface simply doesn't exist. You'd have to go through a lot of hoops to get your card to accept low-level commands through high-level interfaces and then bring back a video output. The latency would be absolutely horrible, unless you are willing to pay thousands and thousands of dollars for an enterprise-grade solution that lets you do this for one reason or another.



        However, don't fret. You may still be able to connect your GPU to your laptop. For instance, if you have an ExpressCard slot, you can use an ExpressCard to PCIe adapter (along with a power supply unit) to have a seamless experience.



        However, there may be compatibility issues due to the operating system's inability to set up resources for the PCI connection to the GPU, so browse around and make sure it's compatible before you buy anything. Consult guides such as PCWorld's eGPU tutorial to see if you have everything you need to use a desktop GPU with your laptop.



        Regardless, do not expect 100% performance. Remember, it's a laptop.






        share|improve this answer

















        • 4




          Actually, connecting the PS3 controller via PS/2 sounds like a very good idea to get steady performance on a dedicated connection. :D
          – Daniel B
          May 22 '16 at 16:44










        • @DanielB DualShock 3 controllers require a sort of "handshake" for the controller to initialize since it's a digital interface. DS2 is viable though, but not DS3.
          – oldmud0
          May 22 '16 at 23:25










        • The laptop has a ExpressCard slot.I have newer laptop with AMD integrated Venice which doesn't have an ExpressCard slot but has USB 3
          – Suici Doga
          May 23 '16 at 1:41










        • @oldmud0 PS/2 is a digital connection, too. It’ll require additional hardware or hardware modifications, that’s for sure. But it’s really not nearly as absurd as you make it sound.
          – Daniel B
          May 23 '16 at 6:16










        • @DanielB Considering you can run DS3 on PC with custom USB driver I think hardware modification would end at wiring (At first I couldn't calibrate one axis, then I learned DS3 have bubble level feature :)
          – PTwr
          May 23 '16 at 11:39













        up vote
        16
        down vote










        up vote
        16
        down vote









        Connecting a GPU by Ethernet is like connecting your PS3 controller to the PS/2 keyboard port: sounds like it's trying to fix a problem but the solution turns out to be completely outlandish and impractical. (Granted, if you can pull it off, you'll gain more popularity as that one crazy guy.)



        That said, I advise you not to try to do this because the interface simply doesn't exist. You'd have to go through a lot of hoops to get your card to accept low-level commands through high-level interfaces and then bring back a video output. The latency would be absolutely horrible, unless you are willing to pay thousands and thousands of dollars for an enterprise-grade solution that lets you do this for one reason or another.



        However, don't fret. You may still be able to connect your GPU to your laptop. For instance, if you have an ExpressCard slot, you can use an ExpressCard to PCIe adapter (along with a power supply unit) to have a seamless experience.



        However, there may be compatibility issues due to the operating system's inability to set up resources for the PCI connection to the GPU, so browse around and make sure it's compatible before you buy anything. Consult guides such as PCWorld's eGPU tutorial to see if you have everything you need to use a desktop GPU with your laptop.



        Regardless, do not expect 100% performance. Remember, it's a laptop.






        share|improve this answer












        Connecting a GPU by Ethernet is like connecting your PS3 controller to the PS/2 keyboard port: sounds like it's trying to fix a problem but the solution turns out to be completely outlandish and impractical. (Granted, if you can pull it off, you'll gain more popularity as that one crazy guy.)



        That said, I advise you not to try to do this because the interface simply doesn't exist. You'd have to go through a lot of hoops to get your card to accept low-level commands through high-level interfaces and then bring back a video output. The latency would be absolutely horrible, unless you are willing to pay thousands and thousands of dollars for an enterprise-grade solution that lets you do this for one reason or another.



        However, don't fret. You may still be able to connect your GPU to your laptop. For instance, if you have an ExpressCard slot, you can use an ExpressCard to PCIe adapter (along with a power supply unit) to have a seamless experience.



        However, there may be compatibility issues due to the operating system's inability to set up resources for the PCI connection to the GPU, so browse around and make sure it's compatible before you buy anything. Consult guides such as PCWorld's eGPU tutorial to see if you have everything you need to use a desktop GPU with your laptop.



        Regardless, do not expect 100% performance. Remember, it's a laptop.







        share|improve this answer












        share|improve this answer



        share|improve this answer










        answered May 22 '16 at 16:16









        oldmud0

        3,06131436




        3,06131436








        • 4




          Actually, connecting the PS3 controller via PS/2 sounds like a very good idea to get steady performance on a dedicated connection. :D
          – Daniel B
          May 22 '16 at 16:44










        • @DanielB DualShock 3 controllers require a sort of "handshake" for the controller to initialize since it's a digital interface. DS2 is viable though, but not DS3.
          – oldmud0
          May 22 '16 at 23:25










        • The laptop has a ExpressCard slot.I have newer laptop with AMD integrated Venice which doesn't have an ExpressCard slot but has USB 3
          – Suici Doga
          May 23 '16 at 1:41










        • @oldmud0 PS/2 is a digital connection, too. It’ll require additional hardware or hardware modifications, that’s for sure. But it’s really not nearly as absurd as you make it sound.
          – Daniel B
          May 23 '16 at 6:16










        • @DanielB Considering you can run DS3 on PC with custom USB driver I think hardware modification would end at wiring (At first I couldn't calibrate one axis, then I learned DS3 have bubble level feature :)
          – PTwr
          May 23 '16 at 11:39














        • 4




          Actually, connecting the PS3 controller via PS/2 sounds like a very good idea to get steady performance on a dedicated connection. :D
          – Daniel B
          May 22 '16 at 16:44










        • @DanielB DualShock 3 controllers require a sort of "handshake" for the controller to initialize since it's a digital interface. DS2 is viable though, but not DS3.
          – oldmud0
          May 22 '16 at 23:25










        • The laptop has a ExpressCard slot.I have newer laptop with AMD integrated Venice which doesn't have an ExpressCard slot but has USB 3
          – Suici Doga
          May 23 '16 at 1:41










        • @oldmud0 PS/2 is a digital connection, too. It’ll require additional hardware or hardware modifications, that’s for sure. But it’s really not nearly as absurd as you make it sound.
          – Daniel B
          May 23 '16 at 6:16










        • @DanielB Considering you can run DS3 on PC with custom USB driver I think hardware modification would end at wiring (At first I couldn't calibrate one axis, then I learned DS3 have bubble level feature :)
          – PTwr
          May 23 '16 at 11:39








        4




        4




        Actually, connecting the PS3 controller via PS/2 sounds like a very good idea to get steady performance on a dedicated connection. :D
        – Daniel B
        May 22 '16 at 16:44




        Actually, connecting the PS3 controller via PS/2 sounds like a very good idea to get steady performance on a dedicated connection. :D
        – Daniel B
        May 22 '16 at 16:44












        @DanielB DualShock 3 controllers require a sort of "handshake" for the controller to initialize since it's a digital interface. DS2 is viable though, but not DS3.
        – oldmud0
        May 22 '16 at 23:25




        @DanielB DualShock 3 controllers require a sort of "handshake" for the controller to initialize since it's a digital interface. DS2 is viable though, but not DS3.
        – oldmud0
        May 22 '16 at 23:25












        The laptop has a ExpressCard slot.I have newer laptop with AMD integrated Venice which doesn't have an ExpressCard slot but has USB 3
        – Suici Doga
        May 23 '16 at 1:41




        The laptop has a ExpressCard slot.I have newer laptop with AMD integrated Venice which doesn't have an ExpressCard slot but has USB 3
        – Suici Doga
        May 23 '16 at 1:41












        @oldmud0 PS/2 is a digital connection, too. It’ll require additional hardware or hardware modifications, that’s for sure. But it’s really not nearly as absurd as you make it sound.
        – Daniel B
        May 23 '16 at 6:16




        @oldmud0 PS/2 is a digital connection, too. It’ll require additional hardware or hardware modifications, that’s for sure. But it’s really not nearly as absurd as you make it sound.
        – Daniel B
        May 23 '16 at 6:16












        @DanielB Considering you can run DS3 on PC with custom USB driver I think hardware modification would end at wiring (At first I couldn't calibrate one axis, then I learned DS3 have bubble level feature :)
        – PTwr
        May 23 '16 at 11:39




        @DanielB Considering you can run DS3 on PC with custom USB driver I think hardware modification would end at wiring (At first I couldn't calibrate one axis, then I learned DS3 have bubble level feature :)
        – PTwr
        May 23 '16 at 11:39










        up vote
        9
        down vote













        Probably not at commodity pricing for another few years. The current offerings are all high-end, using 10/40 Gbps connections and Nvidia Tesla cards. Even then, it's not directly usable for gaming or graphics, but more for CUDA processing.



        e.g. http://www.chelsio.com/gpudirect-rdma/






        share|improve this answer

























          up vote
          9
          down vote













          Probably not at commodity pricing for another few years. The current offerings are all high-end, using 10/40 Gbps connections and Nvidia Tesla cards. Even then, it's not directly usable for gaming or graphics, but more for CUDA processing.



          e.g. http://www.chelsio.com/gpudirect-rdma/






          share|improve this answer























            up vote
            9
            down vote










            up vote
            9
            down vote









            Probably not at commodity pricing for another few years. The current offerings are all high-end, using 10/40 Gbps connections and Nvidia Tesla cards. Even then, it's not directly usable for gaming or graphics, but more for CUDA processing.



            e.g. http://www.chelsio.com/gpudirect-rdma/






            share|improve this answer












            Probably not at commodity pricing for another few years. The current offerings are all high-end, using 10/40 Gbps connections and Nvidia Tesla cards. Even then, it's not directly usable for gaming or graphics, but more for CUDA processing.



            e.g. http://www.chelsio.com/gpudirect-rdma/







            share|improve this answer












            share|improve this answer



            share|improve this answer










            answered May 22 '16 at 14:37









            atmarx

            21113




            21113






















                up vote
                6
                down vote













                Not with ethernet, but with PCIe and Thunderbolt. This article breaks down the external GPU (eGPU) landscape well.



                A number of companies sell PCIe/Thunderbolt enclosures. Some are limited by Thunderbolt's power, some have their own power.





                • MSI GUS II using Thunderbolt and limited to 150W.


                • Akitio Thunder2 PCIe Box using Thunderbolt 2, but only provides 25W.


                • Netstor sells a number of externally powered PCIe expansion systems which run on Thunderbolt.

                • The Razor Core is a Thunderbolt 3 external enclosure handling up to 375W.


                There's even a DIY kit.






                share|improve this answer























                • I figure its only a matter of time before you can pick up one of those external PCI adaptors that can connect to mini DP or a few other standards in thunderbolt.
                  – Journeyman Geek
                  May 24 '16 at 2:07















                up vote
                6
                down vote













                Not with ethernet, but with PCIe and Thunderbolt. This article breaks down the external GPU (eGPU) landscape well.



                A number of companies sell PCIe/Thunderbolt enclosures. Some are limited by Thunderbolt's power, some have their own power.





                • MSI GUS II using Thunderbolt and limited to 150W.


                • Akitio Thunder2 PCIe Box using Thunderbolt 2, but only provides 25W.


                • Netstor sells a number of externally powered PCIe expansion systems which run on Thunderbolt.

                • The Razor Core is a Thunderbolt 3 external enclosure handling up to 375W.


                There's even a DIY kit.






                share|improve this answer























                • I figure its only a matter of time before you can pick up one of those external PCI adaptors that can connect to mini DP or a few other standards in thunderbolt.
                  – Journeyman Geek
                  May 24 '16 at 2:07













                up vote
                6
                down vote










                up vote
                6
                down vote









                Not with ethernet, but with PCIe and Thunderbolt. This article breaks down the external GPU (eGPU) landscape well.



                A number of companies sell PCIe/Thunderbolt enclosures. Some are limited by Thunderbolt's power, some have their own power.





                • MSI GUS II using Thunderbolt and limited to 150W.


                • Akitio Thunder2 PCIe Box using Thunderbolt 2, but only provides 25W.


                • Netstor sells a number of externally powered PCIe expansion systems which run on Thunderbolt.

                • The Razor Core is a Thunderbolt 3 external enclosure handling up to 375W.


                There's even a DIY kit.






                share|improve this answer














                Not with ethernet, but with PCIe and Thunderbolt. This article breaks down the external GPU (eGPU) landscape well.



                A number of companies sell PCIe/Thunderbolt enclosures. Some are limited by Thunderbolt's power, some have their own power.





                • MSI GUS II using Thunderbolt and limited to 150W.


                • Akitio Thunder2 PCIe Box using Thunderbolt 2, but only provides 25W.


                • Netstor sells a number of externally powered PCIe expansion systems which run on Thunderbolt.

                • The Razor Core is a Thunderbolt 3 external enclosure handling up to 375W.


                There's even a DIY kit.







                share|improve this answer














                share|improve this answer



                share|improve this answer








                edited May 23 '16 at 21:49

























                answered May 23 '16 at 21:41









                Schwern

                1,62811732




                1,62811732












                • I figure its only a matter of time before you can pick up one of those external PCI adaptors that can connect to mini DP or a few other standards in thunderbolt.
                  – Journeyman Geek
                  May 24 '16 at 2:07


















                • I figure its only a matter of time before you can pick up one of those external PCI adaptors that can connect to mini DP or a few other standards in thunderbolt.
                  – Journeyman Geek
                  May 24 '16 at 2:07
















                I figure its only a matter of time before you can pick up one of those external PCI adaptors that can connect to mini DP or a few other standards in thunderbolt.
                – Journeyman Geek
                May 24 '16 at 2:07




                I figure its only a matter of time before you can pick up one of those external PCI adaptors that can connect to mini DP or a few other standards in thunderbolt.
                – Journeyman Geek
                May 24 '16 at 2:07










                up vote
                5
                down vote













                Not by Ethernet, but PC Mag ran a story last Sept on using a gaming card with a laptop connected via PCIe adapter card, Express Card, or Thunderbolt for Macbooks.



                http://www.pcworld.com/article/2984716/laptop-computers/how-to-transform-your-laptop-into-a-gaming-powerhouse-with-an-external-graphics-card.html



                The author uses a 2011 Thinkpad and under $200 GPU and shows benchmarks for some modern games. I'd summarize him as pleased he could run them at all for a small expenditure (not a full new gaming box). Benchmarks are provided to make your own judgements.






                share|improve this answer























                • A 2011 Think pad and what?
                  – Suici Doga
                  May 23 '16 at 1:32










                • Welcome to Super User! Please read the question again carefully. Your answer does not answer the original question.
                  – DavidPostill
                  May 23 '16 at 9:07















                up vote
                5
                down vote













                Not by Ethernet, but PC Mag ran a story last Sept on using a gaming card with a laptop connected via PCIe adapter card, Express Card, or Thunderbolt for Macbooks.



                http://www.pcworld.com/article/2984716/laptop-computers/how-to-transform-your-laptop-into-a-gaming-powerhouse-with-an-external-graphics-card.html



                The author uses a 2011 Thinkpad and under $200 GPU and shows benchmarks for some modern games. I'd summarize him as pleased he could run them at all for a small expenditure (not a full new gaming box). Benchmarks are provided to make your own judgements.






                share|improve this answer























                • A 2011 Think pad and what?
                  – Suici Doga
                  May 23 '16 at 1:32










                • Welcome to Super User! Please read the question again carefully. Your answer does not answer the original question.
                  – DavidPostill
                  May 23 '16 at 9:07













                up vote
                5
                down vote










                up vote
                5
                down vote









                Not by Ethernet, but PC Mag ran a story last Sept on using a gaming card with a laptop connected via PCIe adapter card, Express Card, or Thunderbolt for Macbooks.



                http://www.pcworld.com/article/2984716/laptop-computers/how-to-transform-your-laptop-into-a-gaming-powerhouse-with-an-external-graphics-card.html



                The author uses a 2011 Thinkpad and under $200 GPU and shows benchmarks for some modern games. I'd summarize him as pleased he could run them at all for a small expenditure (not a full new gaming box). Benchmarks are provided to make your own judgements.






                share|improve this answer














                Not by Ethernet, but PC Mag ran a story last Sept on using a gaming card with a laptop connected via PCIe adapter card, Express Card, or Thunderbolt for Macbooks.



                http://www.pcworld.com/article/2984716/laptop-computers/how-to-transform-your-laptop-into-a-gaming-powerhouse-with-an-external-graphics-card.html



                The author uses a 2011 Thinkpad and under $200 GPU and shows benchmarks for some modern games. I'd summarize him as pleased he could run them at all for a small expenditure (not a full new gaming box). Benchmarks are provided to make your own judgements.







                share|improve this answer














                share|improve this answer



                share|improve this answer








                edited May 23 '16 at 1:39

























                answered May 23 '16 at 1:30









                Nice OldGuy

                512




                512












                • A 2011 Think pad and what?
                  – Suici Doga
                  May 23 '16 at 1:32










                • Welcome to Super User! Please read the question again carefully. Your answer does not answer the original question.
                  – DavidPostill
                  May 23 '16 at 9:07


















                • A 2011 Think pad and what?
                  – Suici Doga
                  May 23 '16 at 1:32










                • Welcome to Super User! Please read the question again carefully. Your answer does not answer the original question.
                  – DavidPostill
                  May 23 '16 at 9:07
















                A 2011 Think pad and what?
                – Suici Doga
                May 23 '16 at 1:32




                A 2011 Think pad and what?
                – Suici Doga
                May 23 '16 at 1:32












                Welcome to Super User! Please read the question again carefully. Your answer does not answer the original question.
                – DavidPostill
                May 23 '16 at 9:07




                Welcome to Super User! Please read the question again carefully. Your answer does not answer the original question.
                – DavidPostill
                May 23 '16 at 9:07










                up vote
                5
                down vote













                The closest you can come to what you want is, if you're gaming via Steam, to use the in home streaming option to use your network to route the display from the a gaming desktop to your laptop and user input from the laptop to the desktop running the game. This would require a full desktop somewhere in your home instead of just a laptop + external GPU; but you can hide it out of the way somewhere and only interact with your laptop.






                share|improve this answer

























                  up vote
                  5
                  down vote













                  The closest you can come to what you want is, if you're gaming via Steam, to use the in home streaming option to use your network to route the display from the a gaming desktop to your laptop and user input from the laptop to the desktop running the game. This would require a full desktop somewhere in your home instead of just a laptop + external GPU; but you can hide it out of the way somewhere and only interact with your laptop.






                  share|improve this answer























                    up vote
                    5
                    down vote










                    up vote
                    5
                    down vote









                    The closest you can come to what you want is, if you're gaming via Steam, to use the in home streaming option to use your network to route the display from the a gaming desktop to your laptop and user input from the laptop to the desktop running the game. This would require a full desktop somewhere in your home instead of just a laptop + external GPU; but you can hide it out of the way somewhere and only interact with your laptop.






                    share|improve this answer












                    The closest you can come to what you want is, if you're gaming via Steam, to use the in home streaming option to use your network to route the display from the a gaming desktop to your laptop and user input from the laptop to the desktop running the game. This would require a full desktop somewhere in your home instead of just a laptop + external GPU; but you can hide it out of the way somewhere and only interact with your laptop.







                    share|improve this answer












                    share|improve this answer



                    share|improve this answer










                    answered May 23 '16 at 15:46









                    Dan Neely

                    1,99421942




                    1,99421942






















                        up vote
                        3
                        down vote













                        If you have no technical skills, then the easiest way to break this down is simply: does your graphics card have an Ethernet port? The next question being "Can I get an adapter to make it so?" As far as I know, there is no adapter capable of adding an Ethernet port to a graphics card.



                        If you simply want to beef up your laptop with an external graphics card, there does happen to be a solution for that, though it's obviously not cheap. A better solution would be buy or build a gaming specific machine, based on the specs required for the specific games and types of games that you want to play, for the number of years that you think the machine will last/stay relevant. Maximum PC usually has good articles recommending gaming rigs, I suggest you check out their build pages. They usually have 3 different tiers with parts lists and links. mid range linked earlier.



                        If you insist on using the adapter, here is the tech: This device can use a Expresscard slot or a mini PCIe slot. The Expresscard can be found on newer laptops, and is externally accessible. The mini PCIe slot means you'd have to do surgery to your laptop and route a cable, assuming that your laptop had such a card slot.






                        share|improve this answer























                        • My laptop has a wireless card PCI slot but if I put a GPU I can't use WiFi
                          – Suici Doga
                          Jan 27 '17 at 4:07















                        up vote
                        3
                        down vote













                        If you have no technical skills, then the easiest way to break this down is simply: does your graphics card have an Ethernet port? The next question being "Can I get an adapter to make it so?" As far as I know, there is no adapter capable of adding an Ethernet port to a graphics card.



                        If you simply want to beef up your laptop with an external graphics card, there does happen to be a solution for that, though it's obviously not cheap. A better solution would be buy or build a gaming specific machine, based on the specs required for the specific games and types of games that you want to play, for the number of years that you think the machine will last/stay relevant. Maximum PC usually has good articles recommending gaming rigs, I suggest you check out their build pages. They usually have 3 different tiers with parts lists and links. mid range linked earlier.



                        If you insist on using the adapter, here is the tech: This device can use a Expresscard slot or a mini PCIe slot. The Expresscard can be found on newer laptops, and is externally accessible. The mini PCIe slot means you'd have to do surgery to your laptop and route a cable, assuming that your laptop had such a card slot.






                        share|improve this answer























                        • My laptop has a wireless card PCI slot but if I put a GPU I can't use WiFi
                          – Suici Doga
                          Jan 27 '17 at 4:07













                        up vote
                        3
                        down vote










                        up vote
                        3
                        down vote









                        If you have no technical skills, then the easiest way to break this down is simply: does your graphics card have an Ethernet port? The next question being "Can I get an adapter to make it so?" As far as I know, there is no adapter capable of adding an Ethernet port to a graphics card.



                        If you simply want to beef up your laptop with an external graphics card, there does happen to be a solution for that, though it's obviously not cheap. A better solution would be buy or build a gaming specific machine, based on the specs required for the specific games and types of games that you want to play, for the number of years that you think the machine will last/stay relevant. Maximum PC usually has good articles recommending gaming rigs, I suggest you check out their build pages. They usually have 3 different tiers with parts lists and links. mid range linked earlier.



                        If you insist on using the adapter, here is the tech: This device can use a Expresscard slot or a mini PCIe slot. The Expresscard can be found on newer laptops, and is externally accessible. The mini PCIe slot means you'd have to do surgery to your laptop and route a cable, assuming that your laptop had such a card slot.






                        share|improve this answer














                        If you have no technical skills, then the easiest way to break this down is simply: does your graphics card have an Ethernet port? The next question being "Can I get an adapter to make it so?" As far as I know, there is no adapter capable of adding an Ethernet port to a graphics card.



                        If you simply want to beef up your laptop with an external graphics card, there does happen to be a solution for that, though it's obviously not cheap. A better solution would be buy or build a gaming specific machine, based on the specs required for the specific games and types of games that you want to play, for the number of years that you think the machine will last/stay relevant. Maximum PC usually has good articles recommending gaming rigs, I suggest you check out their build pages. They usually have 3 different tiers with parts lists and links. mid range linked earlier.



                        If you insist on using the adapter, here is the tech: This device can use a Expresscard slot or a mini PCIe slot. The Expresscard can be found on newer laptops, and is externally accessible. The mini PCIe slot means you'd have to do surgery to your laptop and route a cable, assuming that your laptop had such a card slot.







                        share|improve this answer














                        share|improve this answer



                        share|improve this answer








                        edited May 29 '16 at 16:51

























                        answered May 22 '16 at 16:35









                        YetAnotherRandomUser

                        84831230




                        84831230












                        • My laptop has a wireless card PCI slot but if I put a GPU I can't use WiFi
                          – Suici Doga
                          Jan 27 '17 at 4:07


















                        • My laptop has a wireless card PCI slot but if I put a GPU I can't use WiFi
                          – Suici Doga
                          Jan 27 '17 at 4:07
















                        My laptop has a wireless card PCI slot but if I put a GPU I can't use WiFi
                        – Suici Doga
                        Jan 27 '17 at 4:07




                        My laptop has a wireless card PCI slot but if I put a GPU I can't use WiFi
                        – Suici Doga
                        Jan 27 '17 at 4:07










                        up vote
                        2
                        down vote













                        I believe VirtualGL might help you with this - it allows you to run the graphically-intensive program on device and view the results on another.






                        share|improve this answer





















                        • What device , the GPU ?
                          – Suici Doga
                          May 24 '16 at 1:48










                        • Yep that's right.
                          – Vadi
                          May 24 '16 at 3:57















                        up vote
                        2
                        down vote













                        I believe VirtualGL might help you with this - it allows you to run the graphically-intensive program on device and view the results on another.






                        share|improve this answer





















                        • What device , the GPU ?
                          – Suici Doga
                          May 24 '16 at 1:48










                        • Yep that's right.
                          – Vadi
                          May 24 '16 at 3:57













                        up vote
                        2
                        down vote










                        up vote
                        2
                        down vote









                        I believe VirtualGL might help you with this - it allows you to run the graphically-intensive program on device and view the results on another.






                        share|improve this answer












                        I believe VirtualGL might help you with this - it allows you to run the graphically-intensive program on device and view the results on another.







                        share|improve this answer












                        share|improve this answer



                        share|improve this answer










                        answered May 24 '16 at 1:44









                        Vadi

                        1213




                        1213












                        • What device , the GPU ?
                          – Suici Doga
                          May 24 '16 at 1:48










                        • Yep that's right.
                          – Vadi
                          May 24 '16 at 3:57


















                        • What device , the GPU ?
                          – Suici Doga
                          May 24 '16 at 1:48










                        • Yep that's right.
                          – Vadi
                          May 24 '16 at 3:57
















                        What device , the GPU ?
                        – Suici Doga
                        May 24 '16 at 1:48




                        What device , the GPU ?
                        – Suici Doga
                        May 24 '16 at 1:48












                        Yep that's right.
                        – Vadi
                        May 24 '16 at 3:57




                        Yep that's right.
                        – Vadi
                        May 24 '16 at 3:57










                        up vote
                        0
                        down vote













                        I doubt you'd be able to run just a graphics card by itself via ethernet. But you could connect to another PC using some kind of remote desktop application (VNC, etc).



                        There has been rumblings about being able to connect an external GPU via Thunderbolt or USB 3.1, and AMD says they want to make a standard for it:
                        http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/03/amd-wants-to-standardise-the-external-gpu/






                        share|improve this answer





















                        • Is USB 3 SuperSpeed USB 3.1
                          – Suici Doga
                          May 25 '16 at 6:04















                        up vote
                        0
                        down vote













                        I doubt you'd be able to run just a graphics card by itself via ethernet. But you could connect to another PC using some kind of remote desktop application (VNC, etc).



                        There has been rumblings about being able to connect an external GPU via Thunderbolt or USB 3.1, and AMD says they want to make a standard for it:
                        http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/03/amd-wants-to-standardise-the-external-gpu/






                        share|improve this answer





















                        • Is USB 3 SuperSpeed USB 3.1
                          – Suici Doga
                          May 25 '16 at 6:04













                        up vote
                        0
                        down vote










                        up vote
                        0
                        down vote









                        I doubt you'd be able to run just a graphics card by itself via ethernet. But you could connect to another PC using some kind of remote desktop application (VNC, etc).



                        There has been rumblings about being able to connect an external GPU via Thunderbolt or USB 3.1, and AMD says they want to make a standard for it:
                        http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/03/amd-wants-to-standardise-the-external-gpu/






                        share|improve this answer












                        I doubt you'd be able to run just a graphics card by itself via ethernet. But you could connect to another PC using some kind of remote desktop application (VNC, etc).



                        There has been rumblings about being able to connect an external GPU via Thunderbolt or USB 3.1, and AMD says they want to make a standard for it:
                        http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/03/amd-wants-to-standardise-the-external-gpu/







                        share|improve this answer












                        share|improve this answer



                        share|improve this answer










                        answered May 25 '16 at 5:42









                        Knowbody

                        1




                        1












                        • Is USB 3 SuperSpeed USB 3.1
                          – Suici Doga
                          May 25 '16 at 6:04


















                        • Is USB 3 SuperSpeed USB 3.1
                          – Suici Doga
                          May 25 '16 at 6:04
















                        Is USB 3 SuperSpeed USB 3.1
                        – Suici Doga
                        May 25 '16 at 6:04




                        Is USB 3 SuperSpeed USB 3.1
                        – Suici Doga
                        May 25 '16 at 6:04










                        up vote
                        0
                        down vote













                        It's 2018 and eGPUs are a widely available thing now, it's still missing in these answers so I want to leave it as an answer in case someone isn't aware of those great things:



                        picturr



                        (Amazon Link to the above product)



                        These devices fit a GPU and a power supply (most of them have them built-in, the above one has a 400W one built-in to power the GPU). It's using Thunderbolt 3 which has a bandwidth of up to 40Gbit/s, offers 18V @ 550mA, can drive multiple 4K displays, and much more fancy things.



                        This would be your best solution. It's simple, there's cheaper ones too, and it guarantees you a perfect system integration and performance (you can even run a GTX 1080 inside these things).



                        As already pointed out, a solution involving ethernet has several flaws, the biggest being that your laptop's port most likely doesn't support more than 1Gbit/s.






                        share|improve this answer

























                          up vote
                          0
                          down vote













                          It's 2018 and eGPUs are a widely available thing now, it's still missing in these answers so I want to leave it as an answer in case someone isn't aware of those great things:



                          picturr



                          (Amazon Link to the above product)



                          These devices fit a GPU and a power supply (most of them have them built-in, the above one has a 400W one built-in to power the GPU). It's using Thunderbolt 3 which has a bandwidth of up to 40Gbit/s, offers 18V @ 550mA, can drive multiple 4K displays, and much more fancy things.



                          This would be your best solution. It's simple, there's cheaper ones too, and it guarantees you a perfect system integration and performance (you can even run a GTX 1080 inside these things).



                          As already pointed out, a solution involving ethernet has several flaws, the biggest being that your laptop's port most likely doesn't support more than 1Gbit/s.






                          share|improve this answer























                            up vote
                            0
                            down vote










                            up vote
                            0
                            down vote









                            It's 2018 and eGPUs are a widely available thing now, it's still missing in these answers so I want to leave it as an answer in case someone isn't aware of those great things:



                            picturr



                            (Amazon Link to the above product)



                            These devices fit a GPU and a power supply (most of them have them built-in, the above one has a 400W one built-in to power the GPU). It's using Thunderbolt 3 which has a bandwidth of up to 40Gbit/s, offers 18V @ 550mA, can drive multiple 4K displays, and much more fancy things.



                            This would be your best solution. It's simple, there's cheaper ones too, and it guarantees you a perfect system integration and performance (you can even run a GTX 1080 inside these things).



                            As already pointed out, a solution involving ethernet has several flaws, the biggest being that your laptop's port most likely doesn't support more than 1Gbit/s.






                            share|improve this answer












                            It's 2018 and eGPUs are a widely available thing now, it's still missing in these answers so I want to leave it as an answer in case someone isn't aware of those great things:



                            picturr



                            (Amazon Link to the above product)



                            These devices fit a GPU and a power supply (most of them have them built-in, the above one has a 400W one built-in to power the GPU). It's using Thunderbolt 3 which has a bandwidth of up to 40Gbit/s, offers 18V @ 550mA, can drive multiple 4K displays, and much more fancy things.



                            This would be your best solution. It's simple, there's cheaper ones too, and it guarantees you a perfect system integration and performance (you can even run a GTX 1080 inside these things).



                            As already pointed out, a solution involving ethernet has several flaws, the biggest being that your laptop's port most likely doesn't support more than 1Gbit/s.







                            share|improve this answer












                            share|improve this answer



                            share|improve this answer










                            answered Nov 22 at 2:24









                            confetti

                            1,1682724




                            1,1682724






















                                up vote
                                -5
                                down vote













                                Likelier option may be PCI-to-USB. Might be a smarter move. If you don't have a free USB slot: Plug something out! Or get a hub.






                                share|improve this answer





















                                • Can downvoters say why they downvoted? its a more logical solution that plugging pci to ethernet
                                  – James Kirkby
                                  May 23 '16 at 15:09






                                • 2




                                  It's lacking in detail. And I don't think USB is fast enough to run a decent card without seeing someone do it.
                                  – Schwern
                                  May 23 '16 at 21:45








                                • 1




                                  And it's not useful. PCI (or PCIe) to USB doesn't solve anything, and USB to PCIe doesn't exist.
                                  – duskwuff
                                  May 23 '16 at 23:01















                                up vote
                                -5
                                down vote













                                Likelier option may be PCI-to-USB. Might be a smarter move. If you don't have a free USB slot: Plug something out! Or get a hub.






                                share|improve this answer





















                                • Can downvoters say why they downvoted? its a more logical solution that plugging pci to ethernet
                                  – James Kirkby
                                  May 23 '16 at 15:09






                                • 2




                                  It's lacking in detail. And I don't think USB is fast enough to run a decent card without seeing someone do it.
                                  – Schwern
                                  May 23 '16 at 21:45








                                • 1




                                  And it's not useful. PCI (or PCIe) to USB doesn't solve anything, and USB to PCIe doesn't exist.
                                  – duskwuff
                                  May 23 '16 at 23:01













                                up vote
                                -5
                                down vote










                                up vote
                                -5
                                down vote









                                Likelier option may be PCI-to-USB. Might be a smarter move. If you don't have a free USB slot: Plug something out! Or get a hub.






                                share|improve this answer












                                Likelier option may be PCI-to-USB. Might be a smarter move. If you don't have a free USB slot: Plug something out! Or get a hub.







                                share|improve this answer












                                share|improve this answer



                                share|improve this answer










                                answered May 22 '16 at 21:46









                                Les Knope

                                1




                                1












                                • Can downvoters say why they downvoted? its a more logical solution that plugging pci to ethernet
                                  – James Kirkby
                                  May 23 '16 at 15:09






                                • 2




                                  It's lacking in detail. And I don't think USB is fast enough to run a decent card without seeing someone do it.
                                  – Schwern
                                  May 23 '16 at 21:45








                                • 1




                                  And it's not useful. PCI (or PCIe) to USB doesn't solve anything, and USB to PCIe doesn't exist.
                                  – duskwuff
                                  May 23 '16 at 23:01


















                                • Can downvoters say why they downvoted? its a more logical solution that plugging pci to ethernet
                                  – James Kirkby
                                  May 23 '16 at 15:09






                                • 2




                                  It's lacking in detail. And I don't think USB is fast enough to run a decent card without seeing someone do it.
                                  – Schwern
                                  May 23 '16 at 21:45








                                • 1




                                  And it's not useful. PCI (or PCIe) to USB doesn't solve anything, and USB to PCIe doesn't exist.
                                  – duskwuff
                                  May 23 '16 at 23:01
















                                Can downvoters say why they downvoted? its a more logical solution that plugging pci to ethernet
                                – James Kirkby
                                May 23 '16 at 15:09




                                Can downvoters say why they downvoted? its a more logical solution that plugging pci to ethernet
                                – James Kirkby
                                May 23 '16 at 15:09




                                2




                                2




                                It's lacking in detail. And I don't think USB is fast enough to run a decent card without seeing someone do it.
                                – Schwern
                                May 23 '16 at 21:45






                                It's lacking in detail. And I don't think USB is fast enough to run a decent card without seeing someone do it.
                                – Schwern
                                May 23 '16 at 21:45






                                1




                                1




                                And it's not useful. PCI (or PCIe) to USB doesn't solve anything, and USB to PCIe doesn't exist.
                                – duskwuff
                                May 23 '16 at 23:01




                                And it's not useful. PCI (or PCIe) to USB doesn't solve anything, and USB to PCIe doesn't exist.
                                – duskwuff
                                May 23 '16 at 23:01


















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