Gadgets

An alternative Thunderbolt option for connecting an external video card to a laptop has been created


Currently external desktop graphics cardcan connect to laptops with Intel Thunderbolt processors. It is possible to expand the connectivity of video cards using the solution proposed by engineers from Koshin, a Lenovo sub-brand. As a result, the ability to connect an external video card appeared for owners of notebooks running on AMD processors or without a Thunderbolt connector.

The connection process suggested by Koshin is shownon a video posted on YouTube. For the demonstration, a Xiaoxin Air 14 laptop powered by an AMD Ryzen 5 4600U processor was used. A discrete graphics card NVIDIA RTX 3090 is connected. For connection, an M.2 slot with NVMe support is used, as well as a cable with an adapter for a PCI-Express 3.0 connector. To access the connector, you need to dismantle the back cover of the laptop, but enthusiasts decided to make a hole in the cover.


By commenting on the connection process, the developersnoted that only 4 PCIe lanes are involved, which slightly reduces the performance of the video card. However, as a result, the laptop in the 3DMark TimeSpy benchmark showed a result of 14,008 points, which practically reaches the result shown by a system running on an Intel Core i9 processor and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 video card, which scored less than 15 thousand points.
Using the shown technique, you can improve the performance of laptops with weak video cards. The future will show how popular the solution proposed by Lenovo engineers will be.