Review Acer Graphics Dock with Nvidia GTX 960M

[Redaktion]

Surprise! A graphics card in an external case - familiar. In the past, this technology has not worked as intended. In this review, we put all that aside and take a look at what the GPU is capable of.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Acer-Graphics-Dock-with-Nvidia-GTX-960M.175429.0.html

[Rillerich]

Thank you for this Review! Can you also please tell us something about the noice levels when playing games or something that puts this to load? :) I would really like to know that part.

[Troy]

YES!! Thank you for this! I've been looking at external eGPU options since I received my Dell XPS 12 (9250).

Q: Does this eGPU output 4K over the HDMI connection? None of the literature at the linked Amazon site says anything about 4K.

Q. This looks like a small form factor/niche motherboard in the pics you posted of the inside of the unit, do you think it may be possible to upgrade to a better mobile GPU at a latter point (1080/1070) etc?

Thanks again.

[Stefan]

Troy, the HDMi connection supports 4K up to 30hz, that's allright for watching 4K video, not great for gaming. If your monitor/tv supports displayport, you'll be able to get higher 4K refreshes.
The 960m isn't powerful enough to run any recent game at 4K at a decent framerate, though. It will probably struggle with modern games at high setting even at 1080p (note that the benchmarks posted on this page are at a 1,366 x 768 resolution).
Sadly you won't be able to upgrade the GPU either; it's soldered onto the board. You'll have to get the Asus or Razer gpu dock to be able to switch GPU's (or run desktop class GPU's), though these aren't available in Europe and crazy expensive in the US.

[Stefano]

Another alternative is the AkiTiO Node which should be available in Europe by the end of the year.
Unlike Asus it won't use proprietary connections, and hopefully it won't be as expensive as Razer.
Considering the AkiTiO TB2 PCIe enclosure has long been established as the first choice for DIY eGPU projects, the Node successor is IMHO the most promising upcoming GPU dock. I am actually a bit surprised it wasn't in the notebookcheck news.

[charles]

Does this charge the ultrabook as well?

[Just me]

@ Rillerich:
Probably about 30-40 dbA, not much louder than most laptops. If thingsnwere worse, they would definitely mention it in the review.

[menpasav]

Hello,
for your next tests could you confirm that this unit can also be used to play using the laptop internal screen (no extarnal screen) ?
For the Razer core it is possible but with lower performances.
Thanks

[brad h]

Still awaiting the XPS 13 update!

[xpsplease]

Any chance of testing it on the XPS 13 soon please?

[johnwisker]

could you guys test this hing with windows 10 installed on macbook pro 2016 via bootcamp and test it wether it works or not ?

[johnwisker]

could you guys test this thing with windows 10 installed on new macbook pro 2016 via bootcamp and test it wether it works or not ?

[menpasav]

Any news about the test with the Dell XPS13 ?

[menpasav]

I was feed up waiting every where for info about eGPUs and the XPS13 9350 so I just bought this Acer Graphics Dock.
Work perfectly even though the TB3 drivers shows that the Dell is not compatible with eGPUs  ;D
I would have liked a newer GPU but it allows my son to play most of his games (Dark souls 3 only at mini @FHD).
We did appreciate the VERY low sound level in charge.

[Bjarne Dahl Kristensen]

Any chance that it will work with a converter, I do not have a usb c on my labtop?