For those who want to have a thin laptop but use it for gaming when at home, an eGPU is one solution. Razer was one of the first to popularize the enclosures, which let you add a top-tier gaming card and power your laptop through USB Type-C with Thunderbolt 3.
Version 2 of the Razer Core is now a reality, and it will start shipping soon in the U.S., Canada, UK, France, and Germany.
Razer Core v2 features
- Connection to PC via Thunderbolt 3 using included 40 Gbps cable
- Supports single double-wide, full-length, PCI-Express x16 graphics card
- Razer Core inner dimensions: 5.71 in / 145 mm (H) x 1.69 in / 43 mm (W) x 11.81 in / 300 mm (L)
- Four USB 3.0 ports (SuperSpeed)
- Gigabyte Ethernet
- Chroma lighting (two zones)
- Built-in 500W power supply (GPU max power support: 375W)
One of the significant changes is internal: the Thunderbolt 3 controller. Typically, power, data (external storage), and the display all go through the same USB Type-C cable, and that overhead can tax the bandwidth for the GPU. (Thunderbolt 3 is not infinite at just 40Gbps.)
Razer claims this Razer Core "features the world's first dual Thunderbolt 3 internal controller design that separates lanes for both graphics and connected devices, ensuring fluid gameplay." That ability should give a little extra headroom for your GPU to work without running into data flowing back from an external drive.
The Razer Core v2 still supports NVIDIA GeForce 10 series and AMD Radeon 500 series with XConnect Technology, so you can bring any card you want to the box. Have a look at our roundup of the best graphics cards for hardware to add to the box.
For professionals in the office, external high-end desktop NVIDIA Quadro GPUs are also now supported.
There's no exact date for Razer Core v2 availability, but it is listed as "coming soon" and is priced at $499, just like the first version. It will eventually be available in the U.S., Canada, UK, Germany, France, Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, Taiwan, China, and Japan.
When combined with the new quad-core Razer Blade Stealth, also announced today, this combo should be a good one for gaming fans and graphics pros.
