GPU recommendation for Laptop with eGPU enclosure

[GoodDoc]

I've been a very contented Mac user for years, with the one major exception being gaming, and while a Nintendo Switch does plug the gap I do miss playing some titles.

For another project I'm working on I acquired a Windows laptop, nothing special, but does the job, and I took the opportunity to install a few older Steam games that don't require a dedicated GPU, and I'm enjoying them.

However, the laptop has a ThunderBolt 3 port, and a friend has passed on to me an external GPU enclosure, so I'm now looking at buying a dedicated GPU to scratch the Windows Gaming itch.

This won't be a high end gaming setup, I appreciate a dual core low power laptop CPU isn't the best place to start, and I have no idea about the current GPU lineup but I'm looking for a GPU that is good value for money, will complement the laptop specs while not being too limiting should the laptop get replaced with a more capable model in the future, and ideally be £300 or less.

Lenovo ThinkPad T470
Intel Core i5 7300U @ 2.60GHz (2 core, 4 Thread)
16 GB Dual-Channel @ 1064MHz
Intel HD Graphics 620
250GB Internal M2 SSD
1TB External SSD via USB3
Thunderbolt 3 port supports 2 PCI lanes to the Razer Core X eGPU enclosure

Games I'd like to Play
MS Flight Sim
Fry Cry 5
Age of Empires 4
World of Tanks

But they're just titles I've played previously before I lost track of the Windows gaming screen and is far from a definitive list. So what GPU should I be looking for, and where should I be looking to buy it?

[anonymous-user]

That processor is pretty slow by todays standards and I think that will be the bottleneck if you add a GPU. Personally I would up your budget to about £800 and go and buy the laptop you like the look of the most with a 3060 graphics card.

Something like this

https://www.box.co.uk/4Q5S2EAABU-HP-Victus-16-AMD-...

or this

https://www.currys.co.uk/products/gigabyte-g5-15.6...

[GoodDoc]

Joey Deacon said:

That processor is pretty slow by todays standards and I think that will be the bottleneck if you add a GPU. Personally I would up your budget to about £800 and go and buy the laptop you like the look of the most with a 3060 graphics card.
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Thank you for you reply, you've pretty much confirmed the conclusion I came to.

I used one of those websites that predicts game frame rates based on your hardware.

With a £180 GTX1650 it predicted between 15 - 24 fps in MS Flight Sim at 1080p, but upgrade to a £340 RTX2060 and you get exactly the same FPS. So as you pointed out the processor is the bottle neck in this plan, so I'll stick to my older games, and then look at better laptops when I come to refresh it.