Razer Core X Chroma - Features, Unboxing & GPU Installation 

Thanks Dane. Glad you enjoyed it. How are you finding the egpu?

Yeah I'm pleased with the purchase. I could also just use it as a USB hub and put a capture card or other PCIE card in there. It's pretty flexible. 👍

The Intel Download Assistant will ensure you have the thunderbolt software up to date. Make sure you're using the latest bios too.

Sorry I missed this question. I ran the 3090 in it for days at one point and it didn't seem to cause any major issues, though I did keep the enclosure off.

Full specs can be found at www.razer.com/gb-en/gaming-egpus/razer-core-x/RC21-01310200-R3W1#specs The max inner dimensions are: Length : 12.99”/ 330 mm Height*: 6.29” / 160 mm Width : 2.36” / 60 mm The card you have appears to be 340 mm in size, which is too long. You might be able to put it in with the casing off, but it could be a squeeze.

You're welcome Neil 👍

You'd have to replace the PSU as it wasn't designed for GPUs that require three 8 pin connectors (which is a relatively new feature that is only found in some newer models).

That's what I mean, razer doesn't recommend it as they act stupid and it would be more assertive if they just give us some example batteries to replace then waste you money buying a new one.

@@shadowaussien7743 I wouldn't opt for a 3 8 pin GPU for an eGpu anyways as you wouldn't see any additional overclocking performance due to Thunderbolt 3 bandwidth limitations.

Is that the Asus dual fan 3070? I had that and it fit perfectly 👍

I don't recall seeing a video either. There is a good discussion about it at egpu.io/forums/psu-cables/replacement-psu-razer-core-x/ that you might find useful 👍

I'm not 100% sure what you're asking. There is only one main power cable.

Do you mean two Thunderbolt 3/4 ports? I believe that when thunderbolt 3 eGpus initially came out, all the thunderbolt bandwidth was limited. So even if it had three thunderbolt ports, all ports shared the same bandwidth so plugging in two thunderbolt cables wouldn't have changed anything (that's certainly how my HP laptop with Three TB3 ports worked). I think newer laptops don't have this limitation.

Which steps? Which part are you unsure of?

I've seen RU-vid videos of people doing this, but it's not something I know much about.

@@KevinMuldoon Nor I but it would be good to have the options in one box. Cheers

I believe there are guides out there showing how you can change the PSU, so I guess you could put a later gen PSU in there. 4000 series cards would work at pcie gen 3 speeds. You'd just have to make sure you had 3 8 pin cables (or one 450 watt cable if you had a newer PSU). With the 3090 etc, there didn't seem to be any major drop in performance using a card in a pcie gen 3 slot rather than gen 4.

I'm not sure. This isn't something I've explored.

I haven't tried this, but I don't think so. I was only able to use a 3090 by leaving the casing off.

As long as your laptop has a good CPU and has thunderbolt 3 or thunderbolt 4.

Thanks Rohan. I have it boxed up to trade in soon so I won't be able to do a video like that. There are some guides online to help you do this (I believe).

You wouldn't need it for a gaming laptop with a good GPU. It's better suits for laptops and PCs without GPUs.

Is your laptop CPU not the bottleneck just now? You may not even be utilising the full potential of the 2080 Super.

@@KevinMuldoon what if i connect an external monitor? would it give a boost if I connect the monitor through external eGPU?

It wouldn't make a difference.

Yeah it should be fine with that. Check the dimensions of the GPU etc, but you should be ok.

In theory, you can daisy chain other eGpus, bit it would be pointless as you're already maxing out your bandwidth.

I don't believe so, but you could theoretically replace the PSU in the chassis.

Good luck. Let me know how you get on with it.

I've used a 3090 in my 8700K PC (PCIE3) and my 5950X (PCIE4). I didn't notice any major difference in GPU performance. There are some comparisons and benchmarks out there www.techspot.com/review/2104-pcie4-vs-pcie3-gpu-performance/ It looks like the difference is only around 5%.

Hello Kevin and Gerasimos! (I'm Greek) Gerasimos, did you purchase the Razer Core X Chroma? If so, do you know if the power supply can be exchanged for a more beefy one? Also, can the new RTX 4000 series GPUs work on it with the existing power supply?

@@kamenotost22 Hello brother, no I haven’t purchased it yet as I was too waiting for the 4090 to make a decision before I buy plus I was expecting prices of the 3090 to fall. Before upcoming Christmas I decided to go ahead and buy the 3090 instead of 4090 as for me the absence of the NVLINK is a deal breaker. Let me elaborate, being a 3D artist myself I need more than 24GB for my scenes to be loaded for rendering. That said I can make better use of two 3090s with nvlink and take advantage of the 48 in total GB pool. Thus the decision. Even if 4090 becomes able to use pcie 5 to use as straight link between two cards, still doesn’t beat the speed of NVLINK.

I have the first titan ridge. I may upgrade in the future and stick the old one in my other pc.

@@KevinMuldoon thanks, finally got it working with a lot of faffing about, little bit temperamental but works well so far.

@@KevinMuldoon good videos by the way, very helpful 👍🏻

I've tried the 3090 FE. The card did manage to squeeze in, but my dual fan 3070 card was a perfect fit and perhaps a better card to put in.

Yeah it's bigger than many ITX builds. It's heavy too. It works great though.

I tried with both and it worked fine.

I've not had any problems with it using my laptop or PC. It should work with any computer with a thunderbolt 3 port with four lanes of PCIE traffic. Of course, it is prudent to check compatibility, however eGpus don't actively list every pc and laptop they support. They'll only clarify that you need a Thunderbolt 3 connection.

@@KevinMuldoon - I just discovered, within the past 15 minutes, that it may be an programming issue where a certain chip (I forget the name) keeping a getting overwritten and gets fried due to faulty code from Intel. Lenovo was supposed to release a firmware update that resolves the issue but only if the chip is not too far gone. Otherwise you have to replace the chip.

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-dCMlzZIR16E.html, for reference…he states the issue within the first 30’s

@@KevinMuldoon SPI ROM Chip, TB3 port quits working completely and won’t let you install the TB3 software

Thanks for sharing that. I had never came across that before. I'd return the laptop if the thunderbolt 3 controller was not working as it would prevent you from correctly connecting to hubs, storage and more, not just eGpus. A few years ago, many thunderbolt 3 laptops only gave you two lanes of PCIE traffic, not four, but that's less common now. Though the issue you've shared is not a bandwidth problem, it's a faulty computer.

Thanks Robin.

You're welcome.

@@KevinMuldoon hey how do I download thunderbolt software

Information about this on the official website. thunderbolttechnology.net/updates