Exploring Thunderbolt 3 eGFX Performance, Feat. PowerColor's Gaming Station & Radeon RX Vega 56 Nano

Evaluated System Configurations

Before we got to evaluating the Gaming Station itself, we first opted to isolate the PowerColor Radeon RX Vega 56 Nano in order to establish its baseline performance as an internal GPU prior to its usage as an eGPU. To this (and to ensure some hardware variety) we tested it inside a couple of systems, starting with a typical high-end desktop configuration from the 2015 time-frame - the sort of system for which consumers tend to upgrade the discrete GPU. Our Custom Haswell DIY build uses an Intel Core i7-4790 in an Asus Z97-PRO Wi-Fi ac ATX motherboard, with the other components outlined in the table below. Regular readers might remember that this system (without the dGPU) was used as a direct-attached storage testbed for Thunderbolt 2 and USB 3.0 external storage devices in the 2014 - 2017 time-frame.

We also wanted to get an idea of the card's performance with a relatively modern system. As an internal GPU, the card was also tested in the Shuttle XPC Gaming Cube SZ270R9. Regular readers might recognize this system as one of the comparison points in our second look at the gaming performance of the Hades Canyon NUC. The only difference is the replacement of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 8GB EVGA Founders Edition with the PowerColor Radeon RX Vega 56 Nano.

A note of caution for consumers hoping to use the Radeon RX Vega 56 Nano in the XPC SZ270R9 - the PSU bundled with the Gaming Cube system (500W) can't reliably support the GPU, resulting in random reboots and shutdowns with certain workstation workloads. Using a second PSU to deliver power over one of the two power-pin connectors in the card resolved that issue.

eGFX enclosures complement ultrabooks - while the latter provides portability, the former can give it the extra power needed when GPU-intensive workloads (gaming, say) need to be processed. Most eGFX enclosures also support the power delivery profiles, and the PowerColor Gaming Station is no different. Promising up to 85W of charging capability, the enclosure has no issues keeping ultrabooks juiced up when connected. Our ultrabook platform of choice for the evaluation of the Gaming Station + Radeon RX Vega 56 Nano solution is the Razer Blade Stealth QHD model from 2016 using the Core i7-6500U processor.

eGFX enclosures are also an attractive choice for mini-PC owners. A number of mini-PCs with Thunderbolt 3 are already in the market. Limited upgrade options are often cited as a downside for these systems. The eGFX enclosures take away the GPU part from that equation. We consider two mini-PCs in our evaluation of the eGFX solution - the Zotac MI553 (using a 45W TDP Kaby Lake mobile CPU), and the Intel NUC8i7BEH (Bean Canyon) NUC (using a 28W TDP Coffee Lake-U CPU).

The Zotac MI553 above, as well as the Bean Canyon NUC below, were both also subject to the benchmarks with the integrated GPU activated. This gives readers an idea of the benefits of using a eGFX enclosure to complement their systems.

Our choice of test systems allows readers to identify workloads that are CPU-limited. In particular, the eGPU configurations are tested with systems having 15W, 28W, and 45W TDP CPUs. These point to typical ultrabook, mini-PC, and notebook systems currently in the market.