External GPUs can be a neat way of boosting your laptop’s gaming performance, but the market isn’t exactly awash with models to choose from. You can use a normal graphics card, but then you have another problem: how to mount it all safely. Well, this 3D printed eGPU ‘suitcase’ solves that issue entirely and looks super nice to boot.
MakerWorld user MPKVR adapted their original PC pegboard design, which uses an Ikea Skadis to mount components, into something that looks genuinely very useful. One side holds a laptop, with the other side being used for a graphics card, PCIe slot card, and a PSU to run the eGPU. Oh, and a handy holder for a controller.
While the carry handle suggests the whole thing is very portable, MPKVR warns that they “wouldn’t trust long journeys” because everything is held in place by friction. At the very least, you should have no problems moving about your office space or gaming den, and I’m sure that if you already have the 3D printer required to make it, then crafting some kind of mechanisms to secure all the parts shouldn’t be a problem.
Other than the clean looks, the main thing I like about this is that it’s a great solution to the fact that there are so few external GPUs worth buying. No matter how good your laptop’s graphics chip is, it’ll never be as good as a full-sized, dedicated graphics card due to power restrictions.
A mobile RTX 5070 Ti and a desktop RTX 5070 might look very similar on paper—both have 12 GB of VRAM, 5888 vs 6144 shaders—but the former will have a power limit of around 140 W compared to the latter’s 250 W. That means the graphics card will support higher boost clocks and cope with heavier rendering loads.
(Image credit: MPKVR)
The Asus ROG XG Mobile is an external GPU that comes in two flavours: RTX 5090 and RTX 5070 Ti. However, these are both mobile versions and are still constrained to the lower power limits. MPKVR’s design gets around this problem entirely because you can use a proper graphics card.
It’s worth noting that their build was created specifically for an RTX 3060 Ti Founders Edition, but it shouldn’t be hard to adjust the printing model for a different card. Want a real RTX 5090 laptop? Then this is one way to do it! Sure, you’ll need a really good 3D printer, though one of those will surely be cheaper than an RTX 5090.
