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Have Dell XPS 13 and need to add external graphics card and GPU, will this one do?

New Here ,
May 08, 2021 May 08, 2021

Hi there

 

I am attaching an external GPU and graphic card to my laptop in order for premiere pro to run efficiently.

 

Can someone please let me know if this graphics card will be adequate as it is not listed on the recommended graphics cards list on Adobe

 

Zotac NVIDIA GeForce Low Profile PCI-Express Video Card ZT-71115-20L

 

https://www.amazon.ca/Zotac-GeForce-Profile-PCI-Express-ZT-71115-20L/dp/B00R5UW038/ref=sr_1_19?dchil...

 

Regards,

Kash

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LEGEND ,
May 13, 2021 May 13, 2021

Well, which exact model of the XPS13? And how old is it? (I am asking because the XPS 13 line has had many generations, going all the way back to the 2nd-Generation Intel Core CPU days of early 2012.)

 

The problem with that particular GT 730 is that is almost completely useless for GPU acceleration in Premiere Pro. In fact, it is actually slower than today's integrated in-CPU Intel UHD or Iris Graphics. You see, that GPU uses extremely lousy DDR3 VRAM that has a maximum memory throughput of only 14 GB/s. That's far slower than even main system RAM!

 

And with this severe mismatch in the memory throughput between the CPU and the GPU, the CPU will end up being bottlenecked by the underperformance GPU. This means that overall performance in Premiere Pro when not using the GPU (that is, in software-only mode or when CPU-only effects or no effects whatsoever are used) would actually be significantly slower with that GT 730 than it would with just the integrated Intel GPU.

 

In addition to that, the GT 730 is much older than most of the CPU platforms that underpin the XPS 13: That particular GT 730 is actually based on the over-seven-year-old second-gen Kepler architecture using the GK208 chip with only 384 CUDA cores. Nvidia driver support for that GPU is now on the brink of being EOSL'd (End Of Support Life'd). Plus, CUDA support had already been depreciated for all Nvidia GPUs that are older than the GeForce 900 series in the newer drivers beginning with the release of CUDA 10.2 (which debuted with the 440.xx-series display drivers).

 

Hence, any discrete GPU that's weaker than integrated graphics is IMHO not worth paying even one single cent for. In other words, avoid all GPUs that are almost obsolete for Premiere Pro (as that GT 730 is about to become obsolete very shortly).

 

By the way, that is not an external GPU card at all. It is actually a slot-based internal graphics card that's meant to be installed internally inside a desktop PC. As such, that card by itself will not work externally at all with any laptop. You will need an external GPU enclosure with a Thunderbolt connector if you are going to use an internal desktop GPU externally no matter what. And that is where I have determined that such a low-end and outdated GPU is unsuitable for this use.

 

Lastly, only very recent models of the XPS 13 have Thunderbolt capability at all. Most older models do not have Thunderbolt at all. Therefore, your particular XPS 13 might not accept external GPUs at all.

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New Here ,
Jul 04, 2021 Jul 04, 2021

Hello RJ,

 

Thank you so much for taking the time to leave that detailed reply for me. I just saw this now and actually consulted with a few other people who also mentioned along the same lines of what you did. 

 

I chose to purchase the Razer Core X and NVDIA ASUS 1650 Graphics Card 4GB RAM, it seems to be doing ok for me.....feel free to provide your thoughts if you get a chance

 

Kash

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LEGEND ,
Jul 08, 2021 Jul 08, 2021

GDDR5 or GDDR6 VRAM? There is a difference in performance between those two versions of the GTX 1650.

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New Here ,
Jul 08, 2021 Jul 08, 2021

Its GDDR6

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LEGEND ,
Jul 08, 2021 Jul 08, 2021

That GPU with GDDR6 VRAM would more than suffice for your current laptop. You do not want a GPU to be severely overqualified or underqualified compared to your CPU.

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New Here ,
Jul 08, 2021 Jul 08, 2021
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Great to know thanks!

even when I use Pro I don't tend to have much running in the back to begin with.

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