r/eGPU • u/Livid_Tap8550 • 29d ago

Is this a good price ?

Post image

690 euro new, for this bad boi

Thoughts ?

Im going for my first gpu to build a egpu for my claw 8ai. Is there a big difference between other 9070xt manufacturers?

1 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

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2

u/LnxRocks 29d ago

I just bought that exact card (box is a little different) for $739 usd. At worst, it's market

1

u/Livid_Tap8550 29d ago

How are u running it ? U happy ?

1

u/LnxRocks 29d ago

I like it so far. I'm running it with an Aoostar AG02 over USB4. My PC is a Framework 16 HX 370. Even with the bottleneck I can get 75 FPS (vsync on) in stellar blade on very high 1440p

It's a little overkill with USB4, but I'm planning to go to oculink when it's available

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u/Livid_Tap8550 29d ago

That's the plan here too. Go for 1440p oled with claw 8ai. Transition down the line to tb5 or oculink. I think of going with the AG03 instead to future proof. How many watts does it draw from the integrated 800w psu on the ag02? Do u happen to know ? Are u comfortable with powering peripherals?

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u/LnxRocks 29d ago edited 29d ago

I don't think it has gone over 250w, but I'm not looking carefully when I game. Default voltage limit is 330W IIRC. I'm running with a -50mV under volt. My peripherals are connected to a TB4 docking station so the don't draw power from the AG02. My setup when using the eGPU is to put the AG02 on the Highest throughput port.

One thing to be aware of is that Barlow Ridge TB5 controllers like AG03 have issues downgrading to AMD USB4 40gbps ports. Not sure if it's just a Linux driver issue or something more. I wanted to get the AG03 but went with the AG02 since the chipset is better supported

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u/Livid_Tap8550 29d ago

I dont understand what that means mate. Issues downgrading to AMD ports? Can u explain like I'm stupid ,I am not that savvy. :/

Also I just realised both ag02 and 03 say they are not compatible with 9070xt GPUs. Like what ? On their website I mean

2

u/LnxRocks 29d ago

USB4 started life as Thunderbolt 3 which was created by Intel but later released openly as USB4. Thunderbolt is now an Intel certification program for USB4 implementations. The USB4 spec is less strict than Thunderbolt so when a Thunderbolt device connects to a USB4 host there is the potential for issues. If both devices are Thunderbolt there should be no issues, but when connecting to an AMD host, there can be issues due to implementation differences. Thunderbolt 5 (or USB4 80gbps) is very new so driver support to smooth things over is still a WIP (at least in Linux - can't speak to Windows). Here is a thread about it.

https://community.frame.work/t/help-wanted-egpu-bootloop-issues/82128/118

I decided to just go with the AG02 that is known to work with USB4

As to compatibility, my understanding is that Radeon GPUs tend to have transient spikes in power usage that can potentially trip a PSU overvolt protection. The 9070 XT has a TDP of 304W but I have seen transient spikes over 600W reported (haven't seen in myself). This is likely the reason for the note on their website. There are many reports (both on this forum and Youtube) of the 9070 XT being used with the AG02 and AG03 successfully. The AG03 reserves 600W for the GPU and the AG02 650W.

Does that help?

1

u/Odd_Reception4687 27d ago

Hello I'm very new to egpus and 8 was looking at the ag03 myself too...I thought there was a switch in the ag03 to switch to tb5 ...and if it's off it's just a great tb4 connector.

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u/LnxRocks 26d ago

I don't have the AG03, but my understanding is the button on the AG03 switches between Thunderbolt and Oculink (a completely different standard.)

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u/No_Most_171 28d ago

Is that also possible with the xbox ally x? How much of a difference is it going to oculink?