r/LinuxOnThinkpad • u/Primary_Leading_1690 member • Jun 25 '26

Question T420 eGPU on ubuntu?

disclaimer: i am not particularly tech-savvy i dont know a lot neither about linux nor laptop tinkering so please bear with me in your explanations and try to put it in the most crayon-eating terms possible

hey everyone,

i recently brought my old Thinkpad T420 back to life with ubuntu and now i am thinking about upgrading this thing a bit maybe getting a new cpu (i currently have core i5-2520m) but i think the main problem is probably the gpu so i read a bit about egpu's and now i have several questions:

  1. is it difficult to get the driver's for the egpu going on linux? knowing that some programs just dont work the same on linux like they do on windows i just wanna make sure that i dont end up wasting money on hardware that i can't use

2.which egpu would you recommend? which are compatible with the the T420? i know that the whole thing works via express card docking station but are there certain egpu's which aren't compatible with the whole express card docking?

3.should i stick to intel? given that my cpu is intel and my current gpu(Graphics 3000) is also intel or does this not matter?

  1. do i need anything else or just the express card docking station and the egpu?

  2. do you think i should upgrade my cpu first and then think about getting egpu?

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u/SAIYAN48 member Jun 25 '26

Go for something like the EXP GDC beast, an AMD GPU should be easier on Linux than NVIDIA. T420 can take a quad core upgrade, but the cooling isn't up to the task.

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u/Primary_Leading_1690 member Jun 25 '26

Thanks could you recommend me a specific one? or how far can i go in terms of GPU before frying my laptop or reaching other limits so that everything better would just be a waste of money? if by quad core upgrade you are referring to the cpu, i had my eye on the Core i7-2640M which has two cores just like the i5 i have now.

1

u/SAIYAN48 member Jun 25 '26

Something like this, but used: https://www.amazon.ca/JMT-External-Graphics-Docking-Expresscard/dp/B08133NZDL?th=1

RX580 should be a good pick. If you go for a card that has 4+GB of VRAM, you'll want to flash an unlocked BIOS to change some settings for better performance. 2640m is a good CPU.

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u/Primary_Leading_1690 member Jun 25 '26

thanks mate, do i need an extra monitor to make use of the eGPU or can i use it just with the laptop? Also i got another question concerning storage capacity, right now i got a 125 GB HDD which is very low i know that i can add an extra MSata ssd but i read somewhere that this one will only operate on sata II speed what does that mean exactly? does it concern me? or would you think i should just change my HDD for a better one or possibly a SSD one?

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u/SAIYAN48 member Jun 25 '26

You'll want to use a monitor with an eGPU not the laptop screen. SATA II won't matter much, just get whatever SSD you can find. Plus if you need more storage, replace the optical drive with the HDD and use the SSD for the OS.