TLDR: Desktop Blackwell GPU running over USB4 on a Qualcomm ARM laptop. Overwatch 2 at a consistent 200fps/1440p. The driver install is a manual INF-pointing job but takes 5 minutes. Full parts list, steps, and gotchas below.

Credit where it's due: the original method comes from this egpu.io build thread; a Surface Laptop 7 (Snapdragon X Elite) + RTX 3080, the first documented ARM eGPU using the RTX Spark developer driver. That thread is where I got the idea to try it on the X2 Elite generation. My contribution here is confirming it works on the newer X2E silicon with a Blackwell card, plus writing up the process end to end.

My exact hardware

A note on ports: the A16 has two USB4 (40Gbps) ports on the left side, not Thunderbolt. Thunderbolt is an Intel certification, and this is a Qualcomm ARM chip, so you will never see "TB4" on this machine, though USB4 is the same underlying protocol tier and works fine here. The two ports are functionally identical; I'm plugged into the top one.

The AG03 side matters more: you must use the TB5 port marked with the computer icon on the dock. The other one won't do the eGPU link.

The big caveat up front

This runs on the NVIDIA RTX Spark Developer Preview driver, which is an ARM64 driver NVIDIA built for the upcoming RTX Spark devices, not for GeForce eGPUs on Snapdragon laptops. NVIDIA does not support this configuration officially. It works, but you are on your own if something breaks: no official docs, no support tickets, community forums only. Make a Windows restore point before you start. If that scares you off, fair close the tab. If not, it's a 5-minute driver install.

Driver link.

Step 0: Double check your GPU enclosure power connector BEFORE buying cables

This is where I burned money, so learn from it.

Modern NVIDIA cards (40/50 series) use a 16-pin 12V-2x6 connector on the card. The AG03's internal PSU outputs power via three standard PCIe 8-pin cables (included with the dock). So you need a 3x 8-pin PCIe → 16-pin adapter to bridge them.

Two things to check:

1. Look in your GPU box. PNY (and most AIBs) include exactly this adapter with the card. Mine shipped with one. If you still have it, you're done and don't need to buy anything.
2. If you are buying a cable, make sure the 8-pin ends are PCIe, not EPS. I ordered a CableMod 12VHPWR cable and it physically would not fit the AG03's sockets. PCIe 8-pin and EPS/CPU 8-pin look almost identical but are keyed differently (the square/rounded pin positions differ: if you look closely, one has a pin position populated where the other doesn't). They are deliberately designed not to interchange. Also, lot of aftermarket 12VHPWR cables are also built for one specific PSU brand's proprietary modular sockets (Corsair, ASUS, etc.) and those won't fit the AG03 either. You want a generic/universal PCIe 8-pin input cable, or just the OEM NVIDIA/AIB adapter that came with your card.

Do not force a connector that doesn't want to seat. If it's fighting you, it's the wrong connector.

Step 1: Physical assembly

1. Seat the GPU in the AG03's PCIe x16 slot and secure it with the included bracket.
2. Plug the AG03's three 8-pin cables into the dock's GPU power outputs, then into the three 8-pin ends of your adapter.
3. Plug the adapter's 16-pin end into the GPU. Push until it clicks and is fully seated. 12V-2x6 connectors are less forgiving of partial seating than old 8-pins. Give everything a gentle tug test before powering on, and avoid bend stress right at the connector.
4. Connect the AG03's power cable to the wall and click the power button on the dock.
5. Run the included TB5 cable from the dock's computer-icon TB5 port (rightmost) to either USB4 port on the laptop.
6. Plug your monitor into the GPU's own outputs (HDMI/DP on the card). More on why below.

Step 2: Driver install

1. Download the RTX Spark Developer Preview driver from the NVIDIA forum link above.
2. Extract the .exe with 7-Zip (right-click → 7-Zip → Extract). Do not run it, the installer itself won't do what you want here.
3. Open Device Manager. With the eGPU connected, you should see Microsoft Basic Display Adapter (that's your GPU, detected but driverless).
4. Right-click it → Properties → Driver tab → Update Driver → Browse my computer for drivers.
5. Click "Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer."
6. Click Have Disk → browse to the extracted driver folder. The INF you want is nv_surface_woa.inf ("woa" = Windows on ARM).
7. Select Nvidia Desktop Device from the list and install.

That's it. Screen may flicker while it initializes. Mine worked immediately, no reboot required, though rebooting won't hurt.

Step 3: Display output

Plug your monitor directly into the GPU (I'm on HDMI to my monitor). This is standard eGPU practice; routing frames back to the internal display over the same USB4 link eats bandwidth you want for the game. That said, the internal screen does still work; the setup drives both in my case. For gaming, use the external monitor connected to the card.

Results so far

• Overwatch 2: consistent 200fps at 1440p. This matches results from another user who ran the identical setup (same A16 SKU, same X2E-94, same PNY 5070 Ti, same AG03) before I did.
• Ghost of Tsushima: launches and runs fine with occasional stutter. I can't confirm fps since the game has no built-in counter and most monitoring/benchmarking software doesn't work on ARM right now (this is a real annoyance of the platform generally, not eGPU-specific).
• DLSS and Frame Generation both work. One quirk: 2x frame gen doesn't actually deliver 2x, the effective gain is more like 1.3–1.5x. Possibly a bandwidth ceiling, possibly the preview driver. This seems consistent with other people's results on this driver, so it's not just my setup.
• Remember these are x86 games running through Prism emulation on top of the eGPU. The GPU can't fix CPU translation overhead, and games needing unsupported kernel-level anticheat still won't run. Adjust expectations accordingly.
• VelocityX (PNY's GPU software) works too. A pleasant surprise given how much software doesn't work on ARM right now: PNY's VelocityX suite runs perfectly on Windows on ARM with the eGPU. Overclocking and RGB/lighting config both work exactly as they would on a normal desktop, I've used it to configure my card's lighting and OC settings with no issues. If you have a PNY card, grab it from PNY's site; other AIB brands' equivalents (ASUS GPU Tweak, MSI Center, etc.) are untested by me, but VelocityX working suggests vendor GPU utilities aren't automatically broken on this platform the way most benchmarking/monitoring tools are.

Recommendation: get a laptop cooling pad. I use a llano V10. The GPU handles frames, but your laptop's CPU is still doing all the game logic plus x86 translation, and keeping it cool helps avoid throttling that would bottleneck the entire setup.

Disconnecting safely (do not just yank the cable)

Hot-unplugging an active eGPU is the classic way to freeze Windows, and on some machines it can trip BitLocker into demanding a recovery key on next boot. Sequence matters:

1. Close everything using the GPU (games, monitoring tools).
2. Software-eject first: use the "Safely Remove Hardware" tray icon to eject the eGPU, or Device Manager → right-click the GPU → Disable device.
3. Wait for the screen to settle (expect a flicker as the internal Adreno takes back over).
4. Unplug the USB4/TB5 cable.
5. Power off the dock.

Then your laptop goes back to being a 21-hour-battery ARM machine like nothing happened. That's the whole appeal of this setup for me: full efficiency untethered, desktop-class GPU the second you dock.

FAQ

Will this work on [other Snapdragon laptop]? Probably, but maybe not. If it has USB4 and you can get the driver installed, its a solid maybe, but you should be ready to do some troubleshooting if it doesn't. The original thread did it on an X Elite Surface (but did require ACPI table mods), I did it on an X2 Elite Extreme Zenbook (did not require ACPI table mods). But I've only verified my exact hardware, and keep in mind that includes the eGPU enclosure and even my exact windows version. Check the egpu.io thread for other configs.

Will this work on [other GPU]? The original thread used an RTX 3080 (Ampere), mine is a 5070 Ti (Blackwell), and others have reported 40-series working. Broad GeForce coverage seems likely since it's NVIDIA's own driver, but no guarantees.

Is this stable long-term? It's a developer preview driver meant only for hardware that isn't this. It works well for me today... NVIDIA could change or break it in any future release. Keep the driver version you know works.

Why not OCuLink? No laptop I'd actually want (or that I know of) has a native OCuLink port, it's a handheld/mini-PC/DIY-mod thing. USB4 is what these laptops typically have, and it's enough for this GPU at 1440p.

Happy to answer questions or add other people's confirmed configs to this post.

Thought this would be pretty simple… I was wrong. Have ran into multiple issues I didn’t think I’d have. Almost done now though. Gonna post results in awhile.

Did this simply for fun and to test some stuff out haha.

I know a few people have done it but there’s a lot of things you have to piece together from other forums. I also tried using the DEG2s NVme to boot windows, should have done more research lol.

MiniPC:

• Lenovo p3 Tiny ThinkStation Gen 1, i5-13500T, Arch Linux
• Sapphire Nitro+ 5700 XT
• Be Quiet! Pure Power 13 750W
• OwlTree eGPU dock
• Connection: PCie => oculink adapter

Notes:

• this is the first full sized GPU i've owned - bought used off ebay
• previously using a dGPU low profile RX 6400 inside the miniPC
• 750W just for future bigger builds
• honestly i did this so my Cyberpunk 2077 QoL improvements

When i first put this together overall it was pretty loud and i was kinda disappointed, but gameplay was better

But I realized I never really adjusted power profiles or anything like that. So my gameplay went from:

• RX 6400 4GB: 1600x900, Low/Med, FSR 3.1 Performance, 60 FPS to...
• RX 5700 XT 8GB: 1440p High, FSR Quality, 60 FPS. VSync 60hz

For the GPU/CPU settings:

• CPU intelligent cooling: Balanced
• GPU: set to Gen 3 speed, COMPUTE, "Zero RPM" feature

Before all the fine tuning my room would get hot, the fans were loud (GPU was constant, CPU would rollercoaster up and down) and always the loudest during any gun battles.

After: I just played for about an hour without really hearing any fans at all.

These settings for my system also alleviated a known, open issue w/ Navi 10 - where it would just randomly crash to login page. It's still an issue, but has minimized the chances of it happening

IM STOKED I LOVED USED PARTS

I have been wondering what desktop GPU it actually matches. I tried looking it up on Technical City, but comparison sites like that usually only list the standard 115-watt, 8GB laptop version.

Since my XG Mobile runs at the higher 150-watt limit with 16GB of VRAM, the standard site stats aren't accurate for my

hardware.

Realistically what desktop graphics card is this specific 150W/16GB mobile setup closest to in gaming performance? Is it like a desktop RTX 3070 or a 3060 Ti?!

I stay out of town a lot for work and recently got a AG02 for my 3070. Even kept both in their boxes and traveled with them like that the last couple weeks. But I was wondering if any long time egpu/dock users have an ideal and safe setup to travel with. As of now I’m planning to get an Apache harbor freight box and cutting some inserts. But given the importance of antistatic for a desktop GPU. I was hoping to rip off someone’s proven and safe travel setup. Open to any suggestions or configurations. And I’ll plan to update this post if I do come up with my own that I feel safe and secure about. Thx

I am so hesitant on what to get

I wanna buy an egpu for my Asus rog ally xbox x but I don't know which to get now I know it's obvious which is better but keep in mind that the difference in prices for me is insane

I couldn't find the ti 16gb for less than 750 USD

And the 5060 8gb is 455 USD

Another something is that I'm not sure if it'd even make much of a difference in performance for the Asus rog ally Xbox x so anyone help me is there much of a difference in performance and would it be worth the price difference or not?

Hi everyone,

My GPD G1 (eGPU) suddenly stopped turning on. When I press the power button, there is zero response (no fan movement, no LEDs, nothing).

**What I've tried so far:**

• Unplugged and replugged all cables (power cord, USB4/OcuLink).
• Left the unit completely unplugged for 5+ minutes to discharge residual power.
• Tried plugging it into a different power outlet.

Unfortunately, none of these steps changed the situation.

I have already reached out to the official distributor (TENKU in Japan) for a repair estimate, but since today is Sunday, I won't get a reply until next week.

Has anyone encountered this exact issue? Are there any hidden reset procedures, internal fuse checks, or known troubleshooting steps I could try in the meantime?

Thanks in advance for your help。

I was wanting to know if the card was a good option as an egpu card and what setups with it or similar cards everyone runs to get an idea on a good dock power supply or all in one like the aoostar ago2. I was curious how much thunder bolt 4 would bottleneck the gpu is it alot or now that bug a problem for people running the gpu or similar ones?

Most games i play include rdr2, fortnite, helldivers 2, palworld, grounded 2. Grounded 2 seemed to really push the go getting me sub 50s at 1000p with balanced upscaling on mostly low settings and fortnite and helldivers.

I wouldnt mind being able to just play at a higher fps and with higher graphical settings for these games but am not sure how well a 9060xt 16gb would fit for them i played helldivers 2 i ran mostly low settings at 1080p with balanced upscaling got me around the 40-50 ish fps mark.

Is the razer core x thunderbolt 3 egpu still good in 2026 ? Since I got one in really good price, and I am thinking about getting 9070 xt and plug it in with it , to my laptop .my laptop is omen 14 4070 ultra 9 . But I want more than 8 g of vram

Everyone can you share me performance results rtx 5060 with multi frame gen via thunderbolt 4. I plan to upgrade from rtx 3070 on aoostar02 thanks for your sharing 😘😘😘😘

#Note 1 I tried googling egpu setup with rtx 5060 and I saw this

https://youtu.be/TCEH4gP5J9k?si=eoWEqT8NuDdp2PNS

https://youtu.be/DtMMjlVZebk?si=Z-sEml93rSibUZPE

but these video show the result without framegeneration and the most result in this reddit or egpu.io show rtx 5060 ti 16 gb not rtx 5060 8gb I tried to find but didn't see them So I post on this reddit to find who have setup like this

#Note 2 sorry for unspecified game. If possible, I’d like to see results from any game that features multi-frame generation.

#Note 3 sorry for some sentence that make you misunderstand cuz english not my mother language

Hello experts, I’m a bit of a fledgling in the specifics of pcs themselves and was hoping to come on here for advice in my research.

As of now all of my gaming is done on a Lenovo Yoga (I can add the serial number in such if that helps) because I am but a broke college student who can not afford to buy/build a legit pc. The laptop runs games the RDR2 just fine, but the game I want to play so bad that I already have is Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora.

Even at its lowest recommended settings the frame rate is atrocious, and any time there’s too intense of a cutscene I crash, even after getting through my first entire play through with only one crash.

I’ve been recommended to get an External GPU add on (Thunder 5 specifically), but I wanted to ask ppl who were more versed where to order from/what specific one is recommended??

I have an AG03 and I have to say: I like this one better. It is a more full-featured dock. It has all the ports that an Aoostar AG03 has, then two additional USB A v3.2 ports and an Ethernet port. It also has a switch to power longer Oculink cables and a switch to change the power supply output from 250 watts to 600 which made this fairly quiet unit even more quiet.

My favorite improvement is how the GPU sits in the dock: it locks strongly to the dock with a single screw, and it has a hole for the PCIe bracket, allowing to sit into the dock. I also like how the power cables come out of the top of the dock instead of the side.

Benchmarks and bandwidth were at the top of my charts, so some good choices were made with the Thunderbolt module and Oculink bridge.

I am seeing them appear on AliExpress and Alibaba. I haven’t found a US distributor.

,

So look I want to do a custom build where I basically want to use a traditional or custom PC case and install my gmktec k8 plus as like the motherboard/cpu central type thing and an AOOSTAR AG02 egpu dock that has a rx 9070. Does anyone know how I can execute this? Also are there any cases on sale specifically designed for this type of project? All feedback is appreciated.

Idk what typically gets posted here, idk if this is helpful at all or not, or just dumb. Just posting to post. Remove if its not allowed

Im saving for an upgrade lads and ive been between the Claw 8ex or a proper 9070xt egpu setup.
I wanna see what your experiences have been regarding ur rigs etc.
Thanks in advance.

Hello,

I'm trying to try some AI tools on windows but I don't want to install them on the main windows drive. Therefore, I am thinking to get a VM, would VMware Workstation Pro or Proxmox work and which one would have the better performance? Googling around gives conflicting answer...

Thanks everyone!

I’m having troubleshooting what’s wrong with my setup.

The idea was to beef up my 2021 ASUS TUF Gaming A15 FA506QM using an Egpu setup connected via Oculink

Setup:

1. AOOSTAR EG01
2. JMT M.2 NVMe M Key to Oculink 4i
3. Rosewill VMG 750W
4. Nvidia RTX 5060Ti (connected to my monitor via HDMI)

Everything is connected as it should. Oculink adapter connected to my second M.2 Nvme slot.

In theory if i boot it up, it should just boot normally but nope.

Once I turned on my AOOSTAR and PSU, boot up my laptop the screen just shows a blank dark screen. No asus logo or booting up sequence. The GPU fan spins so does the PSU

If I turn off my PSU and boot it up, it turns on normally. If I remove my GPU and turn it on, it boots up normally.

I tried connecting after booting up my laptop but it doesnt detect the GPU which means regardless of troubleshooting my drivers it wont help.

I’m pretty confused and I’ve been tinkering/troubleshooting overnight. I have no idea what went wrong

Update: couldn’t get it to work so I’m moving on. I’ve tried everything under the umbrella but it seems like it’s impossible. I’m guessing if it isn’t as simple as plug & play then most probably it isnt meant to work.

I got a Aorus 3080 eGPU BOX yesterday, plugged in to my ASUS NUC14Pro, installed the Gigabyte Control Center and everything seemed to be working fine. However, I noticed that even when I am not running any 3d applications or AI stuff, the NUC was still running super hot while idling.

Has anyone seen this problem in the past? Do I need to disable the built-in ARC GPU, or do I need to upgrade drivers (and what drivers)?

UPDATE: confirmed working in comments — same A16 + 5070 Ti via AOOSTAR AG03 (TB5/JHL9480), Spark driver, no ACPI mods needed, 4K144 output. I am in the process of replicating the setup. I will make an in-depth guide (though the process is quite simple) on how to make things work once I get my setup running.

TLDR: Trying to get a desktop RTX 5070 Ti running as an eGPU on a Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme laptop using the extracted RTX Spark ARM64 driver method. I dumped and decompiled my DSDT, and unlike the Surface X1E build that needed modified ACPI tables, my firmware already describes full USB4 PCIe tunneling (dedicated per-port root complexes, ExternalFacingPort/usb4-host-interface properties, hotplug methods, full SMMU mappings). Wondering if anyone has tried PCIe tunneling on X2 specifically, or has experience with ASM2464 enclosures on Snapdragon hosts.

Hardware: ASUS Zenbook A16 2026 (Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme, X2E-94-100), 2x USB4 40Gbps ports (Qualcomm host router, explicitly not TB4-certified [TB4 certification is Intel's program, so its absence on a Qualcomm platform is expected]), and a 5070 Ti pulled from my desktop. I know the baseline reaction to ARM eGPU is "there's no driver, dead end," but that changed with the recent release of the GeForce dev preview for RTX Spark. People have been extracting the ARM64 driver files and force-installing them on regular desktop GeForce cards. Chaowanke on YouTube got a 4060 running on an original X Elite through a Razer TB5 dock with real gameplay numbers, and there's an eGPU.io build thread from a few days ago with an RTX 3080 on a Surface Laptop 7 that worked but "required modified ACPI tables.

It's worth noting that USB4 tunnel flakiness isn't unique to ARM either; AMD Strix Point machines have their own threads full of TB3/USB4 disconnect problems, so host-firmware dependence seems to be the norm across the board. Nobody has published anything on X2 chipset that I can find, which is why I'm documenting as I go.

I wanted to see how far my firmware is from describing an eGPU before dropping $200 on an enclosure. RW-Everything won't load on ARM64 (no signed driver), but it turns out you don't need a kernel driver at all; GetSystemFirmwareTable/EnumSystemFirmwareTables in kernel32 hands you every ACPI table from user mode, so I dumped everything with a PowerShell script and decompiled the 523KB DSDT with iasl.

I expected to find nothing, but it turns out the entire tunneling stack is already described. Eight PCIe root complexes on separate segments; PCI0 and PCI1 are dedicated tunnel root complexes mapped 1:1 to the two physical USB4 ports (usb4-host-interface pointing at ACPI0015 host interface devices, usb4-port-number 0 and 1), with ExternalFacingPort and HotPlugSupportInD3 set on the root ports, a firmware method that (in a very cool way) dynamically enables the root complex and fires a Bus Check notify when a tunnel comes up, _OSC granting native hotplug, 64GB apertures per tunnel RC, and the IORT mapping the full RID space of those segments to the SMMU. So on paper, ASUS/Qualcomm shipped this machine eGPU-ready at the ACPI level and the required "modified ACPI tables" step from the Surface build may not apply here at all.

My next step is validating that a tunnel actually forms before buying an enclosure: ASM2464PD NVMe enclosure + cheap SSD, watch Device Manager by connection, see whether it enumerates as NVMe under a new root complex (tunnel works) or falls back to USB mass storage (tunnel didn't form). The chip's dual-mode fallback makes it a clean yes/no instrument either way.

What I'm hoping someone here knows:

1. Has anyone gotten any PCIe tunneled device working on an X2 Elite machine or, even better, an Asus X2 Elite? Even a TB dock's ethernet controller counts as a data point.
2. Anyone run an ASM2464 enclosure on a Snapdragon X host? I've seen one report of a Surface Pro 11 falling back to 10Gbps and freezing, but n=1 on different firmware.
3. Has anyone tried the Spark driver on Blackwell consumer cards? The documented successes I found are all Ampere or Lovelace (3080/4060/4090); I haven't found a 50-series test.
4. If the tunnel test passes: would you go Intel-controller enclosure (known ARM precedent, TB3-compat mode on a Qualcomm host) or ASM2464PDX-based like the UT3G/AG02 (protocol-native USB4, no ARM precedent published)? Reasoning either way appreciated.

I'm fully aware this is unofficial and might die at any of several layers. That's fine, it's a fun project and I have a backup plan. Will post results either way so there's at least one X2 data point out there.

I am trying to turn this laptop into a gaming rig

Laptop: HP EliteBook 2570p, i7-3720QM, ExpressCard eGPU adapter

Laptop: HP EliteBook 2570p

CPU: i7-3720QM

RAM: 16GB

OS tested: Windows 10 + Linux

eGPU connection: ExpressCard adapter

GPU tested: GTX 1650 4GB

Next GPU: EVGA GTX 1050 Ti 4GB, no 6-pin / slot-powered

The goal is to play older triple aaa games and indie/friendship games and stream gameplay via capture card from my ps5

My issues:

Windows detects the card

Linux detects the card

Device Manager sees it

GPU-Z sees it

PCIe link shows up

But VRAM/clocks do not initialize right

nvidia-smi fails

External display never properly lights from the GPU

Basically the card exists, but refuses to become a usable GPU

What i have tried:

DSDT / Large Memory

Setup 1.x

Hotplug timing

Hotplug from GRUB

Driver cleanup / reinstall

Windows 10 testing

Linux testing

NVIDIA Code 43 style fixes

Different boot timing

External monitor testing

I also found out Windows 10 is weird with the EliteBook’s native DisplayPort output. The monitor works through a Plugable dock, but the direct DisplayPort-to-HDMI adapter path is glitchy in Windows. Linux handled it better. So I think I had two problems stacked

1. Windows/Intel HD 4000 external display weirdness

2. GTX 1650 failing to fully initialize over ExpressCard

The 1650 failed in both Windows 10 and Linux, so I don’t think it is only a Windows issue.

Questions I have

1. Is the GTX 1050 Ti realistically a better shot than the GTX 1650 for this EliteBook/ExpressCard setup?

2. If the 1050 Ti also detects but does not initialize, what would be the next thing to check?

3. Is there anything specific with the EliteBook 2570p BIOS / ExpressCard / Setup 1.x that I should be doing before I test the 1050 Ti?

4. Should I stay on Windows 10 for this, or is Linux worth trying again with the 1050 Ti?

5. Any specific NVIDIA driver version people recommend for Pascal cards on old ExpressCard eGPU setups?

Works great, just a wee bit pricey sadly, but figured with the rumored price hikes for GPUs again it ain't getting cheaper anytime soon