Razer, are one of the leading gaming laptop manufactures, and has now entered the external GPU market. One of their most important contributions to the market is the Core V2, which is the second generation of the company’s external GPUs. The Core V2 eGPU is a bit bigger than its predecessor to support more powerful graphics cards and other workstation grade components. This unit can work with your laptop and charge it at the same time and serve other portable PCs beside Razer laptops. Core V2 is available at an eye-watering 500-dollar price point.
Design
If you are familiar with other Razer products (phones and laptops), then you must be familiar with their signature look. The Core V2 maintains the same beautifully, anodized black aluminium body that you will see on all Razer laptops and the previous eGPU generation. Regarding the previous Core, it is identical to the V2, though the latter has some significant changes regarding performance. You will still see the company’s logo on the right side of the eGPU and a large, metallic grille on the left side. It has vents along the bottom, front, and the top to help in managing temperature increases within the unit. Dimensions are 11.8×5.7×1.7 inches, which is slightly larger than the previous generation. Top it all, the V2 features some lovely lighting.
Compatibility
The Core V2 comes with a Thunderbolt 3 port, which means it can connect to different laptops, including the non-gaming ones. It will work on all these only if the non-gaming laptops have a Thunderbolt 3 port. You will have to check whether your computer can facilitate this type of connection before going for the Core V2. This eGPU can support a wide variety of graphics cards, such as AMD’s Radeon 500 series and NVidia’s 10-series. It also facilitates the Quadro GPUs from NVidia, which are responsible for running computer-aided design (CAD) software.
Setup
Setting up the Core V2 is easy. You start by opening the enclosure from the front to expose the graphics card slot. Insert the card and then secure the GPU before finally connecting the necessary plugs. You don’t have to restart your laptop to effect these changes. The enclosure allows you to customize colours to how you want it to glow.
Performance
The Core V2 won’t come with a graphics card out of the box. It comes with a massive 500W power supply, which should be enough to support any full-sized GPU available in the market. In the unit, you will find a total of five cooling fans – one at the back of the power supply and another at the front. These two fans are quite noisy, producing a high-pitched sound. The other two fans are in the middle and rear, where they help in pushing air out through the top vents. Noise levels are at 48dB at a distance of half a meter.
