Original question by @forestry@lemmy.ml
I am building an AMD Ryzen PC, and want eGPUs. Thunderbolt is extremely limited, but I’ve recently seen OCuLink. For example, AOOSTAR AG02 supports USB4 and OCuLink.
The AOOSTAR AG02 is more expensive than some Thunderbolt options, so I’m looking around. What options do I have for non-Thunderbolt eGPU?
There are plenty of OCuLink eGPU enclosures available. There are also bare adapter boards if you want to build your own enclosure.
Since it’s just PCIe with a different connector, it’s much cheaper and simpler than Thunderbolt/USB4. It does have a couple of downsides though. It can’t be hot plugged, so the computer has to be shut down to connect or disconnect an OCuLink device and the connector is not designed for a large number of mating cycles.