Hooking up a TVPC, Integrated Graphics vs External Graphics
Hooking up a TVPC, Integrated Graphics vs External Graphics
Good morning! I am setting up a new TVPC using an Intel Core i7-9700T processor and an NVIDIA RTX 3050 with 8GB of video memory. The big graphics card (RTX 3050) will plug into the PC using m.2 to PCIe connection. This TV has several HDMI ports that I can switch between remotely.
I want to connect my TV via one HDMI port to the RTX 3050 and use another HDMI port to connect directly to the integrated graphics on the i7-9700T. Will this work like this: if I select the HDMI connected to the RTX 3050, the TV shows video from the big card; and if I switch that input back to the integrated graphics connection, the TV will show the built-in graphics? This seems pretty easy to figure out for me. Please give me some advice, and thank you in advance! TIA Larry
Sometimes, yes. If a dedicated GPU is already in the system, your built-in graphics card will turn itself off automatically. For laptops, you can choose to keep both the built-in and the external GPU running together. However, on desktops it all depends on what your motherboard BIOS supports. Which specific ATX model does your board have? If you use a PCI-E adapter to plug an RTX 3050 into your system but cut off half of its power lanes, that matters because the 3050 needs full PCI-E x8 support. Most M.2 slots only give you four lanes (x4), so this setup loses some performance. Some adapters even offer just two or one lane instead. This situation looks like you're using a laptop motherboard to act as an external GPU, which would explain why your CPU is low TDP and runs at 9700T instead of a higher speed model. The RTX 3050 uses 130 watts for power. Where does it get that extra electricity? An M.2 slot can give you maybe up to 30 watts, but the GPU actually needs way more than that. A standard PCI-E x16 slot provides about 75 watts, which is still not enough for a high-end card like this one.