Back at CES 2016, Razer announced one of the prettiest external graphics card solutions with the Razer Core. Now we know it will probably cost more than the GPU you will put inside of it, unfortunately.
Priced at $499, the Razer Core is one of the world's most expensive laptop peripherals. Even if you factor in the discounted $399 price you'll pay if you're planning to or already purchased and registered a Razer Blade Stealth, it's a heady price for a GPU enclosure.
However, if you have the money to spend, the Core will amp up the performance of your Razer Blade or Blade Stealth to 11. With a fast card, you'll have the power to play games on Ultra settings and Ultra HD display resolutions.
The Razer Core is compatible with most modern AMD Radeon and Nvidia Maxwell GPUs, even if the said card is full-sized and double wide. What's more, with its built-in power supply, the Core supplies more than enough juice to keep high-end cards like the AMD Radeon R9 Fury and Nvidia GeForce GTX Titan X running smoothly.
Preorders for the Razer Core begin today and shipping is expected to begin in April.
Qualified AMD Radeon graphics cards (AMD X Connect supported with Blade Stealth):
- AMD Radeon R9 Fury
- AMD Radeon R9 Nano
- AMD Radeon R9 300 Series
- AMD Radeon R9 290X
- AMD Radeon R9 290
- AMD Radeon R9 280
Supported NVIDIA GeForce graphics cards (as launch):
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- NVIDIA GeForce GTX Titan X
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750
Kevin Lee was a former computing reporter at TechRadar. Kevin is now the SEO Updates Editor at IGN based in New York. He handles all of the best of tech buying guides while also dipping his hand in the entertainment and games evergreen content. Kevin has over eight years of experience in the tech and games publications with previous bylines at Polygon, PC World, and more. Outside of work, Kevin is major movie buff of cult and bad films. He also regularly plays flight & space sim and racing games. IRL he's a fan of archery, axe throwing, and board games.