Use an android device as an external dedicated GPU

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hello
im a mechanic with basic knowledge of coding programming and software (veeeeeerrrryyy basic) and i am really struggling this is not code that needs fixing just a question

What I have tried:

how would you, if it is possible use an android devices cpu as a dedicated graphics processor for a computer via USB . . . i have purchased a laptop that is fine for my business use but if i can do more eg gaming id prefer it to buying another. the current gpu is no where near good enough at 512mb . i was thinking if the rest of the android device has minimal load the cpu could possibley be used as a gpu. an app would require an os so that would use a lot of the cpu . its baffled me and i wouldnt know where to start in terms of coding . is this something some one is aware of even development stage id be more than happy to be involved or is it even possible im ignorant in terms of cpu and gpu construction and materials

Posted 3-Jan-19 16:46pm

Member 14107526

Updated 30-Sep-20 9:53am

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Richard MacCutchan 4-Jan-19 4:33am

You couldn't. The speed of the Android CPU is most likely the same or even slower than your PC. And trying to send signals via USB would be impossible without a complete rework of all the hardware.

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Member 14961699 · Answer 1 · 2020-10-11T16:57:00

No. Your phone's GPU is in one chip with the CPU, some of the memory, and its display controller, and they're all tightly integrated together. Also, there'd be no way to connect it efficiently to the laptop. Only the latest generation of USB and Thunderbolt have enough bandwidth to be even worth considering for external GPUs, and even then, they're only used with dedicated hardware at the GPU end of the link - not a general-purpose processor. Apart from the fundamental problems, there's the very practical issue that your PC doesn't have any drivers for the GPU on the phone.

Or you can spend a very long time making your own os and integrate drivers to do that. It is possible. It won't be a fun little project you can get over with in a summer break.

You can start by studying the basics of Drivers, DirectX, GPUs for laptops and phones... and so on
That is why it will take you pretty long to get it done.

#realJSOP · Answer 2 · 2019-01-05T04:33:00

What gives you the idea that the GPU on an Android device would be good enough for PC gaming?

It would be MUCH cheaper (by hundreds of dollars) to build a desktop box for gaming, than it would be to buy a laptop capable of decent gaming. Not only that, but it would almost infinitely upgradeable (CPU, RAM, and video card), where in a laptop, you are stuck with the CPU and video card that comes in it when you buy it.

If you insist on gaming with a laptop:

0) Stop messing around and buy a decent laptop. Not only will it be "good enough" for work, but it would also be "good enough" for gaming.

1) Buy one with as little RAM as possible and an analog hard drive, and upgrade those items yourself. It's much cheaper to do that.

Buying advice - you want a laptop that supports:

0) Up to 32GB DDR4 RAM
1) nVME PCIx M2.2800 SSD - this is a MUCH faster SSD than a SATA SSD.
2) A quad-core CPU (i7 or Ryzen).
3) A decent video GPU. Check out "gaming" laptops to see what GPU they have, and then try to find a non-gaming laptop that has the same GPU. The word "gaming" adds a couple hundred dollars to the cost of the computer, so avoid them if possible.
4) A 17-inch screen. Yes, 15's are somewhat lighter, but who cares.

I recent bought a new (DELL) laptop with an 8th gen i7 quad core CPU, 8gb RAM, Radeon 530 GPU, and a 2TB analog sata drive. It cost almost $1000, but it's sufficient for most gaming you'd want to do on a laptop. I upgraded it to a 500GB nVME drive and 16GB RAM. I'm running Linux on it, but it came with Win10.

I still think you should build a desktop box to game on, though.

Dave Kreskowiak · Answer 3 · 2019-01-05T05:09:00

First, this would be an EXTREMELY ADVANCED project to take on. It would required knowledge of the internals of DirectX, game rendering, Windows internals, Android internals, the hardware on both machines, and even USB. For someone with a "(veeeeeerrrryyy basic)" level of coding, this is a project that would take years of work.

Basically, this isn't practical at all. The GPU in the phone cannot take on the loads imposed by PC games today. There's a reason why modern GPUs are backed by gigabytes of high speed memory and a PCIe bus. The amount of data being transferred over USB would just crush the interface. It just cannot keep up with the data transfer requirements of a GPU.

Member 14960951 · Answer 4 · 2020-10-10T08:37:00

Solution 5

sell yourphone and buy an external gpu problem solved

Posted 10-Oct-20 8:37am

Member 14960951

Updated 10-Oct-20 8:46am

Member 15252659 · Answer 5 · 2021-06-18T00:10:00

I strongly agree with the topic owner. The next generation of our personal devices should have the ability to combine into one to handle personal demands day by day bigger with affordable price. In other words, optimizing personal devices and family devices use for entertainment like Cinema At home with 8K ỏ 16K ( future :)) ) in friendly, interaction and solidarity with people and environment, is the best way to change the world.

Member 15822257 · Answer 6 · 2022-11-06T08:31:00

You should be albe to install linux on the cellphone, setup virtualGL*. How you link the cellphone to the pc would be the hard part for bandwidth. Planning on setting this up so my intel minnowbot board can use a samsung S10+ as a gpu for steam x86-64 gaming/cellphone system. You could also work multiple gpu's into a cluster each rendering different segments of the screen.

*VirtualGL | Main / The VirtualGL Project

Use an android device as an external dedicated GPU

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