Hello,

Currently in the process of moving to small form factor (SFF) PC for work-from-home (WFH) and a laptop for mobility. I'm a 3D generalist, but I also do some light gaming (Counter Strike and FIFA) as such I need a GPU, and whilst I could buy a gaming laptop, my previous experiences with them have been less than satisfying, and I like having a dedicated WFH station thus I want a setup where I can share a GPU between them if needed.

I am building the SFF PC with Thunderbolt 3 options, however considering the performance decrease of such, I would like to try an M.2 eGPU setup.

The T480 has a WWAN slot for an LTE module. In this tutorial, he uses this slot for a NVMe SSD. Does this then mean it is a viable option an M.2 eGPU? I've read about Lenovo being restrictive with their hardware whitelist in BIOS, however there are work arounds regarding that and I am willing to make that risk. The reason I want to use this slot is because I don't use LTE, I would like to keep the WIFI native, and it provides an easier route for the cable. If it works, I plan on making a hole for this cable in the back plate (like this)

I have a spare T430 which is falling apart at home, which I can try this on risk free. For the SFF PC, I'm using the Fractal Design Ridge case without a dedicated GPU, which means I can easily feel a M.2 extension cable out the back of the case.

Mainly I want to confirm (if whitelist is bypassed) that the WWAN slot for the LTE module be capable as a M.2 port for an eGPU setup, and will this have preformance trade offs compared to going into the SSD or WIFI module like most builds do?

I can't seem to find anyone who has tried this, so if this is a plausible setup I will make an update post on my efforts.