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US$300 AKiTiO Node TB3 eGFX box (32Gbps-TB3)


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14 hours ago, menpasav said:

I fear that with the incompatibility of the new MBP, the node will delayed even if other would be customers are ready to buy it right now.

I hope to be wrong but I do not believe it will be available before Xmas :(

 

In China, we've already pre-ordered Node on Nov/11, estimated shipping date is late November.

 

But it's another story in EU since you are in France.

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I appreciate that everyone's very excited about TB3, but could we also get you Akitio guys to test backwards compatibility with TB2 laptops via adapter, however unofficial/unsupported that usecase might be?

Seeing how the promise of turnkey TB2 eGPU never came to pass (at least not with a feasible pricetag), I'm still looking for a purpose-made eGPU box, provided it was backwards compatible with my current laptop.

 

For now my plan is to get the Node, apple TB3<>TB2 adapter, and connect that to my late 2013 rMBP, which is running bootcamp. Would that work?

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I appreciate that everyone's very excited about TB3, but could we also get you Akitio guys to test backwards compatibility with TB2 laptops via adapter, however unofficial/unsupported that usecase might be?

Seeing how the promise of turnkey TB2 eGPU never came to pass (at least not with a feasible pricetag), I'm still looking for a purpose-made eGPU box, provided it was backwards compatible with my current laptop.

 

For now my plan is to get the Node, apple TB3<>TB2 adapter, and connect that to my late 2013 rMBP, which is running bootcamp. Would that work?

 

I also want to know that

Edited by dude1
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On 2016/9/28 at 3:57 PM, Morv said:

 

Nope? The TB3 connection provides 40 Gbps but the PCIe slot only uses 32 Gbps to follow PCIe specifications. Makes 8 Gbps leftover which can be used for peripheral stuff. Ethernet takes 1 Gbps, makes 7 Gbps left for the USB ports. Unless one is going to use only external SSDs with these ports, it's not going to happen that the bandwidth is used in a way that the GPU performance is crippled.

 

TB3 bandwidth provide 40 Gbps is only about 5 GB/s and PCIe 3.0x16 is 32 GB/s.

IMHO it's better only use for GPU. 

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17 hours ago, electricsheep said:

I appreciate that everyone's very excited about TB3, but could we also get you Akitio guys to test backwards compatibility with TB2 laptops via adapter, however unofficial/unsupported that usecase might be?

Seeing how the promise of turnkey TB2 eGPU never came to pass (at least not with a feasible pricetag), I'm still looking for a purpose-made eGPU box, provided it was backwards compatible with my current laptop.

 

For now my plan is to get the Node, apple TB3<>TB2 adapter, and connect that to my late 2013 rMBP, which is running bootcamp. Would that work?

 

11 hours ago, dude1 said:

 

I also want to know that

 

Many potential Node buyers have been actively requesting this and I'm pretty sure Akitio is listening. It would be a huge mistake of theirs to oversee backwards compatibility of the Node to TB1 and TB2 MBPs. An eGPU setup should also focus on people with older computers that are looking for a performance boost, especially MPBs with outdated GPUs. That being said, I believe the Node will still work well on release with an Apple TB3<->TB1/2 adapter, supposedly bidirectional, resulting in an acceptable performance hit. The real question now is whether Akitio, Microsoft, and Apple can team up to make sure the software side of things runs smoothly.

 

 

Edited by oaoleley
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2 hours ago, Sewax said:

 

TB3 bandwidth provide 40 Gbps is only about 5 GB/s and PCIe 3.0x16 is 32 GB/s.

IMHO it's better only use for GPU. 

 

Yes, but the linked speed will be PCIe 3.0x4 = 2.0x8  = 4GB/s.

Still 1GB/s left for USB/LAN in theory.

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50 minutes ago, Andromedus said:

I've seen conflicting information on this. Can anyone confirm or provide a source?

 

I recall seeing that the Razer Core suffered performance issues when peripherals were connected, despite people saying that such a thing should not happen.

 

Also, does anyone know which high-end GPU would work best in the AKiTio node? Does either nvidea or amd perform better over Thunderbolt 3? Is either one less of a bandwidth hog?

 

Did you really actually see the performance issues in person or just read/heard about it? Despite someone on page 1 of this thread claiming this to happen, I can't find any considerable proof for it anywhere on the web. Either no one's testing it or it doesn't have an impact that is noticeable. Or, maybe, it doesn't exist.

Edited by Morv
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28 minutes ago, Morv said:

 

Did you really actually see the performance issues in person or just read/heard about it? Despite someone on page 1 of this thread claiming this to happen, I can't find any considerable proof for it anywhere on the web. Either no one's testing it or it doesn't have an impact that is noticeable. Or, maybe, it doesn't exist.

I have tested it. And the performance tanks instantly when you use the ports if a game is running. Or if the port goes active while a game is running. It picks back up in a bit though depending on the load. 

Extra ports over TB3 along with a GPU are a waste of money and resources.

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4 hours ago, bloodhawk said:

I have tested it. And the performance tanks instantly when you use the ports if a game is running. Or if the port goes active while a game is running. It picks back up in a bit though depending on the load. 

Extra ports over TB3 along with a GPU are a waste of money and resources.

Hello bloodhawk,

this is very interesting having someone able to actually test the performance hit :)

When you used the ports during game, what did you connect to ? Just simple USB keyboard and mice (what I wanted to do as my laptop lacks USB ports) or more demanding peripherals like HDD / Network ?

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There are 3 types of TB3 Controller: 1 port, 2 port, and 1 port ULV.

 

The first two are connected via x4.3 so the Thunderbolt Controller itself is only connected via 32Gbit/s and
then itself provides a x4.3 link. In theory there would be 8Gbit/s free, but only on the cable level, so to speak.

I wonder where they could even use these extra 8Gbit/s. Maybe when you daisychain a monitor the Displayport signal
is separate from the x4.3 link.

 

Additionaly there could be some kind of pci-express encapsulation for transport over TB3 which could
create some overhead and explain why there is a slight performance decrease from direct x4.3 to TB3.

 

Source:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunderbolt_(interface)#Thunderbolt_3

Edited by Splitframe
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4 hours ago, bloodhawk said:

I have tested it. And the performance tanks instantly when you use the ports if a game is running. Or if the port goes active while a game is running. It picks back up in a bit though depending on the load. 

Extra ports over TB3 along with a GPU are a waste of money and resources.

 

Ye I know, I'm just not into believing stuff. There's no proof whatsoever other than your word. No mentioning anywhere of this issue in the world wide web. If there is, please show it to me. Also how'd you know if this wasn't some issue that could be fixed with a firmware or driver update? The Core is out on the market for quite some time.

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AKiTiO just released some informations on their TB3 hardware and they said:

Quote

Yes, we can only confirm that the Node is compatible with the Thunderbolt 3 Intel NUC and the Razer laptops. Several other PCs using Windows 10 appear to be compatible upon initial testing but the Node is NOT compatible with the Mac.This also applies to a Mac running Boot Camp and to older Thunderbolt 2 computers. Having said all that, we are aware how dedicated the eGPU community is and who knows, as this statement is published, someone might already have found a way to make it work anyway.

 

source: https://www.akitio.com/blog/articles/akitio-thunderbolt3-devices-macbook-pro

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9 minutes ago, Dschijn said:

AKiTiO just released some informations on their TB3 hardware and they said:

 

source: https://www.akitio.com/blog/articles/akitio-thunderbolt3-devices-macbook-pro

WOW interesting. They even specifically say no BootCamp support. I know people have solved the Core having issues, specifically error 12 "This device cannot find enough free resources that it can use", by following: https://www.techinferno.com/index.php?/forums/topic/5874-guide-dsdt-override-to-fix-error-12/#comment-91134

 

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Just now, Morv said:

 

Ye I know, I'm just not into believing stuff. There's no proof whatsoever other than your word. No mentioning anywhere of this issue in the world wide web. If there is, please show it to me. Also how'd you know if this wasn't some issue that could be fixed with a firmware or driver update? The Core is out on the market for quite some time.

 

I would much rather have them focus on making the simplest, most reliable, and most inexpensive TB3 graphics solution possible. Adding ports just adds more potential complications for the user and more potential scenarios for Akitio to test, no matter if those ports cause performance problems or not. It just doesn't seem worth it, especially when you can just use another hub to add more ports.

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5 hours ago, Morv said:

 

Ye I know, I'm just not into believing stuff. There's no proof whatsoever other than your word. No mentioning anywhere of this issue in the world wide web. If there is, please show it to me. Also how'd you know if this wasn't some issue that could be fixed with a firmware or driver update? The Core is out on the market for quite some time.

Then you are more than welcome to buy and test it out. 

Most people who buy the core, dont quite even care about how much performance they are getting / loosing. All they seem to care about is if their fps is better than what they can with the iGPU.

You might want to go through some of the other thread, you will find your answers there. Oh and might want to read up on how the Alpine Ridge Controller works, and how it has to convert the signal which then transfers over to the PCH.

 

5 hours ago, menpasav said:

Hello bloodhawk,

this is very interesting having someone able to actually test the performance hit :)

When you used the ports during game, what did you connect to ? Just simple USB keyboard and mice (what I wanted to do as my laptop lacks USB ports) or more demanding peripherals like HDD / Network ?

 

Tested connecting a USB Drive, Keyboard, Mouse, Ethernet cable (internet). 

The drop was specially noticeable when the there was data throughput on the Ethernet port. Sometimes during CSGO there would be these weird FPS drops or ping spikes. But they didnt happen quite often. When the Ethernet cable was connected directly to the system and not to the core, everything worked just fine. 

I would look into a powered USB hub instead of wasting 100's of extra $'s on a core. 

4 hours ago, Slovedon said:

 

I would much rather have them focus on making the simplest, most reliable, and most inexpensive TB3 graphics solution possible. Adding ports just adds more potential complications for the user and more potential scenarios for Akitio to test, no matter if those ports cause performance problems or not. It just doesn't seem worth it, especially when you can just use another hub to add more ports.

Amen to that. 

Edited by bloodhawk
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On 11/16/2016 at 2:13 PM, Splitframe said:

There are 3 types of TB3 Controller: 1 port, 2 port, and 1 port ULV.

 

The first two are connected via x4.3 so the Thunderbolt Controller itself is only connected via 32Gbit/s and
then itself provides a x4.3 link. In theory there would be 8Gbit/s free, but only on the cable level, so to speak.

I wonder where they could even use these extra 8Gbit/s. Maybe when you daisychain a monitor the Displayport signal
is separate from the x4.3 link.

 

Additionaly there could be some kind of pci-express encapsulation which for transport over TB3 which could
create some overhead and explain why there is a slight performance decrease from direct x4.3 to TB3.

 

Source:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunderbolt_(interface)#Thunderbolt_3

 

The performance difference is actually rather significant. For example a GTX 1080 -

 

3DMARK FS GPU score over TB3 - 185XX 

3DMARK FS GPU score over x4.3 - 23XXX

Edited by bloodhawk
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No good news yet for '16 MBPs. We're just as far into it as everyone else here. A kext edit can get the Core to sort-of work (not very well) because they have a TI82 chip, but looks like Apple is somehow completely blocking our Node because we have a TI83 chip. We're still working hard on a work-around, but unfortunately, until Apple and other PC manufacturers make some changes to their hardware & OS, our currently only CONFIRMED supported computers are the Skull Canyon and Razer Blade. :(

Still working hard hoping things will change. Have faith.

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3 hours ago, DanKnight said:

No good news yet for '16 MBPs. We're just as far into it as everyone else here. A kext edit can get the Core to sort-of work (not very well) because they have a TI82 chip, but looks like Apple is somehow completely blocking our Node because we have a TI83 chip. We're still working hard on a work-around, but unfortunately, until Apple and other PC manufacturers make some changes to their hardware & OS, our currently only CONFIRMED supported computers are the Skull Canyon and Razer Blade. :(

Still working hard hoping things will change. Have faith.

Is the board similar to the TB3 HDK? 

If so then it will definitely work a lot of other laptops .

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Hope Akitio will not postpone further the Node because of this choice from Apple.

I am a Windows laptop user planning to buy a eGPU solution for Xmas to my son.

It would really piss me off not to be able to buy it because every company freezes their new products release just because Apple decided to break compatibility :(

 

What is the real difference between the 2 versions of the TI chip ?

Edited by menpasav
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Coming back to my argument of the Akitio Thunde3 vs Thunder3 Note, I personaly ordered the Thunder3 for its smaller size, I have the Dell brick and wait for the cables, but here is what I mend with the argument the Thunder 3 Note is just too big, and that I could have a complete ITX computer in there, if you dont trust me on that, you might be convinced by Linus: 

 

not sure abou the exact size, but will not really differ from the Razor, Devil, Alienware or Akitio eGPU cases, would even say its smaller than some of them, and here you have it, this will be for sure cheaper than any mini PC plus eGPU. 

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10 hours ago, ruffruff said:

Akitio TB3 stuff doesn't seems to be available in Singapore yet.

Any folks around this region knows where to get one?

 

By the way, anyone tried it on a XPS13?

 

Thanks.

Hi, if you see it in Singapore I am interested as my son is in Singapore and would use it with his XPS13.

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