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US$189 AKiTiO Thunder2 PCIe Box (16Gbps-TB2)


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Sorry to make a new thread for this, but I'm having a really hard time getting an answer.

I want to power my Akitio via my power brick (in addition to powering my GPU). I know that I need a molex to barrel adapter - this is clearly mentioned/shown in threads - but I can't seem to find the correct one.

Can someone link me to one I can buy? I can't find the right size.

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I'm not clear on something. Is there any risk of ground loop if I do the following:

Power akitio using included AC

Power GPU using 6-pin from power brick (no riser)

?

I thought I had read that this was a risk for ground loops, but I just read back through the thread and it looks like this is exactly how @entzoe did his setup.

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Hey guys!

I've just ordered:

New Macbook Pro 15 with the Iris Pro

AKiTiO Thunder2 PCIe Box

PCIe 16x to 16x Powered Riser (Molex connector)

Asus Strix GTX 970 (4GB)

Corsair RM550

Is there anything I'm missing besides a case? I'll look into a case later on once I got everything working :)

Is your eGPU already working?

- - - Updated - - -

@Tech Inferno Fan @jacobsson Indeed it does! The shroud slides off easily after removing those 4 screws. You can see how the Akitio had to be bent slightly outward to accomodate the card with the shroud on, but it would have clearly fit comfortably without any alterations.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]12802[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]12803[/ATTACH]

Don't you need a powered riser?

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Hey all. Hoping someone can help me out.

I'm using Phobia External 90W Molex PSU and a molex to 6-pin adapter to power my GPU (Gigabyte 750 GTX OC, plugged into 6-pin). I power the Akitio through the AC power brick that came with it.

When I give power to the Akitio power brick, the blue lights come on and my GPU fan starts spinning. When I give power to the Phobia power brick (for my GPU), I don't get any indication that anything else is happening (I'm not sure if I should since the fan is already spinning).

When I boot into both Windows (8.1) and Mac (10.10) I don't see the new GPU anywhere. Not in device manager or anything. When I try to install drivers, it says the GPU can't be found.

I don't know what the issue is. It seems like neither OS is recognizing the card, so my first guess is that I have a power issue, but I don't know how to tell if that's the case. Anyone have any suggestions?

Hoping that @Tech Inferno Fan or @jacobsson can help!

Edit: After reading the troubleshooting section and doing a reboot the GPU was recognized. Installed NVidia drivers and ran some benchmarks without any issue. I rebooted again then fired up CS:GO (put all settings on high) and right when I entered the game my computer crashed (external screen went black, laptop monitor froze). Anyone have any idea how to troubleshoot why? This seems similar to the "black screen of death" mentioned in the troubleshooting section... I should have more than enough power though, considering that I'm powering the Akitio with its power brick.

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Hey all. Hoping someone can help me out.

I'm using Phobia External 90W Molex PSU and a molex to 6-pin adapter to power my GPU (Gigabyte 750 GTX OC, plugged into 6-pin). I power the Akitio through the AC power brick that came with it.

When I give power to the Akitio power brick, the blue lights come on and my GPU fan starts spinning. When I give power to the Phobia power brick (for my GPU), I don't get any indication that anything else is happening (I'm not sure if I should since the fan is already spinning).

When I boot into both Windows (8.1) and Mac (10.10) I don't see the new GPU anywhere. Not in device manager or anything. When I try to install drivers, it says the GPU can't be found.

I don't know what the issue is. It seems like neither OS is recognizing the card, so my first guess is that I have a power issue, but I don't know how to tell if that's the case. Anyone have any suggestions?

Hoping that @Tech Inferno Fan or @jacobsson can help!

Edit: After reading the troubleshooting section and doing a reboot the GPU was recognized. Installed NVidia drivers and ran some benchmarks without any issue. I rebooted again then fired up CS:GO (put all settings on high) and right when I entered the game my computer crashed (external screen went black, laptop monitor froze). Anyone have any idea how to troubleshoot why? This seems similar to the "black screen of death" mentioned in the troubleshooting section... I should have more than enough power though, considering that I'm powering the Akitio with its power brick.

The AKiTiO is rated to guarantee 25W to the slot when driving using the factory AC adapter. Per opening post, use of a PCIe riser will allow you to provide 75W directly to the slot. That is the first place I'd suggest looking to overcome your instability. I'd go so far as to say use a ATX PSU to drive it all (PCIe riser + PCIe power plugs). Then once working, attempt to integrate using your 90W PSU to do it.

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The AKiTiO is rated to guarantee 25W to the slot when driving using the factory AC adapter. Per opening post, use of a PCIe riser will allow you to provide 75W directly to the slot. That is the first place I'd suggest looking to overcome your instability. I'd go so far as to say use a ATX PSU to drive it all (PCIe riser + PCIe power plugs). Then once working, attempt to integrate using your 90W PSU to do it.

Thanks for the quick reply. Are there any cards rated at 25W or below for the slot? I'd prefer to not use a riser if possible.

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My Gigabyte 750Ti (PCIe + 6pin powered) and EVGA GTX 780 are both stable, but only the latter is now fully tested (you can see the performance numbers from my updated post, retina screen playing is very smooth and no stability problems at all). There are so many variables. I guess too, that it is vendor specific. Firstly, you have to choose the right vendor, and secondly the card must have at least one 6pin power connector. By solving the 25W limit of the PCIe slot, we very likely extend the collection of supported GPUs.

Hey, did you test your Gigabyte 750Ti any further? I'm using this version (Gigabyte GTX750 OC). It seems to be benchmarking fine (no crashes), but did crash once in CS:GO (black screen when using ultra high settings). I'm powered the same way you were, with the included Akitio AC adapter and a separate PSU for the 6-pin.

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Hey, did you test your Gigabyte 750Ti any further? I'm using this version (Gigabyte GTX750 OC). It seems to be benchmarking fine (no crashes), but did crash once in CS:GO (black screen when using ultra high settings). I'm powered the same way you were, with the included Akitio AC adapter and a separate PSU for the 6-pin.

Yes, but not for longer period or gaming. I am not powering my systems with two PSUs anymore, after I got knowledge that there is a risk of ground loop. By doing that, AKiTiO's PSU made buzzing sound at higher frame rates. Additionally, when Gigabyte GTX 980 was attached directly to the AKiTiO's PCIe board, the 4pin yellow/black wire almost melted, because the backplate of reference GTX 980 becomes very hot. Luckily, I noticed it early and no much harm happened. Even if 25W from the x16 slot seems to be enough with EVGA GTX 780 OC w/ ACX and Gigabyte 750Ti, and they run cooler, I recommend to use a powered riser with ATX PSU, no other power sources.

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Hi folks,

I have recently bought an Akitio Thunder2 PCIe Box to prepare a thunderbolt 2 eGPU.

I have Late 2013 Retina MacBook pro 15 inch with 2 Ghz (3.2 GHz boost) processor and Intel Iris only graphics, which is primary requirement for TB2 eGPU.

I am planning to play games on MacBook's LCD screen over TB2 eGPU.

Well, I have a very important question for you guys.

NVidia already released GTX 980 and GTX 980 ti might be just a month away from release, should I buy gtx 980 for my eGPU or wait for gtx 980 ti. And does using highest end gpu make any difference in performance over thunderbolt 2 egpu. Also gtx 980 ti will definitely be more powerful than gtx 980, but will it make any difference in TB2 eGPU compared to Gtx 980 while playing games on native retina display of my MacBook pro.

Thanks and hoping to hear any of you soon.

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If you have the money… get a 980Ti. If you want to go for price&performance than you better get the 980, as you will lose performance by using the Retina display and the TB2 connection. The 980Ti performance boost might be very small on your setup.

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Hi Tech Inferno Fan,

I'm looking forward to DIY an egpu for my MBPR13.

Could you tell me if the egpu acceleration works on the internal display of MacBook Pro retina 13" (Intel Iris Graphic) without using an external display?

As I saw Optimus has been mentioned many times with MBP in this forum.

Regards,

Kevin

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Thanks for replying,

Well my main concern is not money but the performance. Meaning that is it worth to spend extra money to buy gtx 980 ti instead of gtx 980 to play games on retina display? will extra horse power of gtx 980 ti compared to 980 will make significant difference in game performance on retina display of MBP. Also would i be able to play games on MBP display without connecting external display.

My aim to build eGPU is only to play games on MBPs internal display and not external display.

Again I appreciate your help.

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Thanks for replying,

Well my main concern is not money but the performance. Meaning that is it worth to spend extra money to buy gtx 980 ti instead of gtx 980 to play games on retina display? will extra horse power of gtx 980 ti compared to 980 will make significant difference in game performance on retina display of MBP. Also would i be able to play games on MBP display without connecting external display.

My aim to build eGPU is only to play games on MBPs internal display and not external display.

Again I appreciate your help.

Like I said before. On a desktop PC you might get a good performance boost 980 vs 980Ti, but on a MacBook (limitung factor 1) with Thunderbolt 2 (limitung factor 2) and only using the internal display (limitung factor 3) you will not get such a good effect. Of course the 980Ti will be faster, but in my opinion the money is not worth the small improvement.

You can play on the internal display in Windows 8.1 (100% chance). OSX I am not sure.

Hi Tech Inferno Fan,

I'm looking forward to DIY an egpu for my MBPR13.

Could you tell me if the egpu acceleration works on the internal display of MacBook Pro retina 13" (Intel Iris Graphic) without using an external display?

As I saw Optimus has been mentioned many times with MBP in this forum.

Regards,

Kevin

You can play on the internal display in Windows 8.1 (100% chance). OSX I am not sure.

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I doubt whether this is the correct place this question, but I'll make another thread when this seems to get a lot of responses...

I now have an Akitio-based eGPU (Gigabyte GTX770 4GB) connected to my Macbook Pro (2014, nvidia 750m) and I play a lot of Guild Wars 2.

However, after a seemingly random time while gaming Guild Wars 2, the game starts to stutter real bad. Most of the time, the system just crashes with a BSOD, while some times the nvidia driver stops working but recovers itself (the game can still be played but with considerable lag and stutter which is solved with a reboot of the system).

Have any of you had any similar experiences with this?

Does your game start to hang or stutter, or do you experience crashes?

Did you find a way to solve this?

Thanks in advance!

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I doubt whether this is the correct place this question, but I'll make another thread when this seems to get a lot of responses...

I now have an Akitio-based eGPU (Gigabyte GTX770 4GB) connected to my Macbook Pro (2014, nvidia 750m) and I play a lot of Guild Wars 2.

However, after a seemingly random time while gaming Guild Wars 2, the game starts to stutter real bad. Most of the time, the system just crashes with a BSOD, while some times the nvidia driver stops working but recovers itself (the game can still be played but with considerable lag and stutter which is solved with a reboot of the system).

Have any of you had any similar experiences with this?

Does your game start to hang or stutter, or do you experience crashes?

Did you find a way to solve this?

Thanks in advance!

I'm also having the exact same issue. I've tried to use different VGAs, replace the TB cable, replace the riser but the same issue still happens. The exact same configuration was running without error with my old eGPU of Sonnet Echo ExpressCard and PE4L.

There're a few solutions left that I've yet to try: replace the PSU (it has something todo with the voltage), replace the akitio (unlikely) or modding a molex to barrel to supply power to TB board directly, left full 75W for the PCIe slot.

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@juniordiscart & @linh1987

I suggest both of trying NVIDIA an older driver version like the 340.52 and/or 337.91 to see if this stuttering problem persists.

There are much evidence pointing towards lower signal fault tolerance in the newer 344.xx drivers, which can cause the driver to crash, give total black screen or stop responding.

I hope it helps!

EDIT: Please use DDU to uninstall your drivers.

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I doubt whether this is the correct place this question, but I'll make another thread when this seems to get a lot of responses...

I now have an Akitio-based eGPU (Gigabyte GTX770 4GB) connected to my Macbook Pro (2014, nvidia 750m) and I play a lot of Guild Wars 2.

However, after a seemingly random time while gaming Guild Wars 2, the game starts to stutter real bad. Most of the time, the system just crashes with a BSOD, while some times the nvidia driver stops working but recovers itself (the game can still be played but with considerable lag and stutter which is solved with a reboot of the system).

Have any of you had any similar experiences with this?

Does your game start to hang or stutter, or do you experience crashes?

Did you find a way to solve this?

Thanks in advance!

I am sitting here assembling an identical setup to yours. Are there any known directions for soldering the molex to dc plug? I am thinking I could grab a molex>sata plug and figure it out, which I will do tomorrow, but if there are any known directions on how to do this, I'm interested.

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I use a powered riser which power both the akitio board and my 660 (plus a 6-pin PCIe plug) from the same ATX power.

I was thinking that it could be my PSU is old (only 5 years and it's a highend thermaltake 850W) but since there're people who are also having the same issue, the chance that all of our PSUs defected are very small.

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I also doubt that its the PSU. I use a brand new Corsair RM450, and also tested it with an RM750 that came from my old computer. Both giving the same problems.

I tested the 340.52 driver, and still experience the same issues.

I might order a molex-to-barrel adapter to see whether it resolves the problem, but this may still take a while.

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Just an idea… are you using the AKiTiO 50cm TB cable? I switch directly to a Apple 2m cable to place the eGPU on more comfortable area on my desk.

Some people experienced problems with low quality TB cables (can't remember if it was related to the AKiTio one though.

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So here's my story about the new GTX cards 980's and 970's

I originally purchased the EVGA GTX 970 and I was able to work it with AkiTio with no issues (running on OSX) played steam games for whole day, no freezing and stuttering. When the EVGA 980 was available in our local store, I returned my 970s and at the same time had the GTX 780 Ti replaced since I still have a 2 year replacement plan. To my surprise, GTX 980 wont run on my AkiTio......I can't explain.... I wanted to return 980 and get back the 970, but its not available anymore. So for the meantime I just used my 980 on my Sonnet. After a month, no sight of EVGA 970 in our local store, but there were MSIs, ASUS and Gibabyte. So I returned my 980... and tried each one of these brands and non worked!. Until last week, the EVGA GTX 970 became available again. And my AkiTio came back alive again....

I'm not sure what's going on but the only brand of 970 works for my setup is EVGA. I'm baffled why the other brand works in your setup.

Mac Mini

450W Corsair PSU

AkiTio

EVGA 970

LG 31 4K Monitor and 24 Inch Apple Cinema Display.

(I am powering my GPU from PSU, and powering my AkiTio from PSU using the modified molex barrel plug from the original AkiTio power supply) no powered riser used in here

It also works with Sonnet of course. My Sonnet is now listed on eBay. I'm going for the cheapest setup.

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