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


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"The guy" with the undetected GPU could be any reason... please link! Could be a "beginner", AMD card user, power riser user,....

This is the post: http://forum.techinferno.com/enclosures-adapters/7205-us%24189-akitio-thunder2-pcie-box-16gbps-tb2-14.html#post103266

its by @goalque and he seems pretty knowledgeable about this stuff. I was wondering because i was thinking about doing something similar to him (giving the akitio 4pin +12 +12 GND GND directly) but it seems that won't work?

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@Orowheat: Yeah indeed, that helps to understand the context you are referring to. :D

I can say that the following worked for me:

- only using a powered riser (no barrel mod or any other power)

- only using a barrel mod (no powered riser)

A friend made a mod by giving power directly onto the PCB where the barrel housing is soldered on to (AKiTiO PCB).

Edit: In theory your idea should work. Because power can be provided into both directions. Could you explain why you want to provide power from that point on? A barrel mod is no option? Or directly soldering wires to the soldering points of the barrel housing (backside of the PCB).

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A friend made a mod by giving power directly onto the PCB where the barrel housing is soldered on to (AKiTiO PCB).

Edit: In theory your idea should work. Because power can be provided into both directions. Could you explain why you want to provide power from that point on? A barrel mod is no option? Or directly soldering wires to the soldering points of the barrel housing (backside of the PCB).

I plan to remove one of the akitio boards completely (the pcie board not the thunderbolt one) to make the design more compact. Thus any interaction with the original barrel plug would have to be cut off the original akitio boards which I don't want to do in case I want to restore original functionality. I hope that made sense.

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Hello guys and gals,

I wan't to get a Egpu for my rig, as with 35 years I started playing 1 game which my Iris isn't capable running it not even close to what I want. (I know it sounds silly :) )

Egpu will be used on windows 8.1 only and on internal display.

I already ordered Akitio Thunder 2 and I'm planing on buying this card ASUS GTX970-DCMOC-4GD5 as I want to stuff it into the Akitio box.

Does any one have experience wtih this Gpu ?

I plan to remove Akitio psu to get some room for 300W mini PSU (I hope this will be enough) Hopefully I will be able to stuff everything inside the Akitio box (fingers crossed) ?

I read a lot of threads here but I'm still confused on the part with the powered PCie riser cable ( my understanding I then don't need to power supply the Akitio) ?

Anyways I will be updating this threads when the parts start arriving and hopefully you guys can give me some advice / recommendations regarding my build.

System specs

MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014)

2.2 GHz Intel Core i7

16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3

Intel Iris Pro 1536 MB

OS1: OS X El Capitan

OS2: Win 8.1 Bootcamp from my external SSD on USB 3.0

Egpu specs 10.11

Akitio thunder 2

ASUS GTX970-DCMOC-4GD5

300w PSU

TB2 cable

Powered PCie riser 16x

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Powered riser cables aren't recommended and can cause stability problems. Still… they give you the option to get some "space" between the GPU and the AKiTiO (so you will not be able to fit THAT into the AKiTiO). Powered risres can power the card AND the AKiTiO through the slot, but the 6/8-Pin PCIe plugs on the card have to be used as well.

Any Asus card will be too wide to fit into the AKiTiO anyway...

You can use a 220W Dell DA-2 PSU, which is external, passive and works well for any card up to the GTX970.

Most questions can be answered here: http://forum.techinferno.com/apple-egpu-discussion/10061-basic-egpu-hardware-guide-macs.html

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Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. So no riser cable. But how do I provide the 75W needed trough Pcie ?

With a barrel plug mod? You will have to use a "powerful" PSU anyway. So why not use it for powering the AKiTiO through the barrel plug? AKiTiO itself said that it is no problem! And the written limitations in the specs reffer to industry standards.

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So If I understand correctly in the Akitio , the limitation is the original psu. So If i power it with a more powerful psu the PCIE will have enough power. But why the ugly barrel plug ? Why not solder it directly to have the clean look without any cables exposed ?

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Of course you can solder it the way you want it to… the barrel mod is just "non-destructive" for the AKiTiO. :D

Some people like to keep the hardware as original as possible (warrenty...).

By powering the AKiTiO you can provide up to 75W for the GPU.

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Ok so I ran some tests similar to the ones that goalque ran (akitio 4p is 2.54 pitch rectangular). My results are similar to his in that unless the barrel plug circuit gets power somehow nothing works. This makes no sense to me because @Tech Inferno Fan wrote that there is no electrical connection between the barrel and the pcie slot. Could the capacitors attached to the barrel plug be of some significance? Can anyone shed more light on this situation?

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Ok so I ran some tests similar to the ones that goalque ran (akitio 4p is 2.54 pitch rectangular). My results are similar to his in that unless the barrel plug circuit gets power somehow nothing works. This makes no sense to me because @Tech Inferno Fan wrote that there is no electrical connection between the barrel and the pcie slot. Could the capacitors attached to the barrel plug be of some significance? Can anyone shed more light on this situation?

That's because the Thunderbolt to PCIe adapter board needs power(roughly 30 watts). It also needs power to run the fan.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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Hi guys, i'm new in this forum. I'm sorry if this isn't the right place in which i have to ask this question, but i saw this thread about Akitio and i have a little question about it. I'm from Italy (I'm sorry for my bad english) and I found one of this thunder2 pcie box from USA, but in the title of the article there's written "without pci express card". Now, i don't know what that means. It's just telling that there is no GPU included? But that sounds too obvious to me... or it means that's missing another component that i'll need in my eGPU setup? I know that maybe it's a stupid question, but i'm so inexperienced with this kind of things and before throwing money i'd like to have some help :)

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Hi guys, i'm new in this forum. I'm sorry if this isn't the right place in which i have to ask this question, but i saw this thread about Akitio and i have a little question about it. I'm from Italy (I'm sorry for my bad english) and I found one of this thunder2 pcie box from USA, but in the title of the article there's written "without pci express card". Now, i don't know what that means. It's just telling that there is no GPU included? But that sounds too obvious to me... or it means that's missing another component that i'll need in my eGPU setup? I know that maybe it's a stupid question, but i'm so inexperienced with this kind of things and before throwing money i'd like to have some help :)

"Without PCIe express card" means it's an empty chassis. You add your own PCIe express card such as a video card. Suggest review http://forum.techinferno.com/apple-egpu-discussion/10061-basic-egpu-hardware-guide-macs.html#post134191

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Ok, so the akitio is empty because there isn't a pcie card (that in my case is my gpu) but anyway it has the pci female connector that i need to put there my gpu, right? Thank you for the hardware guide, it's been very useful also for the PSU info! And thank you for the help :)

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Ok, so the akitio is empty because there isn't a pcie card (that in my case is my gpu) but anyway it has the pci female connector that i need to put there my gpu, right? Thank you for the hardware guide, it's been very useful also for the PSU info! And thank you for the help :)

Yeah, it has the female PCIe connector you'll need for connecting your GPU. Though, to provide enough power for the GPU, you'll need to replace the stock power supply with a 12 volt 10 amp power supply. That will give you 75 watts of power, which is the maximum amount of power a PCIe slot can provide. If you need more than 75 watts of power, you'll need another power supply, and depending on the power supply, you'll need a 12v barrel to molex adapter. If you can't find a 12v barrel to molex adapter, you could use a molex power supply. By the way, both of the power supplies I've mentioned look like laptop power supplies, which is good for portability.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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"without pci express card" is just advertising the product. They show the AKiTiO with some examples like PCIe cards inside the Thunder2, but of course don't sell it together!

It's like advertising a nice house and placing a sports car in front of it to make it more attractive, but of course they will just sell the house and the car is not included -> "without sports car".

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8 amps? How is that sufficient? Unless you're using a lesser card than a GT 740, you'll need a better power supply, unless you're using the included power supply for the Akitio board and the 8 amp power supply for the graphics card. In that case, you must be using a barrel to molex adapter. Which barrel->molex adapter are you using?

Also, how would you suggest transporting it? Would you worry about the graphics card's PCIe connector breaking in transport?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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Just new to this as my business partner purchased one of these Bizon 2 Boxes. I can confirm it is JUST an AKitio Thunderbolt 2 and a standard ATX power connector like you see in the pictures and whatever else is needed to run but does not contain anything that can't not be found here. The Item is from Russia but the seller claimed to be in America. All packaging is covered in Russian writing. Now i do have to say it is almost a plug and play device. Installation on OS X is as simple as running a command that he includes with the device. I do not have the command but as far as i remember it was just to enable something though thunderbolt on Apple Devices. This was purchased originally to be used as a On Set DIT Portable station. For those who are not in the film industry. it stands for Digital Imaging Technician. I'm not sure if this comment is helpful but the reason I'm writing is because even though it works and just works like a charm for what we do. i feel like it was a rip off. 1) I paid for half of it without knowing... then when we got it i realised it was an Akitio Thunder2 PCIe Box 2) Its Expensive as hell. All up its was $1700 Australian Dollars for the box and the GTX980 (postage included) equivalent of $1200 USD

Nando4 you should have patented this and stop that guy from taking advantage of dumb business men like my friend. I feel so ripped off but then we have been using it nonstop and actually making money from the DIT services provided... but I'm still mad at him for spending that much. again sorry if this info is not helpful

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2) Its Expensive as hell. All up its was $1700 Australian Dollars for the box and the GTX980 (postage included) equivalent of $1200 USD

Nando4 you should have patented this and stop that guy from taking advantage of dumb business men like my friend. I feel so ripped off but then we have been using it nonstop and actually making money from the DIT services provided... but I'm still mad at him for spending that much. again sorry if this info is not helpful

Sry to hear your negative experience with Bizon. http://forum.techinferno.com/enclosures-adapters/10193-rip-off-alert-bizon-box-2-overpriced-modified-akitio-thunder2-enclosure.html is a warning to our users to stay well away!

Bizon erases any such warnings off his youtube advert. AKiTiO are aware of his product but AFAIK would be limited what they can do to an operator out of Russia.

Maybe try clawing back some money with the suggestions at http://forum.techinferno.com/enclosures-adapters/10193-rip-off-alert-bizon-box-2-overpriced-modified-akitio-thunder2-enclosure-3.html#post147018 ? If you've paid with Paypal could certainly make a claim based on misleading advertising. The worst that would happen is spend 5 minutes writing a report about it. The best would be a partial refund to what the product is really worth. Otherwise I can sympathize with the pain of the blatant rip off here.

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