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


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I tried reinstalling the Nvidia drivers but still the 750 Ti doesn't work. You are right about, it is the EVGA 750 Ti SC without the 6 pin connector.

My Gigabyte 750Ti works with a MacBook Pro Iris on Win8.1 with 6-pin power cable plugged (but doesn't fit inside the enclosure). 750Ti fans spin at full speed before starting the computer, which is quite annoying. The differences are that you use a NUC and your GPU is only PCIe powered.

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Don't take my word for it though, it's just something that I remember from another implementation that I can't find, @Tech Inferno Fan what are your thoughts on this?

Any other GPU from the 7xx-series seem fine though, look at the implementation list.

Do your GPU even show up in device manager?

Yes, it does. However, the system hangs when I restart the NUC after installing the Nvidia graphics drivers.

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Hi there,

I was thinking about the power supply for the AKiTiO Thunder2 PCIe Box. For the moment I see two options for making it work.

1. Use a x16 pcie powered riser for the GPU and if it requires more power, also provide power to the 6-pin or 8-pin of the GPU. Just as Call did in his implementation.

2. Do not use a x16 pcie powered riser, connect the 6-pin or 8-pin pcie power cable to the GPU and create a custom cable for connecting it the AKiTiO box DC input jack. An example of it can be found in the first picture of goalque's post.

So, is there this 3rd option?

3. Do not use a x16 pcie powered riser, connect only the 6-pin or 8-pin pcie power cable to the GPU and create some kind of connector for the daughter board. As it is seen from the picture below the daughter board connector has 2 yellow and 2 black cables, similar to the 4-pin ATX CPU connector. Can the daughter board be powered by a 4-pin ATX CPU connector if the necessary cable soldering/connections are done? I mean cutting the end of an ATX CPU cable, cutting one end of the existing daughter board cable and connecting the loose cables respecting the color of the cables. Will it work?

post-19093-14494998194223_thumb.jpg

I plan on using HDPLEX 250W adapter a MSI GTX 760 mini-ITX graphics card and a Dell PA-9E power adapter together with the AKiTiO box.

Also, I am wondering if the DC input jack can be replaced by the existing one from HDPLEX power adapter, you can see how it looks in the link above. From what I've seen in the pictures posted in this forum, it is doable, but I'd like to know your opinion about this. So, please let me know what you think.

According to my calculations the HDPLEX adapter will fit inside the AKiTiO box together with the GTX 760 graphics card. This way I can keep the enclosure closed and there will be no outsite cables. The Dell adapter will be the only component outside of the box, but I think that will is negligible.

Thanks.

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So, is there this 3rd option?

3. Do not use a x16 pcie powered riser, connect only the 6-pin or 8-pin pcie power cable to the GPU and create some kind of connector for the daughter board. As it is seen from the picture below the daughter board connector has 2 yellow and 2 black cables, similar to the 4-pin ATX CPU connector. Can the daughter board be powered by a 4-pin ATX CPU connector if the necessary cable soldering/connections are done? I mean cutting the end of an ATX CPU cable, cutting one end of the existing daughter board cable and connecting the loose cables respecting the color of the cables. Will it work?

I have actually examined the 3rd option, referring to my earlier question: "Does anyone know why the 4-pin power cable to the thunderbolt card has to be connected when using a powered riser? Lights turn on, but GPU is not detected."

So far, I have no answer. Without this little cable, device manager doesn't see my external GPU when I have powered it with a 12V x16 PCIe raiser. I have measured with a multimeter if there is power coming out from the 4-pin connector on the PCIe board. When power is on through 12V riser (DC barrel plug unattached), both the yellow cable pins are approximately +2V, and blacks seems being ground (0V). But there remains some 0.5-1V voltage even though the whole system is shut down. Therefore, it is possible that this cable has some other meaning as well than just feed power. I am not not an electrical engineer, and I am not going to cut those wires :D So here are more detailed photos for those who are interested

post-28870-14494998195214_thumb.jpg

post-28870-14494998194575_thumb.jpg

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Is it possible to draw a molex cable directly from the solder points on the barrel input connector on the board?

Coupled with the more powerful Dell adpater instead of the standard one of course.

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Is it possible to draw a molex cable directly from the solder points on the barrel input connector on the board?

Coupled with the more powerful Dell adpater instead of the standard one of course.

I searched the internet for a cable that would fit the daughter board power connector and the closest one I found is the floppy drive power connector. There is also a molex to floppy connector converter that can be easily used with an ATX power supply. Image below.

post-19093-14494998197032_thumb.jpg

The issue is this cable doesn't have the same pinout as the daughter board power connector.

According to the pinout in the image below; the floppy connector has 4 pins (left to right as seen in the image): red, black, black, yellow. These pins provide: +5V, ground, ground +12V. The power connector on the daughter board is yellow, yellow, black, black which means +12V, +12V, ground, ground.

post-19093-14494998197182_thumb.jpg

At least this cable can be used to experiment, to cut the wires and connect them to the molex black an yellow pins.

Goalque, can you test this setup?

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At least this cable can be used to experiment, to cut the wires and connect them to the molex black an yellow pins.

Goalque, can you test this setup?

I quickly made a test cable (+12V, +12V, ground, ground) using a C-LINK cable from my modular Corsair ATX PSU, which has identical pins but the connector is different (I was able to fit it just enough to feed power). Other end connected to the 12V Molex. These are the results:

- power from self made 4-pin cable to the TB card -> GPU NOT detected in device manager (lights turn on, blue thunderbolt light too)

- power from self made 4-pin cable to the TB card + powered PCIe by 12V molex riser -> the same as above

- power from self made 4-pin cable to the TB card + self made barrel plug attached -> GPU detected, external screen works, but no Optimus

- power from barrel plug + 4-pin original cable attached at both ends as it should be -> GPU detected, Optimus detected

All of these tests done by using a x16 PCIe riser (molex plugged/unplugged) + Gigabyte 750Ti + its 6-pin power.

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Cool!

A powered riser seems redudant then.

If there is any interest I could make a tutorial for you guys how to make a proper "DA-2 to PCIe adapter" cable that could be used for the Thunderbox (with minimum or none modification to the DA-2 itself)?

Of course a closed enclosure would require modding.

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I searched the internet for a cable that would fit the daughter board power connector and the closest one I found is the floppy drive power connector. There is also a molex to floppy connector converter that can be easily used with an ATX power supply.

What I meant, is if it is possible to just draw a 6-pin pci power cable directly from the solder points on the barrel input somehow, in order to feed the GPU card.

Like the picture below.

Then you can just use the dell adapter in order to provide enough power, and leave everything else stock (with the exception of the 6-pin cable mod ofc).

I'm no electrical engineer, so It may be a far fetched idea.

x54487.jpg

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[ATTACH=CONFIG]12296[/ATTACH]

Can you take a photo of the reverse side of this board? I'm specifically looking to see if there are tracks leading from the DC jack to the PCIe slot.

From the picture you have above, there are no power tracks leading to the PCIe slot from the DC jack. Instead, 12V power is routed via the TB board and what looks to be back out via the small edge connector to the PCIe board. A picture of the reverse side of DC jack/PCIe slot board would confirm that.

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Can you take a photo of the reverse side of this board? I'm specifically looking to see if there are tracks leading from the DC jack to the PCIe slot.

From the picture you have above, there are no power tracks leading to the PCIe slot from the DC jack. Instead, 12V power is routed via the TB board and what looks to be back out via the small edge connector to the PCIe board. A picture of the reverse side of DC jack/PCIe slot board would confirm that.

post-28870-14494998197618_thumb.jpg

I cannot see any power tracks leading to the PCIe slot, but according to my tests there has to be a connection that is not clearly visible (on the edges or inside the board). When I remove the DC barrel plug in the case where power comes also from self made 4-pin cable to the TB card, Windows crashes. A barrel plug is compulsory in order to detect GPU when not using a powered PCIe riser. It may be possible to solder 12V power points beginning from DC jack, but I don't recommend it. More practical and safe is to use an adapter to barrel plug with correct polarity and voltage.

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I cannot see any power tracks leading to the PCIe slot, but according to my tests there has to be a connection that is not clearly visible (on the edges or inside the board). When I remove the DC barrel plug in the case where power comes also from self made 4-pin cable to the TB card, Windows crashes. A barrel plug is compulsory in order to detect GPU when not using a powered PCIe riser. It may be possible to solder 12V power points beginning from DC jack, but I don't recommend it. More practical and safe is to use an adapter to barrel plug with correct polarity and voltage.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]12296[/ATTACH]

Your test confirms that the DC jack supplies direct power into the PCIe slot, which is the simplest and most appropriate routing for where a large portion of power goes.

I too don't see any tracks leading to the 12V pci-e slot pins. More likely then is they are using a hidden 12V plane on the multilayer board. 12V coming in via the DC jack, then applying the C2 fuse to route it the hidden layer.

Please do a continuity test to the 12V pcie port pin2 (either side) to what looks like a fuse point (C2) bottom edge to confirm. Ref http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_Express. Also do a continuity test from the 12V 4-pin input jack (J4). They might be routing down via those pins as well.

If C2 is a fuse then it would be a problem The fuse would stop power once it gets over 25W, requiring a solder bridge across it, or the C4 that looks to mirror it, as a workaround. That may explain why GTX750 cards without pci-e slot power don't work and we've had some limited success with other cards. 25W would give hit-and-miss results. We need to be able to supply up to 75W to the pcie slot per PCI SIG spec.

As mentioned, the yellow/black cable runs 12V to TB board. It supplies power for the TB circuitry. There it would be stepped down to 3.3V for components, and 18V/10W per TB port as bus power. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunderbolt_%28interface%29

So given the 60W AC adapter, 25W is specced for the pcie slot. Sounds about right. 10W + 10W for the Thunderbolt ports, 10W for the TB circuit components, 5W for losses due to conversion adds to 35W, leaving 25W for the slot.

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Your test confirms that the DC jack supplies direct power into the PCIe slot, which is the simplest and most appropriate routing for where a large portion of power goes.

I too don't see any tracks leading to the 12V pci-e slot pins. More likely then is they are using a hidden 12V plane on the multilayer board. 12V coming in via the DC jack, then applying the C2 fuse to route it the hidden layer.

Please do a continuity test to the 12V pcie port pin2 (either side) to what looks like a fuse point (C2) bottom edge to confirm. Ref PCI Express - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Also do a continuity test from the 12V 4-pin input jack (J4). They might be routing down via those pins as well.

If C2 is a fuse then it would be a problem The fuse would stop power once it gets over 25W, requiring a solder bridge across it, or the C4 that looks to mirror it, as a workaround. That may explain why GTX750 cards without pci-e slot power don't work and we've had some limited success with other cards. 25W would give hit-and-miss results. We need to be able to supply up to 75W to the pcie slot per PCI SIG spec.

As mentioned, the yellow/black cable runs 12V to TB board. It supplies power for the TB circuitry. There it would be stepped down to 3.3V for components, and 18V/10W per TB port as bus power. Thunderbolt (interface) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

So given the 60W AC adapter, 25W is specced for the pcie slot. Sounds about right. 10W + 10W for the Thunderbolt ports, 10W for the TB circuit components, 5W for losses due to conversion adds to 35W, leaving 25W for the slot.

Thank you very much for your analysis!! :) I did those continuity tests with a multimeter. Wasn't sure what is the PCIe port pin2 on the board solder points, so I plugged in PCIe riser half way to be able to touch the correct golden finger. And of course all the power off, when doing continuity test. The result was a very short beep sound, so there is continuity from both C2 (upper & lower pad) and J4 (both 12V pins) to the PCIe port pin2. How can we be sure whether the C2 is power limiting fuse? I try to be very careful when doing these tests so that I won't break anything... It would be great to bypass that likely 25W limit.

EDIT: clarified with bolded text

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Thank you very much for your analysis!! :) I did those continuity tests with a multimeter. Wasn't sure what is the PCIe port pin2 on the board solder points, so I plugged in PCIe riser half way to be able to touch the correct golden finger. And of course all the power off, when doing continuity test. The result was a beep sound, so there is continuity from both C2 and J4 12V pins to the PCIe port pin2. How can we be sure whether the C2 is power limiting fuse? I try to be very careful when doing these tests so that I won't break anything... It would be great to bypass that likely 25W limit.

Easiest is to put the multimeter probe in the PCIe slot pin2. That is 12V on either side of the slot as shown at :: ST-Service ( . Then probe on the circuit to see where that 12V point starts. If it starts on the upper side of the C2 component, then the 12V is straight through from the DC jack. If it's from the bottom side of C2 then C2 is a fuse which detects power draw and shuts down if it exceeds the fuse rating, presumably 25W.

Another basic test, if the bottom side of C2 is GND then it's not a fuse but rather something else.

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Easiest is to put the multimeter probe in the PCIe slot pin2. That is 12V on either side of the slot as shown at :: ST-Service ( . Then probe on the circuit to see where that 12V point starts. If it starts on the upper side of the C2 component, then the 12V is straight through from the DC jack. If it's from the bottom side of C2 then C2 is a fuse which detects power draw and shuts down if it exceeds the fuse rating, presumably 25W.

Another basic test, if the bottom side of C2 is GND then it's not a fuse but rather something else.

What is "upper" and "bottom" side of the C2? I was only able to make beep sound by touching the PCIe riser 2nd gold finger, and randomly. Changing the direction (black/red probe) or restarting the multimeter may help to make sound again. Touching also C3 or the base of DC jack gave a beep sound occasionally when the other probe was touching PCIe 2nd gold finger, does it proof something?

EDIT: I was also able to make a short beep sound by touching 2nd PCIe solder point on the rear side without using PCIe riser, but easier to test when both continuity test points are on the same side.

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[ATTACH=CONFIG]12296[/ATTACH]

What is "upper" and "bottom" side of the C2? I was only able to make beep sound by touching the PCIe riser 2nd gold finger, and randomly. Changing the direction (black/red probe) or restarting the multimeter may help to make sound again. Touching also C3 or the base of DC jack gave a beep sound occasionally when the other probe was touching PCIe 2nd gold finger, does it proof something?

I refer to C2 upper and lower pad positions as orientated in the above pic that you posted.

Upper is connected to the input 12V DC.

Lower we don't know. Is it GND or is it 12V after the fuse? You can do a continuity test of that point with the screwhole to see if it's GND or against the 12V pci-e slot pin2 to see if it's fused 12V.

If C2 is a fuse, then it would need bridging to allow higher power through it.

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I refer to C2 upper and lower pad positions as orientated in the above pic that you posted.

Upper is connected to the input 12V DC.

Lower we don't know. Is it GND or is it 12V after the fuse? You can do a continuity test of that point with the screwhole to see if it's GND or against the 12V pci-e slot pin2 to see if it's fused 12V.

If C2 is a fuse, then it would need bridging to allow higher power through it.

Red arrows on the picture represent multimeter's red probes and black arrows are black probes. Red ellipses are +12V and blacks are ground except the C2 where multimeter shows -12V. Yellow rectangle is the 2nd golden finger of PCIe x16 riser. Any thoughts about this? Thanks!

post-28870-14494998198349_thumb.jpg

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Red arrows on the picture represent multimeter's red probes and black arrows are black probes. Red ellipses are +12V and blacks are ground except the C2 where multimeter shows -12V. Yellow rectangle is the 2nd golden finger of PCIe x16 riser. Any thoughts about this? Thanks!

[ATTACH=CONFIG]12307[/ATTACH]

Please put your black probe on the screwhole to the right of C2 (GND). Then touch your red probe against the other test points to get the voltage readings there. Curious to know the voltage readings on either side of C2 and the 2nd PCIe pin. There is an unexplained 1V offset in your previous measurements.

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Please put your black probe on the screwhole to the right of C2 (GND). Then touch your red probe against the other test points to get the voltage readings there. Curious to know the voltage readings on either side of C2 and the 2nd PCIe pin. There is an unexplained 1V offset in your previous measurements.

I got the following results by using the original 12V/5A power adapter only and PCIe riser half way plugged + black probe on the screw hole, without thunderbolt card, without graphics card:

test point -> voltage

C3 -> 12.3V left side, 0V right side

C2 -> 0V lower, 12.3V upper

C4 -> 12.3V lower, 0V upper

J6 -> from down to up 0V, 0V, 12.3V, 12.3V

2nd PCIe pin -> 0.36V

That -1V offset value was less earlier, got -0.7 and -0.8 readings and it looked like to grow, and the other 11V changed respectively. I think this is the point where I stop my multimeter testing, because I don't want to blow up my board :D It is still working properly, Optimus enabled.

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I got the following results by using the original 12V/5A power adapter only and PCIe riser half way plugged + black probe on the screw hole, without thunderbolt card, without graphics card:

test point -> voltage

C3 -> 12.3V left side, 0V right side

C2 -> 0V lower, 12.3V upper

C4 -> 12.3V lower, 0V upper

J6 -> from down to up 0V, 0V, 12.3V, 12.3V

2nd PCIe pin -> 0.36V

That -1V offset value was less earlier, got -0.7 and -0.8 readings and it looked like to grow, and the other 11V changed respectively. I think this is the point where I stop my multimeter testing, because I don't want to blow up my board :D It is still working properly, Optimus enabled.

So what is the conclusion after all this testing? I thought it was established a few pages back that the 25 W slot with a PSU (with 6 and/or 8 pin plugs) was enough by itself? Thanks for taking the time to do this by the way.

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So what is the conclusion after all this testing? I thought it was established a few pages back that the 25 W slot with a PSU (with 6 and/or 8 pin plugs) was enough by itself? Thanks for taking the time to do this by the way.

Tech Inferno Fan can give answers, because my knowledge of electronics is very basic. I am very interested in the 25W PCIe limit existence. Some GPUs apparently need 75W from the x16 PCIe slot, I was lucky with EVGA GTX 780 and Gigabyte 750Ti.

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So what is the conclusion after all this testing? I thought it was established a few pages back that the 25 W slot with a PSU (with 6 and/or 8 pin plugs) was enough by itself? Thanks for taking the time to do this by the way.

Personally, I want to configure the enclosure to be powered by a single power source without any cables on the outside. So, this testing provides more insight how that can be done. I have a couple of theories, but due to my lack of knowledge in electronics and circuitry, I am not sure if those will work. Awaiting nando's answer as I too can't make a conclusion looking at the test results.

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