dj_khalsa

For the high-end graphic card (like GTX 780, etc), the card is powered by 6/8 pins PSU. For them, is the "PCIe power" still required?

Hi,

I have a EVGA 750 Ti SC installed in the Thunder2 PCIe Box and connected to the Intel Thunderbolt NUC with Win8.1/EFI.

The Thunder2 PCIe Box powers up fine and the 750 Ti is detected by the NUC. I can install the latest Nvidia graphics drivers but the system hangs after a reboot.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]12091[/ATTACH]

The NUC can boot up with Thunder2 PCIe Box unplugged. Uninstalling the Nvidia graphics drivers also allows the NUC to boot up with the Thunder2 PCIe Box attached.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]12092[/ATTACH]

Any advice on how to solve this problem?

Is there a compatibility issue between the Thunderbolt1 port on the NUC and the Thunderbolt2 port on the Thunder2 PCIe Box?

Or the 60W power supply not providing enough power to Thunder2 PCIe Box + 750 Ti? A 12V/10A 120W power supply is on its way.

Its mostly the power suppy issue. Let us know the updates once you get your 120W PSU

That is assuming the 16x PCIe slot is fused and cannot provide more than 25W. The provided 60W power supply suggests otherwise. I will get the 16x PCIe Powered Riser to try but the setup will not be neat and tidy.

Mini PC - Intel® NUC Kit DC3217BY

Even if you are able to provide 60W via the included power supply, when the card is in actual use and processing graphics (games, etc) - it will definately be requiring more power. Hence the only solution is to get a PSU and a 16x powered riser.

I understand that it will not be neat, but you might be able to cover the riser within the thunder2 pci-e box and just a single PSU (molex?) wire getting into the box.

If you continue without PSU, it might damage your NUC.

Waiting for the pics for current setup with the card inside the box

Also, can you post pics of your current setup?

gtx750ti power 60w, akitio pcie maximum power 25W, PSU is in need.

True ... you will need a 16x POWERED riser after a PSU

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I received the 750 Ti yesterday. Installed it into the Thunder2 PCIe Box and connected it to my Intel Thunderbolt NUC with Win 8.1/EFI (it is the only Thunderbolt system that I have at the moment).

The card is detected by Win 8.1 and I can install the Nvidia graphics drivers. However, the NUC hangs after a reboot. Unplugging the Thunder2 PCIe Box allows the NUC to boot normally.

Uninstalling the graphics drivers also allows the NUC to boot normally with the Thunder2 PCIe Box attached.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]12090[/ATTACH]

Not sure what the problem is. Will start a new thread, hopefully I can get some advice on how to solve this issue.

What's NUC?

I ordered it from one of AKiTiO's online resellers before it was available on Amazon.

Hey, did you get a chance to test?

Here you go.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]12044[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]12045[/ATTACH]

Don't think the front grill can be removed.

About 5 to 7 days more before I get hold of the GPU.

Thanks, it confirms that I need a 16x PCI-e Riser

Also, did you get this from Amazon OR B&H? Amazon have increased their price to 270$

Just received the Thunder2 PCIe Box.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]12043[/ATTACH]

Unfortunately, I am still waiting for my EVGA GTX 750 Ti SC and 12V/10A power adapter to arrive before I can start testing.

At-least I got to see the innards in more detail. Can you also remove the front grill? I want to see if I can use inside my case OR I require a 16x riser/extender. Can you provide more pics from different angles?

Also, how long before you get the GPU?

Great minds think alike! I'm definitely looking for a more affordable graphics card around the GTX 660/760 area so I hopefully won't have problems with the side of the case. For that low price tag, this seems like the best, near universal solution to put an eGPU in a nice package! Out of curiosity, how do you get the setup to power on/off? Did you investigate using the case switch at all? I know it would need to be a specific type of switch to get it to work for power on AND power off, but I'd be interested in solution you may have other than my aforementioned paper clip and using a PSU with a switch plan.

For the power, I simply use PSU's on/off switch. No pins, hacks, etc

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Did anyone ordered/tested AKiTiO's thunderbolt solution?

I actually have the exact same case, but why did your GC bulge out the side? mine fit's nicely inside.

Did you get the power button to work with the PE4L switch? I tried hooking it up, but i would press the button, it would turn on, but then when I released the button, it would turn off. I would love to get the button to work. Also, I wish I had a longer cable to connect it to my laptop!

Coz mine is an "AMP" edition which means custom card.

Also power is a simple matter of PSU switch. Inside, everything is set to the optimal settings.

I'd actually be interested in seeing how easily you could remove the board from the chassis and put it into a small ITX case that would support a full size ATX PSU and most modern GPUs. And it would also look a lot cleaner than leaving it lying around. I was considering this ITX case. It fits full-size graphics cards up to 343mm/13.5 inches in length and has a nice cooling system. Wondering if maybe the power button can be wired to the PSU, but if not could just use the paperclip method and use a PSU with a switch. It's also nice to see there is a dedicated grommet for wiring. For $45 bucks seems like a nice way to clean up a setup.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]12024[/ATTACH]

I already did that using this same case!

My GPU was bulging out a bit so I cut the side, applied rubber borders & added a nice acrylic and it looked even more cool that it was before

According to the specs of the Akitio Thunder2PCIe Box, the slot only provides 25Watt of power. A normal PCIe slot, on say a traditional motherboard with CPU, delivers 75watt of base power. So to fully power a GFX card in the Akitio, an additional power source should be connected to the PCIe slot: the molex connector. I doubt that delivering that extra 50 watt through the 6pin and 8pin connectors instead of the molex will work.

My GPU (GTX 680) requires ~ 250 W. I am not talking about the power it gets via 6/8 pins from the PSU. I am talking about the power required at the base (PCIe Slot of the card). Implementing eGPU with PE4L did not have such requirements. For it, I just powered the PE4L board (does that provided the power to PCIe slots of the GPU?)

So i been wanting to get into egpu systems and was wondering if there was any cheaper way of connecting a 780 ti to a notebook than than a Echo Express III-D and Mac book pro retina? Is there any cheaper laptop with thunderbolt 2 and any cheaper way of connecting the 780 ti? I would be ok with building my own enclosure but I would need to know what adapters to buy.

I'm new sorry if I broke any rules.

The current cheapest way for Thunderbolt 2 is to use Akiti​o Thun​der2P​CIe Box

Just 201$

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Nando4,

I am wondering why does PCIe slot in the card requires power? The graphics card itself is powered by 6/8 pins from the PSU, but I have seen 16x risers with Molex power too!

This means they are not going to help you to get it going. It doesn't mean it's technically not capable of being used for an eGPU. We've got plenty of examples of TB enclosures being more than capable of hosting an eGPU: http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/6578-implementations-thunderbolt-expresscard-mpcie-egpus.html#Thunderbolt . Most of those are not plug'n'play. It means they are towing the Intel line of "not supported for video cards".

Ok Then, I dont think its ever tested by the community, so I am going to purchase and test out myself

One more Q - Being a TB2 technology, will this work for TB1? Meaning my MBA will max out the thunderbolt bandwidth it has?

I received a notice saying that the Akitio Thunder2 PCIe Box has been shipped from the supplier so stocks are already available.

Do let us know your experiences when you get it

The Firmtek Thundertek will double bandwidth. This will certainly improve performance as can be seen at http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/3062-%5Bguide%5D-2012-13-mbp-gtx660ti-hd7870%40x2-2-th05.html#post42483 . However, I recommend you consider the Akitio adapter for the same price instead: http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/6858-%5Bguide%5D-14-asus-g46vw-gtx670%4010gbps-tb1-thundertek-3d-enclosure-5.html#post98210 . It has a TB2 chip on it. Meaning, you'd have the option of upgrading from your 2012 MBA to a 2013 13/15" rMBP to increase bandwidth again from 10Gbps to 16Gbps.

Thanks a lot for the valuable suggestion. Definately a no-brainer since the bandwidth is (somewhat) futureproof. However in the description of the item, it clearly mentions 2 things:

1. Does NOT support graphic cards

2. This Thunderbolt product is NOT compatible with Apple's Boot Camp.

Does this mean that it does not "officially" support OR some hack is required to make it into eGPU host?

Hi Nando4,

Is there any way to find if the bandwidth of 5GBps (using PE4L) is getting bottlenecked apart from low FPS in heavy graphic games? Is it worth to upgrade to 10 GBPs using firmtek adapter ($199)?

I am using eGPU in 2012 MBA with PE4L V2.1b + Sonnet Echo express pro

Hello Nando,

It has been a while since I dropped by into this forum to say Hi

I have already build my eGPU on MBA 13.3". Its using 5GBPS PE4L. My DX11 benchmark score is 6000. I am using GTX 680, so obv its bottle-necked!!

My Q - what is more beneficial to increase the graphics processing:

a. Upgrade my eGPU setup to use 10 GBPS bandwidth

or

b. Build a complete desktop PC (for utilizing the entire bandwidth)??

How much % boost should I expect in both?

Hi if all other games work fine,then try to look in the game laucher, there are few options like "full screen" and "exclusive fullscreen", not quite sure if it'll work but might be worth try cheking-uncheking those...

Yup, I already tried that option too, but no use

Issue is that the external screen uses only iGPU, not the eGPU!

Hi Nando4,

Is there an issue with internal screen video not being able to be used on external monitor?

I am using GTX 680 eGPU on MBA 13.3" (iGPU = HD4000) and when playing Tomb Raider on internal screen, I am getting decent frame rates (~ 60FPS on high settings). However on external screen either:

1. The game does not start (crashes before even starting)

2. Starting the game on internal monitor and redirecting the video to external monitor (via Windows + P key - and external monitor only option) plays the game on iGPU (instead of eGPU).

3. Changing the settings (on windowed mode) on external screen (once game is started) gives the options of iGPU settings. Nvidia control panel too does NOT have any 3D settings, etc options available.

Is there a known issue OR there is something more I need to do?

PS - All other games works perfectly fine on external monitor using eGPU.

Hey Nando,

Sonnet Express EchoPro is a PCIe Gen2 expresscard to thunderbolt (which gives 5 Gbit/s | 500 MB/s), whereas PE4L supports Gen3 (which is 8 Gbit/s | 984.6 MB/s)

So, if sonnet (or any other vendor) releases PCIe Gen3 expresscard to thunderbolt adapter, can we use entire setup with current PE4L to achieve increased bandwidth? In-fact, are there any such adapter currently available?

Hey Nando,

Is the x1 pci-e compression only for Direct X 9 ???

What about DX 10 and 11?

Hey dj_khalsa,

nice case, since your Zotac GTX 680 is more or less equal with my Zotax GTX 770, I I would like to know your benchmark results. If it is possible...

Sure, however since my RAM and Processor are limited, the overall score is not that high, but the graphics score is respectable (I guess )

3D Mark 11

3D Mark 06

I have completed assembling my eGPU setup comprising of [gtx680] + [PE4L] + [sonnet Echo Pro] + [2012 MBA] + [Windows 8.1]

The most beautiful thing is that it did not give any error (12/43,etc) on Win 8.1 (my initial attempt was on Win 8 which gave me error 12).

Also I've brought cooler master elite 120 case and modded it a bit to accomodate the bulging out of the GPU via cutting one side of the case and adding an acrylic sheet on it. Although its a full fledged case for mini ITX form factor, using it for just an eGPU is cool since its not that huge and also I am going to keep on my computer desk where space will not be an issue.

Let me know if some one wants detailed steps I followed. Special thanks to Tech Inferno Fan and all the other members of this community

Pics of Case:

Benchmark results

Sure, however since my RAM and Processor are limited, the overall score is not that high, but the graphics score is respectable (I guess )

3D Mark 11

3D Mark 06

Hi Nando,

I am done with my setup which is same as Kloper's [PE4L] + [sonnet Echo Express Pro] + [MBA] + [GTX 680]

Now that I am using much faster GPU (gtx 680) v/s that of Kloper's (gtx 570), the benchmarking results are confusing.

For 3D mark 11 - I have P6037 v/s Kloper's P4900 - which is as expected (due to faster GPU), but ...

For 3D mark 6 - I have 16843 v/s kloper's 19921 - which is wrong/something missing!?

Now, I understand that the overall result is based on both CPU + GPU, and Kloper have a faster CPU (i7) compared to mine (i5), but if you see the result of the graphics along (in detailed scrores) you will see that my graphics FPS is < Kloper's (for 3D mark 6 only).

What is going on here? Since the score is > 15k I am confident that both of us have optimus compression working. Also, my eGPU is working @ PCIe Gen 2 @ x1 link.

Can you please assist if I am missing something??