Jamie1986

Hi guys,

Just a quick question. If I use my Sonnet SE II daisy chain port to use my Ethernet adapter, what potential effect would there be on my graphics solution (I use a 780TI on an external monitor instead of Optimus).

It all works and I haven't noticed any difference during normal gaming sessions but I would like to hear the theory behind it.

Thanks,

Jamie

How do you turn on the power?

Just turning on the Macbook Pro with the Thunderbolt plugged in, everything spins up.

All,

Everything is working great in my setup.

13" 2013 MBP i7 16GB RAM with GTX 780TI connected using SEL.

A big word of warning - do not use the thunderbolt cable shipped with the SEL - it's AWFUL. I was only getting approx 350MiB between host and device - and only PCI 2.0 x16 @ x1 2.0 !!!! When using the legit apple cable it increased to the bandwidths and bus speed you would expect.

Hey juniordiscart,

I've been speaking to squinks over PM - Actually it turns out there is the ATX power loop - it's a little white cable in there on the right pins. squinks is going to update his guidelines to include this.

Anyway - progressing well on this side - just trying to do the magical bootup dance to get Optimus to work!

Edit: The stars just aligned and it worked! The trick was to boot up and shutdown without it connected at all.

Thanks again juniordiscart,

That does make sense however I can not see it on squinks' pictures using the same power supply so I'm hesitant to try it without his final confirmation

If this doesn't work I am pretty convinced my issue is around drivers and OS as the card over Thunderbolt isn't recognised - I've attempted to fix the problem repairing bootcamp support drivers but to no avail - next step I feel is to do a fresh install of Windows - maybe try Windows 7 this time. It could be a problem that I am using a Windows 8.1 Pro volume license even though it is fully activated perhaps it only works with single licenses?

Hi juniordiscart,

Thanks very much for your contribution.

Can you or anyone else confirm that this jumper pin needs to be in place to get the power to be supplied as I haven't seen that mentioned yet? I assumed the modular nature of the 450 meant it wasn't required.

Jamie

Hi squinks et al,

Hope you can help - i'm having trouble with my setup.

I have a Sonnet SEL, PCI x8 to x16 riser board, then a x16 to x16 cable to extend to my card - a 780TI SC 3GB with an ACX cooler.

The card is getting power over the TB2 port and Sonnet card - coming up when the TB2 cable is connected, however I can't under any boot sequence get the card to be recognised - using internal or external screen.

I'm using a RM450 PSU and I'm a bit at a loss whether it is working or not - as it is one of those silent ones where the fan won't necessary spin or show any signs of life when it is working - i'm not sure if it is or not. When you boot yours up does your RM450 immediately spring into life? Or does it remain stationary until you play games and the card starts sucking up power?

Would appreciate your guidance,

Jamie

Hi Squinks,

Just wanted to let you know that having given up on hope of a retail solution I have purchased your shopping list of parts on your recommendation. FYI I went for a EVGA 780ti superclocked 3GB.

Does anyone have some advice about the safest way to rest the card without an enclosure?

Jamie

GigaByte also working on something as well.

More details here:

SilverStone / ASUS SG Station 2 External Thunderbolt Video Card Hands-On | Gamers Nexus - Gaming PC Builds & Hardware Benchmarks

Hi all,

Check down this article.

SilverStone Joins the 'Steam Machine' Compact Case Race

See a familiar looking box under the name of the ASUS XG2?? That's right - it looks to me exactly like the T004.

Now that ASUS is behind it as well maybe we can see an imminent release?

EVGA GTX650Ti 2GB fits into a Sonnet Echo Express (SE I believe). Please compare against the SE II dimensions to confirm the card will fit into it too.

That seems like the best candidate - but the power budget might be too much for the Echo Express PSU? I am not experienced with fabricating my own power supply solution.

So the TB2 upgrade probably won't be available until December for the Express SE ii apparently. In the mean time, does anyone have a list of compatible Graphics Cards with the SE II/OWC Helios chassis? As in those that are less than 7.75" and are within the power budget?

In other news... T004 seems ideal as it can house a full length with a decent PSU but the supplier is very hard to get a reply out of. Edit: I got hold of someone at Silverstone Technology for Europe and they are aiming for end of 1Q2014 and should have TB2 support.

So now I need to realistically look for alternatives.

What would people recommend? TB2 would be essential. Obviously my concerns are now the power supplies and the GPU lengths.

I've just marked the 13"/15" Haswell MBPs with Thunderbolt 2 ports as the recommended Haswell eGPU candidate systems in

http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/4109-egpu-candidate-system-list-%5Bthin-light%5D.html#post57159

Both have impressive specs within a slim and light chassis. Have to say that from the Haswell offerings so far Apple's have been the most tempting.

Nando4 - are you aware of any builds that can make use of TB2 at this time? I'm in the market for building an eGPU system that can make full use of this and would appreciate any advice or assistance you can offer.

Hi,

I've purchased the 13" i7 dual-core w/ 16GB RAM (and Intel Iris 5100 GPU)

I am very interested in working with you all to build a TB2 eGPU - where can we begin? Is there any TB2->PCIe adapters at this time?

Edit: I see the Echo Express SE II for Thunderbolt 2 will have a 'free upgrade' for TB2 when it becomes available, but it's unclear on how the progress of that is getting on from the Sonnet side before it will start shipping with the capability.