Dschijn

@Halbertus A 980 might only work if it is a reference card. If you still want to go the 980 way I can help you find the correct parts in Germany. Beeing able to fit a small 970 card into the AKiTiO and closing the case will result in importing a cable from the US which come with a big price.

You could directly solder cables to the PCB...

@DJMatrix-HU3 Better get a Nvidia GPU or look around for other builds if they did manage to get a 480 running stable. You need to get an adapter to transfer 12V from the PSU to the AKiTiO.

I can't recommend using anything more powerful than a GTX 970/1070. A reference GTX980 was running as well for one user, but I am not sure if that was stable. A GTX980Ti, especially non reference ones will consume much more power than the Dell DA-2 can provide. And don't be fooled by the 220W output of the DA-2. The PSU can't provide that load for a long time. Also the TDP of GPUs is never a guarantee of how much they actually use.

If you the one you linked with the power plug switch, you do that without soldering.

AKiTiO just released some informations on their TB3 hardware and they said: source: https://www.akitio.com/blog/articles/akitio-thunderbolt3-devices-macbook-pro

EVGA 1060 SC with a single fan. Maybe the Zotac GeForce GTX 1070 Mini will fit as well.

Yes, but the linked speed will be PCIe 3.0x4 = 2.0x8 = 4GB/s. Still 1GB/s left for USB/LAN in theory.

Seems good! But it has just 1x6-pin, if that is enough. That shop is funny, making a confidential sticker on the pinout so nobody could guess how to wire it. But 10sec google will bring you to page 1 here

@ProtoW For that apps you should get a real Mac with a dGPU. BF4 and BF1 will not perform well on a DualCore!

I can...!

@ProtoW Well, the benefit of the new MBPr would be that it just works and no work around would be requiered. MBA also just has two Cores, which will limit you in certain games! Some games might not even start. What apps / games you want to run?

@loucountryman I can help, but the low profile PCIe plugs would make it pricy. Easiest way would be to get the angled adapter yourself and I would provide an adapter for the rest. For you that would just mean to plug them together. I like these flat angled adapter: http://www.ebay.com/itm/261391561885?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

@ProtoW 4. in games? Not really.

@ProtoW 1. First guess would be to connect the AKiTiO in the middle 2. Not sure if the TB display will eat your TB bandwidth, you could right and limit your setup 3. Some apps in which you can directly adress the GPU in the settings, yes 4. Problem is that new MBs will only support TB3 and the future of eGPUs in OSX is not 100% secure