JWalk325

Ok guys so I have a problem that I have tried everything I can think of or find on the internet to fix.

I have had the Akitio Thunderbolt box for about a week and im trying to get either my hd 7950, my 9600gt or, a gt640 working alongside the internal graphics. I have tried shelltoe's guide here as well as many similar ones to get it running. Every time I am left with loaded kexts yet no eGPU in either displays/graphics or in the thunderbolt (in the thunderbolt category of system profile it shows the akitio but says its pcie slot is empty. Also on the same macbook pro on Win8 UEFI most of the cards show up but with an unknown error.

Id love some help with this, others have seen some success and id like to have this working soon considering ive spent a while working on this.

Thanks

- Trollinteemo

I'd like to this working as I am looking to do this with a MacBook Pro as well. I haven't done a build like this yet, but have been doing a significant amount of research and I have a couple of questions regarding your setup (although I'm sure some of these other guys will be more helpful). Which MBP do you have? How is your GPU powered (PSU/Riser cable)?

I also use that case. Had to cut it with dremel to be able to install the prolonged riser card, but anyway...

Clean! Unfortunately, it looks like this project is going to get pushed back for me. This was intended to get my girlfriend and I setup to play some of the soon to be released cooperative games, but after we played the Destiny beta, we decided to just grab another console since the game is not available on PC (Halo is one of our favorite coop series). Would still love to see what is done with the AKiTiO and eGPUs in the future. Good luck with everyone's builds!

I never did run 3dBenchmarks on mine but here is the overall impression:

Prior to building this, i was running Star Wars, The Old Republic on medium settings and getting 30ish FPS that would degrade to 20ish during some more intense times. After, I bumped the settings all the way up and got 60fps and about 30 during the intense parts. The only issues i see are a bit of screen tearing, but it's not too bad.

Now, I play War Thunder and Star Conflict and have no issues other than screen tearing.

my machine had an Nvidia NVS graphics card that is a pile of junk, that is why I built the eGPU. I have a SSD and a secondary spinning drive in place of the CD drive. I have 16gb RAM and am running the internal LCD and 2 24" monitors (these 2 are run by the eGPU.)

All and all, it's a cool setup. I'd rather have a desktop though

Awesome! I have no use for a desktop other than some gaming, so if I can get this done for a couple hundred bucks (parts other than GPU/PSU), it's a perfect solution for me. So, I am anxiously awaiting the first review for the AKiTiO.

I'm also unsure of why USB3 can't be utilized. I'm assuming there is something with the tech that makes this difficult. I'm working with a recent version of a Macbook that provides Thunderbolt 2. I had originally planned on using a Thunderbolt 1 adapter because of the price difference, but I'm hoping I can get full utilization out of this with the newly discovered adapter. What kind of performance hit did you take going with express card?

I have the same case and wanted to get the power switch to work as well... When I tried, I could power it on as long as I held the power button but it would shut off as soon as I released it. My biggest problem with my setup is the length of the express card cable. I have to have it behind my monitors and it eats up a lot of desk depth.

I was afraid of that. Guess I'll stick to my original plan which isn't bad. If the AKiTiO ends up working, I'll just have to get a longer thunderbolt cable, possibly. Luckily I have a large area to put this stuff so spacing shouldn't be too much of an issue, but I don't want to have the enclosure right up against my laptop either. Since you're using express card at 5Gb/s, are you considering switching to the AKiTiO to see if it increases your performance?

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

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.

Amazon US doesn't accept an European address. Akitio forwarded my message to their European distributor MAG GmbH. But they haven't even received a demo unit and have no idea when the product will be available in Europe.

I just checked it out as well and I see that only certain items are available to ship internationally. Unfortunately the AKiTiO is not one of them.

Yes but most Mini-ITX cases that fit a full size PSU & GPU are very big compared to the only compontents that you need (PSU, GPU & Thunderbolt board). So a custom enclosure that fits on our desk would be much nicer.

I definitely agree an official solution would be most beneficial. It's unfortunate that there doesn't seem to be a lot concrete information that we should expect any of these any time soon. I like the SilverStone FT03 solution, however, the price point is far beyond the $45 for the other ITX case. I am looking for something at the bare minimum price and an ITX case like I showed seems like a better solution than just having the components lying around in my specific case. Plus the case comes with 2 fans installed which is a great addition.

AKiTiO ($199) + 16x Powered Riser (~$10) + PSU (~$30) + ITX Case ($45) = ~$284 USD for a Thunderbolt 2 eGPU setup with enclosure (minus the GPU of course) seems like a phenomenal deal for those on a budget.

If I can get some solid confirmation the AKiTiO is functionally sound for eGPUs at that price, I will be doing this next month. Second option is the ThunderTek chassis, but since I have Thunderbolt2 support, it'd be great to make use of that.

Yes but the GTX 750 Ti normaly needs 75 Watt from the PCIe slot. But this device has apperently only a 60 Watt PSU to power the Thunderbolt hardware and the PCIe slot. Time will telll I guess. But even if you add a PCIe extender cable with molex connector for power you propably would still be able to fit a low profile GTX 750 Ti inside the chasis.

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.

Yes I also found it om Amazon America but I couldn’t find this product on the website of the different European approved stores. So I've send them an email to know when the Akitio Thunder2 be available in Europe. Hopefully the price will be acceptable because Sonnet for instance asks 40% more for their products in Europe (maybe it is because of higher VAT and import taxes).

I've ordered something off of the UK amazon store without issue before and I'm in the US. If I remember correctly, they charged me more for shipping. The negative was if I needed a return or exchange, that money would come out of my pocket and be rather expensive. I don't know if it works both ways, but could be an option for you.

Been following this thread and am very interested to see this used for an eGPU. In case people are interested it's listed on Amazon for $199.