EvIl_DeViL

Hey guys! I just wanted to say thank you all and share with you this still warm photo of my new egpu system http://i.imgur.com/oVT1rm7.jpg gigabyte gtx 970 g1 + corsair cx600 + akitio thunder 2 + vga monitor + dvi-> vga adapter + macbook pro early 2011 + win8.1 mbr I was able to run the witcher 3 and all I needed to do was just plug the TB cable, power up the computer, install drivers, reboot, set the external monitor as main monitor and fire up the witcher 3 with extreme settings. I'm so happy right now and any of this wouldn't have been possible without you guys! many many many thanks!

@jfraser I'd like to use just the barrel plug to avoid messing too much with connections which can catch fire/melt easely with such high amps. why should I use the default psu when I can just stick just only with a far better desktop PSU? It's like fueling a car with 40l of gasoline and a AAA battery. @Dschijn you're right. If you want to use different power sources you MUST common ground them. The second plug is rated 16v 8amps (128w). Since heat is The only thing I think is worth rating a dc plug I feel more comfortable with that, even because I'm going for a hungry gigabyte 970

I'm going for the molex-barrel plug mod adapter. (but instead of molex I'll use the 12V lines from the ATX connector cause I got an adapter to avoid cutting PSU wires) which one of those two barrels would fit better? http://www.cui.com/product/resource/pp3-002bh.pdf http://media.digikey.com/pdf/Data%20Sheets/Memory%20Protection%20PDFs/EP501-B_Dwg.pdf AFAIK akitio shouldn't drain more than 60W so in both cases we should be ok. Can anyone confirm that? Am I risking fire with the one rated 12V 5A (60W)?

Thank you for the answer! hope you don't mind if I ask a little clarification about a couple of stuff. 1) Why molex to 6/8 pins would be bad? 16 AWG cables are rated 117A melting point (and here we are waaay below that) so I assume you were referring: - the molex connector melting plastic. - too few small caps on the PSU causing too high voltage drop on the 12v line. (I assume by your observation 8p and 6p should resist higher current drain peaks than molex line avoiding voltage drops) - too much stress on the molex line causing overheating of the PSU. Am I correct about all these three? there's something else? Sorry but I'm an EE enthusiast and I catch every chance like this to learn something new ^^ 2) Yes I have those two old (10+ years) I'm trying to recycle for this project. The first is 550W the second one is 300W. When you say to get a 500W PSU wouldn't the 12v line be lesser than my 550W's 18A? many thanks!

Ok I joined the club! my akitio enclosure arrived yesterday! Now I'm trying to figure out if one of my two spare PSU would fit to power up everything. (enclosure + gpu) I want to use a gigabyte gtx 970 (should be 170W Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming review - Hardware Setup | Power Consumption) and power up the akitio with molex to barrel technique. (also molex to 6 pin & molex to 8 pin) Here only 12v matters so back on my two PSUs: the first one is rated 12v 8a (96w) the second one 12v 16a (192w). If I'm doing my calculations right I couldn't use the first one, isn't it? Talking about the second one: would 192w suffice to power up the enclosure and the gpu? Thanks all!

well, there's a 30% loss in performance in effect... let's say I keep this option in "case of emergency". I saw your tutorial and I like your setup. I think I'll follow your advices! I'm ready to buy the akitio case! p.s. any hint about oculus rift and my specific setup? will it work out of the box?

why not? this guy did! -> http://forum.techinferno.com/implementation-guides-apple/10504-2011-17-macbook-pro-gtx960%4010gbps-tb1-akitio-thunder2-win8-1%5Bm1sk%5D.html p.s. I'm not hijacking anyone thread. I opened my own thread but it has been closed an my post moved here.

intro Hi all! This is my first post and I take this opportunity to introduce myself to the forum! I'm seeing around all these post about eGPU and it looks very promising so I'm willing to try. This is just a post to get some confirmation on my thoughts before committing and spend my moneys! setup/budget first off; the setup I'm aiming for is: my old friend macbook pro early 2011 17" w/ 16Gb ram and i7-2720QM (ARK | Intel® Coreâ„¢ i7-2720QM Processor (6M Cache, up to 3.30 GHz)) bootcamp w8.1 and 1Tb ssd (we'll need this infos later) (free (?!)) evga/asus/gigabyte nvidia gtx960 (200€/250€ - feel free to advice little variations with better bang/buck) AkiTiO Thunder2 w/ popped out bottom to fit the card or custom made case to save the warranty (200€/250€ - the less the better, but preferably in EU to avoid customs) best bang/buck external desktop power supply (<< 100€ - dunno guys... I'm up to you here. Just I'd like to use it with a new card when I'll trash the gtx960) background knowledge I decided to go for the eGPU solution instead of buying a new laptop because it's cheaper and re-usable and my MBP has still a good functioning hardware. I saw the new models equipped with the i7-4870HQ but looking at the benchmark it doesn't seem a lot of improvement Intel Core i7 4870HQ vs 2720QM Am I correct? On top of that videogames won't need much CPU despite I/O and SO multitasking background stuff. maybe runtime assets decompression but my 16Gb RAM and SSD will take care of it! oh yes! even Software physics as fallback if you don't have nvidia physx or the game doesn't support it (that's why an nvidia GPU) Most of the stress is on the poor GPU... requirements I'd like to use it to play latest titles in fullHD like the witcher 3, assassin's creed or the upcoming MAFIA 3 and it seems a viable path with my laptop based on the experiences in this forum!!! I'd like to play on my internal monitor in fullHD @30fps (or more) (Actual Multiple Monitor?). I'm also in videogame creation and it's a bonus if I can use a GPU like that with unreal engine 4, maya or zbrush! advices - lot of the stuff I read here could be outdated and maybe new stuff's coming up so it's worth waiting... - evga/asus/gigabyte: this years past spending in electronics teached me the best option is the one with the best customer care. any advice on this? - I'm in Italy... are you aware of any reliable retailer? Even in Europe... France, Germany (I saw one here but sells only to business company) other I'm good with crafting,programming and electronics so I'm not scared of soldering, crafting cases to keep the AkiTiO warranty or a little programming/arduinoing (<-lol) if this can be made in a day or two of work and save me moneys thank you! p.s. you guys rocks! this project is amazing and I can't wait to be part of this community!