jacobsson

oh alright thanks! But how is the cooling going to be implemented?

With a drill and a grid with holes =)

@jacobsson

So we have ~1mm space there to fit this card in theory And thanks for the instructions to make a lower profile 6pin cable, I already made one plug and now there is room to close the outer shell. Unfortunately with my 750Ti, the heat sink pipe is still there...

145W TDP theorically allows only one 6-pin header (75W from the x16 PCIe slot + 75W from the 6pin connector), but because AKiTiO only provides 25W from the PCIe slot, we need both.

I still may wait for the other vendor's smaller size cards, and I am worried about the heat problem, because outer shell does not have any vents on the side where from the GPU cooler is getting air, and PCIe/TB-boards need some cooling as well. Drilling some holes and putting a fan in front of the case might help. But this is really interesting idea anyway!

Cool, so you did one cable already? That's crafty!

Yeah the heat might be a problem.

My plan is more of a 'warranty voiding' nature =)

* Making vent holes on the sides

* Solder the 5.5/2.5mm jack to be directly connected to the PCIe x16 slot

* Split this rail to 2 x 6-pin PCIe power for the GPU

Since my Thundertek board have no problem providing a GTX660/GTX670 via x16 slot (plus the PCIe 8-pin for GPU of course), I think the Akitio board would too. The 25W fuse limitation is probably a design restriction in order to have the enclosure licensed (for low end GPU purposes?), but this is of course only speculations from part.

@jacobsson

Yez please tell em black version for the EXP GDC V6, what are your thoughts on this enclosure vs the acrylic one?

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

I think this looks awesome, really something I'd love to have on my desk!

The acrylic is much more hardcore since you see all cable work and such, could be really cool with some blue leds for those who like that kind of modding =)

If I had one request it would be a 20CM version, black or grey doesn't matter, for the portability of ITX cards. Then adding a 150W small sized AC-adapter for the GTX970

Means? (stupid dumb lazy sleepy afternoon question LOL)

Haha no problem, It's means that theoretically we have 1mm room for fitting this card =)

Jcagara08

Remember that this's just for V7.0 at this point, the V6.0 is coming later. I'll ask him if he could consider a black version too.

@goalque

This says it all, sent from Zotac themselves:

So the total including bracket lip would be 204mm + 12mm = 216mm

The V7.0 enclosure is coming off beautifully!

Cloud has confirmed a V6.0 version too =)

@goalque

Thanks, good to know since ASUS mini DCII design won't ever fit!

I've made a couple of low profile PCIe cables my self, it's pretty easy,

1. use a fine tool like a mini flat screw driver to pull the connectors out, by pushing back the small "locking wings".

2. Cut of a wanted portion of connector plastic housing with a sharp knife or saw,

3. put the cables back (of course expand the "wings" to their original locking position first) add shrink tube,

4. heat the shrink tube 90 degree angled. Voila!

Hi guys.

SELLING

I have a small Thundertek PX (Thunderbolt1 @10Mbps) which I want to sell, shipping should be very cheap since it's small.

It doesn't need the DC-adapter since It can be fed by a regular powered riser and it works great!

I've made a small custom enclosure for it too, see images:

PM me if you are interested, don't want to Hijack this thread =)

@goalque

Oh, so we have a little extra 12mm there = 217mm, good..good!

Then we might be in luck after all!

I emailed three Swedish suppliers of the ZT-90101-10P and asked them to verify the total length of the card.

If 204mm i w/o vga bracket then it'll be a close to none fit, if so we should look into short aftermarket coolers from Zotac as mentioned.

They pop up now and then for ~$20 on eBay and such.

I'm really considering buying this card now since the PCB would be of the smallest size among any competitor, so in the end it might come down to a aftermarket cooler for fit.

Too bad I don't have the Akitio box yet, I'm going to check here first for a used one first!

By the way, with your 750ti, is there good enough head room for the PCIe power 6pin?

@goalque

Alright, change of plans, we'll just use the:

Zotac TwinCooler on the Zotac GTX970 (ZT-90101-10P):

It's measured to be: 177.8mm × 111.2mm

The height should not be a problem (compared to the ASUS DCII mini cooler).

Contender number two:

Zotac GeForce AMP! Cooler

It's measured to be: 195.07mm x 111.15mm

Hi guys.

BUYING

If anyone selling the Akitio thunder2 box I'm very interested, PM me please.

I think it's time for me to mod one of these bad boys to the capacity it intended to be!

SELLING

I have a small Thundertek PX (Thunderbolt1 @10Mbps) which I want to sell, shipping would be cheap since it's small, interested? PM me.

It doesn't need the DC-adapter since It can be fed by a regular powered riser and it works great!

I've made a small custom enclosure for it too, see images:

@goalque

Thanks a lot!

3. Then my experiment with the DCII mini cooler won't fit.

So it's up to the Zotac now, keep my fingers crossed!!!

@goalque

I got three Qs:

1. Which card is in your images?

2. Can you send me the 204mm referenses?

3. Could ypu measure the height inside enclosure from x16 connector to the top?

Thanks buddy

Well, I have both the AKiTiO's inner chassis and 204mm length (total length with the bracket) Gigabyte 750Ti in my hands, and can prove that this combination does fit, if the AKiTiO's fan is removed.

Do that and I love you! =)

This would mean that our proposed Zotac GTX970 would fit w/o modifications

Of course I'd have to mod the power input to have my DA-2 work with closed chassis, but that would not be a problem.

EDIT: weird enough the store says that the card is 266mm :S ?!

Yes, there would be definitely room to fit the AKiTiO's fan inside the inner chassis if using a smaller cooler for the PCB. For 6pin power connectors there is not much room (maybe under 1cm). Otherwise, AKiTiO's box would be perfect with an external PSU. You already recommended the Dell adapter, are there any other options as now we only need to feed maybe 160W? I might order this card anyway and try if it fits, relying on the 204mm length Then just make a little bigger outer shell for it. One concern is the compatibility, because only a few vendor's cards have been proved to work out of the box with AKiTiO.

Hmm I can guarantee you that the card won't fit with it's original cooler, so might have to remove the back of the enclosure (maybe it'll look OK anyway?)

The inner length of the AkiTio are:

AkiTio Front to Fan:~18CM

AkiTio Front to back (no fan): ~20cm

Oh by the way, you have the AkiTio enclosure already?

Could you give me the height from x16 PCIe connector to the inner top of the enclosure?

It looks tight :S

I found these references for Zotac GTX970:

http://www.vrworld.com/2014/09/19/zotac-announces-gtx-970-series-unmatched-value-performance

http://www.ark-pc.co.jp/i/20104953

The length of the card is 204mm, meaning that it does fit inside the AKiTiO chassis without the original fan. Not sure if a slimmer fan could be used, but you can attach the fan on the other side of the inner chassis. My Gigabyte 750Ti has exactly the same length (look here), but width is 144mm so the outer shell doesn't fit. Zotac's width is 111mm so this is not a problem, only those two 6pin power connectors maybe are. TDP is specified at 145W.

EDIT: I also found this:

https://www.komplett.se/zotac-geforce-gtx-970-4gb-physx-cuda/824851

saying that the length is 224mm, I hope it's typo because only a few mm more would make it very difficult to insert this card because of the inner chassis edge bendings.

I'm currently looking at the Zotac GTX970 of your first reference. My comparison clearly shows the that the length of the PCB is very similar/or same to ASUS mini cards.

Now, since I'm not sure how the ASUS mini cooler is installed in forms of screw alignment etc. this could be the downfall of the compatibility. The GTX670 cooler itself has absolutely the capacity to cool the GTX970 since it's of much lower TDP:

170W vs 150W.

The second Zotac card you posted might have the same PCB underneath but with a different cooler (maybe for high OC), all this will probably show in future reviews (disassembly etc.)..

EDIT: I'm happy to confirm that the ASUS DirectCU mini fan actually is attached at the common reference points marked in red =)

It gives me hope when I see the backside of the Zotac GTX970:

The size reminds me of my former ASUS GTX670 mini:

Maybe it's possible to slap the ASUS mini cooler on the GTX970?

That would result in a GTX970 ~170mm card that could easily fit inside the AkiTio thunder2box.

Here is a sloppy overlap of the PCB's aligned at the four main screws.

GTX670 = Blue transparent PCB

The comparison clearly shows a similar length of the cards, only big difference is the lower height of the GTX970, this makes me believe the ASUS cooler could actually work since they share the same cooler mounts (red)!

The power connectors will of course be a little harder to reach, but shouldn't be a big problem.

So how do I buy the ASUS DirectCU mini fan+heatsink?

Please let me know if you find one, then I might realize this idea!

@jcagara08

Yep, now I'm impatiently waiting for the ITX cards to be released.

I'm hoping to see an ASUS DC mini version of the GTX 970 (148W), which then can be OCed +20W to reach GTX980(165W) performance (Like they do here). <-Sorry for Swedish ref.

From the back of the Thunder2 to the fan at the front - 18 cm

From the back of the Thunder2 the front (pass the fan) - 20 cm

Thanks buddy I love those figures,

Now, I'll just sit back and wait for some ITX GTX970 / 980 -cards!

Just the intel HD 3000 and the gtx 560ti, I'll try that now and post the results of that

EDIT:

That didn't really work, but then again, it's kinda hard to time because the laptop boots pretty fast.

BTW:

In the DSDT override thread (used to battle error 12) it says the problem is known to occur in Elitebooks with an AMD GPU but mine doesn't have an AMD GPU :/

I also tried it with 2GB RAM in stead of 8GB, still the same problem.

Hmm... Win 8.1 has been kind to me regarding PCI space. I remember when setting up my Win7 Dell 6430 I had the same problems, since it was a protected work-station I couldn't use setup 1.x to solve the problem. What I did was different trial and error plugging unplugging of the power and Expresscard, eg. :

• powered eGPU up during boot
  
• powering up the eGPU during boot
  
• powering up the eGPU just after BIOS post
  
• powering up the eGPU just before WIN load screen
  
• powering up the eGPU just during WIN load screen
  

After some "random" plugging of this method it got registered for some reason. You could always try this!

Also, I remember one of my workstations had a bad EC-port which forced me to hold the expresscard pushed in with a little force to get connection, I did not let it "lock back" those 2mm that it normally do.

If none of this helps you, you might need the setup 1.x software. If so I would first consult with @Tech Inferno Fan for an opinion.

Thanks, will give it a try once I have time.

- - - Updated - - -

Here are the 3DMark and 3DMark06 with the last ribbon cable removed from the PCIe riser:

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/<wbr>4083085

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm06/<wbr>17657202

The scores are quite similar. Which gaming tests should I run?

Nice, thanks buddy!

I'll just post some games that I find interesting, maybe you happen to have one or two of them:

• Borderlands 2
  
• Chivalry: medieval warfare
  
• Counter-strike GO
  
• DOTA 2 (free)
  
• Skyrim
  
• Metro: Last light
  
• Far cry 3
  

I'm looking at your scores for 3DMark06 and I guess they are a bit low due to the CPU. I wonder if 3DMark11 would be more suitable since the test is more CPU independent than 06, would you mind do a test?

I know I might ask a lot of stuff from you, but you can use all this info in your write-up later =)

After all you are the pioneer of this kind of implementation

I've just got answer from banggood:

"Dear Jakub,

We are sorry about that,this set is matching with the ATX power cable,and this cable is supply the power.We are sorry for didn't updata the message immediately.You can try about to connect it.If have any question,please contact us.

Best regard

Riga "

So they "FORGOT" to update info in the item description...no comment

Yep, that's a shame. The cable is pretty significant for your application.

Please update me if you find another source for a modular 6-pin splitter (additional to the sources in the first post).

Can someone who already have an 6pin to 6pin/8pin cable post some scheme or detailed pictures from we could see how cables are connected??? I've found a male connectors and pins in electronics shop in my town. All a have to do is put everything together in right order:D

Lol, remember doing this schematic for EXP GDC 6-pin cable once:

- - - Updated - - -

Well, I tried it with the old PSU and it works now. Thank god the DA-2 was faulty, the EXP GDC / my laptop would've been harder to replace

I get this warning though:

"This device cannot find enough free resources that it can use. (Code 12)"

Do I need Setup 1.x to get it to work with windows 8.1 ?

Which GPU's are active in your system atm?

Also, test powering the eGPU just before win logo.

- - - Updated - - -

I called a lot of stores near me and found one power supply. It's 12V and 5A, DC jack. Will be it okay (Videocard GTX 750 Ti)?

I think it could work, it's on the edge though since the 750ti is ~55-60W.

I would go for an adapter ~65-70W to be safe, since some adapters doesn't perform well during high load.

Something like this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Genuine-OEM-GZCX12500A-12V-6A-Monitor-AC-ADAPTER-TLM1718L-/390932355066?pt=US_Monitor_Power_Supplies&hash=item5b056257fa

@bezyaev

No, 12V is the voltage to use! Sorry i'm in a hurry, will explain later