QuestionGuy

Hi m1sk, I'm looking at building almost the exact same system using an early 2011 15" MBP and an EVGA GTX 960. You posted your Unigine valley scores which look like a great improvement. Could you give me some idea of what frame rates and quality levels you are able to play games on? Possibly data on both internal and external monitors (if different?) Thanks! Edit: I am just not sure how Unigine Valley correlates to fps in games

Thanks Dschijn, a post like m1sk's is a great reference since that looks like the same GPU on almost the same system. I was worried that the TB1 port would limit me too much but maybe thats not the case? Do you know if there is a rough % loss in performance using TB1 vs TB2? Not being able to use the eGPU on my internal display isn't a big deal but can I still have both my internal and external display running at the same time? i.e. eGPU on external, dGPU running my internal display? I am always multitasking... Switching to/soldering a barrel plug isn't an issue for me, maybe I will go that route then! I had wanted to go with a regular PSU unless I wanted to scrap the eGPU and put all the components into a regular PC later... Still need to make a decision there, it just also looks a lot cleaner than many of the Dell setups I have seen. I also like the idea of just flipping the switch on the PSU to start both the Akitio and GPU up.

Hi Dschijn, I appreciate you helping everyone with all their questions, it has helped me a lot! I still have a few questions to make sure I understand everything. I feel I understand the hardware side well but I have questions about the software side as well. Here is my setup: 15" MBP (Early 2011) -El Capitan 10.11.3 -Bootcamp w/ Windows 10 External Dell E228WFP (1680x1050) I use both monitors, one above the other. Type on built in mac keyboard Usage will be mainly casual gaming so I am trying to use as tight of a budget as possible (mid range card) and keep it nice and tidy (And portable!). I love Phantron's design: So the design I have come to is: -AkiTio - if I can get one into Canada -EVGA GTX 960 SC 4GB (The one linked in the original post because it will fit in the case) **Any better recommendations? Saw the Sapphire R9 380 Itx but it is 115mm tall. Too big to close the AkiTio? -Fully Modular PSU (No unneeded wires) - Possibly Corsair ~550W - **Any better recommendations? -I plan to mount the PSU and AkiTio together similar to Phantron without copying his excellent work I would prefer to eliminate the barrel plug and solder the 12V wires to the circuit board as Phantron did. Is this a bad idea? If necessary I will contact him regarding the wiring in his build but my understanding is: -6pin from PSU to 6pin on GPU - might need 90 degree connector -Create a 2 wire cable from 6pin connector. Connect 12V and Ground to AkiTio circuit board -I am uncertain how Phantron hot-wired his PSU to start, he has a 6pin connector labeled CPU jumpered to an 8pin directly on his PSU. I need to look into this more. If any of the above is incorrect, please let me know! So, now to my questions! 1) -I would like to run the two following configurations: -eGPU running just internal mac display, no external display connected (On both Windows 10 and El Capitan) -eGPU running external display while internal graphics card runs internal display (Or eGPU runs both, doesn't matter. On both Windows 10 and El Capitan) -Is this possible? 2) The GPU for sure needs to be =< 217 x 111.15mm? Card length is not an issue, it has been the height. Been looking at ITX cards but not many fit. 3) Probably not the best place for this question but: My 2.0GHz Intel i7 won't throttle me too much, will it? If so, there is no point 4) Otherwise, does the above design sound correct? I need to research the software side further, so if all goes well I may have further questions later. I appreciate this guide you put together, it has been extremely helpful in combining all the pieces I had been reading before I found it. Thanks for any help you can offer!