M-Low

Okay I have a couple quick questions, if you don't mind...

- The Boot options I have in rEFIt all say boot off of "EFI". Is this different than "UEFI" or is that just semantics?

- If my GPU requires two 6-pin power connectors and my PSU only has one and also has a 4-pin to 6-pin adaptor, will this still work??? (Antec VP-450 450W)

- And does anyone know what the six LED lights on the TH05 signify? I usually get a the following: green, no light, no light, yellow, green, green... (weird

Hey y'all - I found some really nice looking enclosures... They run around $70 to $80, but they are very portable and I think expensive because of low-quantity production. I was thinking that if we requested, maybe, 10 identical cases, they might cut a deal for customized (i.e. specified dimensions) cases. Any one interested in these?

clearPC

Model not included...

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Please refer to my HD7870 versus GTX660 on x1.1, x1.1Opt, x1.2, x1.2Opt review to help make your eGPU purchase decision. If you would be running x2 2.0 Thunderbolt then yes, AMD cards do better in restricted bandwidth scenarios once we factor out the pci-e compression that's only available on x1 links.

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Recommend a HD7870 or GTX660Ti

So for current Thunderbolt-equipped systems suggest grab a US$180 BPlus TH05 + AMD HD7870 or NVidia GTX660Ti.

Thanks Tech Inferno Fan - but what about my original question about the price differences between overclocked and stock GPUs? The price range for HD7870s is like $100-wide due to OC'ing and cooler's, etc. (Internal display isn't worth the hassle for me). Can "one" simply overclock a stock model to get the same results?

(sucks about the TH05 performance so far... hopefully we'll see cactus-ridge controllers soon)

Hey y'all

So, I hear the 7870 is the card of choice these days due to a pretty solid price/performance ratio - which is half the reason for doing eGPU. I was hoping you could spread some light on the whole overclocking/stock model and brand differences. I've always used laptop gpu's, so this OC'ing is new to me.

1) There's about a $25 to (sometimes) $75 price difference for the same GPU that is OC'd vs not... Is this really worth it? Can't you just do the OC'ing yourself, get the same result and save some money?

2) Also, what's the big difference and what should I be looking for when it comes to engine clock vs memory clock? Is 800 MHz good enough for an engine clock or should I be looking for a something closer to 1000 Mhz? does it make a difference if you can overclock it yourself?

3) I can pick up a MSI R7950 Twin Frozr 3G (800Mhz/5000Mhz) for less than $300 right now. This seems like a really good deal, but I'm not entirely sure what I'm getting myself into vs. an XFX 7870/OC for $70 cheaper...

I realize that this might not make much of a difference in an eGPU setup, but I'm hoping that the new 4x TH05 version next year will change all that.

You're doomed bro... doomed... Jokes!

Actually, the Vaio CW isn't too bad of a machine. You've got a decent processor (5th Series) and an Expresscard slot. If this link is your machine, it's more thank likely you can do an eGPU solution. But you're not going to get the performance of later-stage series chips.

If you're thinking about upgrading, I'd hold off like six months for a Haswell with an Intel iGPU "GT3" series >> preferably with a thunderbolt port. That's my plan seeing how I'm rocking a 4th Series Vaio currently.

Bit of a off-topic note...

Imagine the capabilities of this eGPU setup >> 25-gpu-cluster (25x AMD HD6990) LOL!!!

I wonder if there is a way to leverage this Virtual OpenCL cluster platform in eGPU implementations. Dreaming :P