GTX 770 in Sonnet Echo Express Pro for Cuda

[MickyB]

Hi,

I'd like to use an eGPU for CUDA rendering (with DaVinci Resolve + Adobe CS6), and was thinking about using the GTX 770 (perhaps the Zodac GTX 770 4GB version, since Resolve needs a lot of Vram) with this Sonnet Echo Express Pro (ECHO-EXP2F) case...

My MBP has a native Expresscard slot, but this has far less bandwidth than Tbolt - and I use this for storage. I've got several Raid boxes, I usually connect one with the Sonnet Pro eSata adapter - which rocks in itself, 190 MB/s

I think this Echo Express Pro is the fastest case, which one can still (more or less) buy (apart from maybe much more expensive cases like Magma) - PCI 2.0 16x is still a lot faster than Tbolt 1 (which my MBP has - it's early 2011 17" model) anyway.

So 1st thing I was worrying about: Tbolt 1 is a limiting factor, but 10 Gbits up- and downstream isn't that bad; so I hope it should still boost my performance quite a bit - I'd like to do some 4k editing in future (and maybe hook up a 4k screen as well)... Does anyone have a clue whether Tbolt1 bandwidth is indeed sufficient?

2nd, the GTX 770 is specced at 230 W max; but since I have no experience with eGPU's up to now, I'd be happy with some advice there: would the 150W of the Sonnet case be normally sufficient (having Tbolt as limiting factor anyway) - or does the GTX 770 really need those 230W for my setup to make sense?

Thx...