ba10s118 Posted May 17, 2015 Share Posted May 17, 2015 There are other short dual-fan small GTX970 cards listed at the bottom http://forum.techinferno.com/enclosures-adapters/7205-us%24189-akitio-thunder2-pcie-box-16gbps-tb2.html#post98210 by Zotac, Inno3D, ELSA, Leadertek. The GALAX being the shortest card that can fit the AKiTiO without any modifications - don't need to remove it's fan shroud or the AKITiO fan. These others may need removal of either or both to fit. I know @jacobsson acquired a Zotac card, he's in Sweden and is cost conscious so maybe that's another one that can be had for low EU?Though I will say the GALAX has an impressive 200W+25% TDP vbios power limit which is why@ Dschijn's card (+ improved cooling fans) sees it performing on par with my larger MSI GTX970 4G gaming card. It can even be overclocked to about the same level. That's pushing the boundary for highest performance in the smallest size. If I was getting a small card then I'd follow Dschijn's lead and get that GALAX.Okay - Glad to hear that other will fit, I was afraid they might be to tall. In Denmark the KFA2 or Galaxy cards is already some of the cheapest options out there, for whats equal to about 410us$. But I like the high TDP in the sink, and I do see that as a high CON in this situation. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dschijn Posted May 17, 2015 Share Posted May 17, 2015 The Galax is also the cheapest GTX 970 in germany. To me also a very powerful card with huge potential in performance.It is really important to improve the cases ventilation, the small 60mm isn't enough and will just give less than half of it's airflow to the card (the rest is blown behind the GPUs PCB). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ba10s118 Posted May 17, 2015 Share Posted May 17, 2015 The Galax is also the cheapest GTX 970 in germany. To me also a very powerful card with huge potential in performance.It is really important to improve the cases ventilation, the small 60mm isn't enough and will just give less than half of it's airflow to the card (the rest is blown behind the GPUs PCB).My plan was to drill 2 holes in the side, where the GPU fans are, place some nice fan grill there, and change the back fan to exhaust, maybe add another fan there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
padaxy Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 Hello,I would like to know, whether there is a significant decrease in Performance of the eGPU (Akitio) when daisy chaining with an external thunderbolt drive. In my case I would like to add an external thunderbolt drive filled with games to the akitio egpu in daisychaining mode to just have 1 cable that connects to the mac.I actually use thunderbolt 1.Thank you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juniordiscart Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 I don't think it will decrease your gaming performance when that external Thunderbolt drive is mainly idle. When you would game, and actively read / write from the disk at maximum capacity, then the thunderbolt link will get slightly filled with other data than graphics data, so that may have an impact. But since the majority of disk activity happens during the loading of a game, and less during, it may have just a minimal impact on performance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
w4vz Posted May 20, 2015 Share Posted May 20, 2015 Hello,I would like to know, whether there is a significant decrease in Performance of the eGPU (Akitio) when daisy chaining with an external thunderbolt drive. In my case I would like to add an external thunderbolt drive filled with games to the akitio egpu in daisychaining mode to just have 1 cable that connects to the mac.I actually use thunderbolt 1.Thank youFor what it's worth I have my ethernet adaptor plugged into the akitio and it is working fine at the moment. I did not notice any performance hit.I also have tb1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dschijn Posted May 20, 2015 Share Posted May 20, 2015 @padaxy: An HDD will use very little bandwidth, but even a SSD should be fine. With TB2 you could (theoretically) use up to 4GBit/s without taking any bandwidth from the eGPU.4GBit/s = 500MByte/s. Any non-Raid and non-SSD external drive will only need 100-200MB/s, which is 8-16% of TB1 bandwidth any will only be used when the game is loading any informations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ba10s118 Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 A possibly new graphics card for the Akitio ? The AMD Saphire R9 285 ITX! Check out the review here! I like that the blower design, front and back, not out to the sides. And the way the 8pin molex is positioned. However I am afraid that it might go to the limits of height ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dschijn Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 It's a close call… I mean… it could fit. Because the PCIe 8-Pin is facing the backside and not the top it could really fit. But especially AMD cards need good cooling and you are forced to improve the cooling of the AKiTiO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ba10s118 Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 It's a close call… I mean… it could fit. Because the PCIe 8-Pin is facing the backside and not the top it could really fit. But especially AMD cards need good cooling and you are forced to improve the cooling of the AKiTiO.Yeah exactly - one big 120 mm hole in the side would be needed, with increased airflow in the back Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ba10s118 Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 Is it still required to solder cable between the mainboards and use the tape to disable some pins ? Or can you just use a DC barrel ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dschijn Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 The tape is only necessary if you use a powered riser and the AKiTiO PSU.So if you only use the barrel plug you don't need to tape the pins. If you would tape them, the card wouldn't work as it would miss 75W of power on the slot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ba10s118 Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 The tape is only necessary if you use a powered riser and the AKiTiO PSU.So if you only use the barrel plug you don't need to tape the pins. If you would tape them, the card wouldn't work as it would miss 75W of power on the slot.Makes more sence ! What about the pcb mod ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dschijn Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 I am using a GTX 970 directly slotted into the AKiTiO. Powering the card with the 6-Pin PCIe plugs and the AKiTiO with a barrel plug. All from one power supply. No additional (hardware) modifications necessary to make it work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ba10s118 Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 I am using a GTX 970 directly slotted into the AKiTiO. Powering the card with the 6-Pin PCIe plugs and the AKiTiO with a barrel plug. All from one power supply. No additional (hardware) modifications necessary to make it work! Sweet - Less I have to destroy! haha! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JontyC93 Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 Disclaimer: Please don't shoot me down, i've tried reading several threads and i've got more and more confused!I've purchased the following:AKiTiO Thunder2SilverStone 27011 Raven CaseEVGA GTX 970 FTWSilverStone 450W PSUPowered Riser**Since purchasing the powered riser, i've found out that there's a better option to use the DC Barrel mod that's shown how to make here.My question is, is it literally as simple as replacing the AKiTiO DC Barrel from it's own power supply with the modded one from the video above? Is that all that's required to get this working? I keep seeing people using tape/soldering two wires on other methods, but am I right in thinking none of that's necessary with the Barrel Mod? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tech Inferno Fan Posted May 22, 2015 Author Share Posted May 22, 2015 My question is, is it literally as simple as replacing the AKiTiO DC Barrel from it's own power supply with the modded one from the video above? Is that all that's required to get this working? I keep seeing people using tape/soldering two wires on other methods, but am I right in thinking none of that's necessary with the Barrel Mod?The opening post has the following quoted link with info to help you do what you want to do. Please take a moment to read over this.INFO: 75W can be safely passed to the slot with an upgraded power supply explained here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dschijn Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 @JontyC93: Seems like you try to follow my 2nd build. If you consider a barrel plug mod, keep in ind that you will still need a riser, if you want to use the Raven case! Without a riser it is impossible to connect the AKiTiO PCB to the GPU. But can use a riser which isn't powered! By that most riser should be fine (I guess...). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JontyC93 Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 @JontyC93: Seems like you try to follow my 2nd build. If you consider a barrel plug mod, keep in ind that you will still need a riser, if you want to use the Raven case! Without a riser it is impossible to connect the AKiTiO PCB to the GPU. But can use a riser which isn't powered! By that most riser should be fine (I guess...).Haha, yes I'm following that as best I can!Do you think the riser I have the powered one would be fine to use (just with it not being powered?). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dschijn Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 Could be fine, if it is not crappy one that could have the risk of bad soldering and short circuits.Are you aware that you would have to apply the paperclip trick to make the PSU start? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JontyC93 Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 Could be fine, if it is not crappy one that could have the risk of bad soldering and short circuits.Are you aware that you would have to apply the paperclip trick to make the PSU start?I've bought a different one just in case.Yes, I forgot to mention that on the list, but I got the Bitspower 24 PIN ATX PSU adapter you mentioned too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ba10s118 Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 I received my Akitio, and I had a gt430 lying around, which I'm trying to run of the stock psu.Currently I've not had any luck booting windows 8.1 up with screen on the gt430 or the macbook. Any advice so far ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dschijn Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 @ba10s118:- start your MB- hold the Alt Key until you reach the boot selection menu- power on the AKiTiO (not before the boot menu)- boot into Windows- look into the device manager Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ba10s118 Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 @ba10s118:- start your MB- hold the Alt Key until you reach the boot selection menu- power on the AKiTiO (not before the boot menu)- boot into Windows- look into the device managerI will reply back sunday - going to bed now, and wedding tomorrow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
w4vz Posted May 25, 2015 Share Posted May 25, 2015 I'm quite sure that is fine but I thought I might ask anyway. Thinking of buying a 2m thunderbolt cable. The original ones (TB1) are much cheaper. Since I have 2012 TB1 macbook is it ok to buy the old TB1 cable version ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.