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US$189 AKiTiO Thunder2 PCIe Box (16Gbps-TB2)


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Do you have any pictures of the completed build?

Not yet because the powered riser doesn't fit inside the case so I need to order another 90° riser and a converter cable to power my case fan from the PSU (or maybe I will modify a cable for this). But my wife is complaning about the bare components in our living room so I will try to finish it soon :-) It will hopefully also reduce the coil noise a bit.

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Not yet because the powered riser doesn't fit inside the case so I need to order another 90° riser and a converter cable to power my case fan from the PSU (or maybe I will modify a cable for this). But my wife is complaning about the bare components in our living room so I will try to finish it soon :-) It will hopefully also reduce the coil noise a bit.

Okay, well when you finish please do post the pictures, also what power supply are you using for this?

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Out of curiosity what does installing Windows in UEFI Mode do and why do I need to do it?

To give a very simple explanation: UEFI (2005) is a more advanced BIOS (1975). So Windows can use more advanced functionality (like Thunderbolt) when you use UEFI mode. Apple Bootcamp always uses UEFI when you install Windows on modern Mac's.

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To give a very simple explanation: UEFI (2005) is a more advanced BIOS (1975). So Windows can use more advanced functionality (like Thunderbolt) when you use UEFI mode. Apple Bootcamp always uses UEFI when you install Windows on modern Mac's.

So when I install Windows for an eGPU I don't need to do anything out of the ordinary because it already does it?

- - - Updated - - -

@Tech Inferno Fan Wow! We have a very in depth video on how to use/install an eGPU! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPOB9qmPjaE&feature=youtu.be We have to share this, because this is the best we have seen so far!

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If you want to use a non powered riser, you need keep two things in mind:

- You need the AKiTiO PSU to work at the same time with the PC PSU (might give you ground loops between this two PSUs)

- the AKiTiO is not made to support more than 25W in the PCIe Slot (I tested it to provide much more power than the 25W but that is not safe imho)

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If you want to use a non powered riser, you need keep two things in mind:

- You need the AKiTiO PSU to work at the same time with the PC PSU (might give you ground loops between this two PSUs)

- the AKiTiO is not made to support more than 25W in the PCIe Slot (I tested it to provide much more power than the 25W but that is not safe imho)

Why would the akitio PSU need to be plugged in if I am not using any of the power from the PCIe slot? And just out of curiosity what is a ground loop?

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Well the AKiTiO needs power right? So it comes:

a) a powered riser

B) or the AKiTiO PSU

right?

Ground loop is electricity flowing between two ground "sources" if you are using two PSUs or power from two PSUs going to only to one ground.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hey guys,

My AKiTiO setup has been plagued with stability issues and perhaps you have some idea what the cause might be.

My setup is as follows:

Laptop: Macbook Air 13" mid-2013 with TB1 running Windows 8.1 with UEFI

GPU: EVGA GTX 670 FTW 2GB (170W TDP)

PSU: Silverstone ST45SF-G SFX PSU 450W 80+ Gold, max 37A@12V

Case: Silverstone Sugo SG-05

Adapters: Supermicro RSC-R1UG-E16R-X9 Riser Card

Powered PCIe x16 riser cable

Modded molex-DC barrel plug adapter

Everything works OK initially but it eventually crashes while running high demand applications, such as during Firestrike benchmark with 3DMark or Civilization V. The crashes start as a sudden drop in framerate, loss of picture and full system freeze or occasionally the driver recovers with a "Display driver nvlddmkm stopped responding and has successfully recovered." message. The crashes don't come immediately - e.g. I can boot up and run Firestrike and it will complete it successfully but if I run the full 3DMark suite it won't finish. I can have it running for hours with some game and it will still happen if I do something that will suddenly tax the GPU harder.

I've tried the following:

  • Updating Geforce drivers to 347.09
  • Powering through riser cable, DC-molex adapter or both
  • Two different TB cables (AKiTiO's and a 2m Apple TB cable)
  • Two different PSUs (Corsair 400CX 400W 30A@12V)
  • Two different PCIe riser cables
  • Connecting without the Supermicro right angle PCIe riser card
  • Connecting without any PCIe adapter (hooking up AKiTiO daugthterboard directly to the GPU, powering through the molex-DC adapter)
  • Stabilizing the x4 PCIe connection between the AKiTiO TB board and PCIe daughter board with an insulated bulldog clip

Some of these things helped but the stability problem remains. I haven't tried with a different GPU but this one had been working fine in my desktop machine for a while now.

I'm at my wits' end. Any ideas?

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Hey guys,

My AKiTiO setup has been plagued with stability issues and perhaps you have some idea what the cause might be.

My setup is as follows:

Laptop: Macbook Air 13" mid-2013 with TB1 running Windows 8.1 with UEFI

GPU: EVGA GTX 670 FTW 2GB (170W TDP)

PSU: Silverstone ST45SF-G SFX PSU 450W 80+ Gold, max 37A@12V

Case: Silverstone Sugo SG-05

Adapters:Supermicro RSC-R1UG-E16R-X9 Riser Card

Powered PCIe x16 riser cable

Modded molex-DC barrel plug adapter

You have a DC barrel and powered riser? Reports here suggest you don't need the DC barrel when using the powered riser.

Furthermore, you have the riser cable AND the riser card. The video card still needs clean Gen2 signalling with any additional cables/risers adding potential impedance mismatching and associated noise associated signal degradation. I'd suggest remove the Riser card and test just with the Riser cable to see if stabiity improves. If not, connect your video card directly to the AKiTiO Thunder x16 slot and power it using the DC barrel plug adapter + PCIe power directly into the card.

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You have a DC barrel and powered riser? Reports here suggest you don't need the DC barrel when using the powered riser.

Furthermore, you have the riser cable AND the riser card. The video card still needs clean Gen2 signalling with any additional cables/risers adding potential impedance mismatching and associated noise associated signal degradation. I'd suggest remove the Riser card and test just with the Riser cable to see if stabiity improves. If not, connect your video card directly to the AKiTiO Thunder x16 slot and power it using the DC barrel plug adapter + PCIe power directly into the card.

Hi Tech Inferno Fan, sorry for my incomplete posting. I selected this particular riser adapter since the specs clearly mentioned it was compatible with gen2 and 3 signals. Still, I tried removing it, as well as the riser cable by connecting the GPU directly to the AKiTiO's X16 slot - it's still unstable.

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Hi Tech Inferno Fan, sorry for my incomplete posting. I selected this particular riser adapter since the specs clearly mentioned it was compatible with gen2 and 3 signals. Still, I tried removing it, as well as the riser cable by connecting the GPU directly to the AKiTiO's X16 slot - it's still unstable.

Test another Thunderbolt cable? Test your eGPU gear on another TB-equipped system?

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Test another Thunderbolt cable? Test your eGPU gear on another TB-equipped system?

I've tried two different cables, same result. Once I fly back from the holidays next week, I'll be able to test my gear hooked up to an Intel NUC with a TB1 port. I also have an extra GPU (GTX 460) that I can try, in case the problem is in the GTX 670.

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I've tried two different cables, same result. Once I fly back from the holidays next week, I'll be able to test my gear hooked up to an Intel NUC with a TB1 port. I also have an extra GPU (GTX 460) that I can try, in case the problem is in the GTX 670.

Yes, another video card is a worthwhile test. IN the expresscard/mPCIe area, I've had two users who could get Gen2 signalling working OK with one card, but not with another. My theory was that those cards had sketchy impedance matching. Might have been OK for motherboards but weren't good enough for our external configurations. So yeah, GTX460 certainly worth a try.

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I had the exact same problems... I used a GTX770 and I could do things just fine, but from the moment something more demanding was launched, it lasted a while and then started stuttering, followed by a frozen screen, or black screen, reboot, or display driver recovery with horrible fps afterwards.

I tried to solve it using by using no riser + DC barrel plug, powered riser without DC barrel plug, both DC barrel and powered riser, another TB cable, ... nothing seemed to solve the issue. I swapped out my GTX770 for my brother's GTX760, and now I don't seem to have the problem any longer: I can play Guild Wars 2 or Far Cry 3 without problems. So it probably is something with the GPU that, as @Tech Inferno Fan mentions, with the signaling, or something else I have no idea about (I'm no expert :P )

Now, my brother runs the GTX770 in his desktop just fine, and I use his GTX760 also just fine.

My current setup is:

Aikitio (duh)

Akitio TB cable

Corsair RM450

Gigabyte GTX760 powered by the DC barrel plug

No powered riser, GPU is plugged in straight to the Akitio PCI-e slot.

So it might help to try and use your GTX460 and see if the problem persists.

I hope this helps you a little further. :)

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Yes, another video card is a worthwhile test. IN the expresscard/mPCIe area, I've had two users who could get Gen2 signalling working OK with one card, but not with another. My theory was that those cards had sketchy impedance matching. Might have been OK for motherboards but weren't good enough for our external configurations. So yeah, GTX460 certainly worth a try.
I had the exact same problems... I used a GTX770 and I could do things just fine, but from the moment something more demanding was launched, it lasted a while and then started stuttering, followed by a frozen screen, or black screen, reboot, or display driver recovery with horrible fps afterwards.

I tried to solve it using by using no riser + DC barrel plug, powered riser without DC barrel plug, both DC barrel and powered riser, another TB cable, ... nothing seemed to solve the issue. I swapped out my GTX770 for my brother's GTX760, and now I don't seem to have the problem any longer: I can play Guild Wars 2 or Far Cry 3 without problems. So it probably is something with the GPU that, as @Tech Inferno Fan mentions, with the signaling, or something else I have no idea about (I'm no expert :P )

Now, my brother runs the GTX770 in his desktop just fine, and I use his GTX760 also just fine.

My current setup is:

Aikitio (duh)

Akitio TB cable

Corsair RM450

Gigabyte GTX760 powered by the DC barrel plug

No powered riser, GPU is plugged in straight to the Akitio PCI-e slot.

So it might help to try and use your GTX460 and see if the problem persists.

I hope this helps you a little further. :)

That's very interesting, thanks guys! I'll definitely try the GTX 460 - I'll let you know how it goes.

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I've got the same issue with those freezes/crashes since I switched to a Gainward GTX 780 Phantom. Sometimes I can play for a long time and sometimes one round of League of Legends, which really isn't a challenging game for this card, is enough to get a freeze throughout the game or sometimes it stutters and driver gets recovered(w/o bad FPS though). It doesn't seem to be a power problem as my previous GTX 480 never had this issue and both cards drain about the same power at maximum(same pcie power slots(6+8)). I've ordered another powered riser which has yet to arrive because I thought it might have a bad capacitor which may be causing the problems. This was before I read the posts here though.

So if the new riser won't help I'll better search for another graphics card, yes?

Btw, would it be possible to power a pcie angle adapter the same way like the Akitio board? I'm not that good at soldering so I'd rather screw up a cheap angle than my expensive Akitio board and additionally I'd get rid of the riser cable. I've already got an angle so my card can be placed standing. The bottom soldering points look the same as those marked on the Akitio board in first post of the thread: http://i874.photobucket.com/albums/ab302/myshop123/pci-e%20card/pci-eR1.jpg

Is there any documentation where to solder which cable? Or anyone who knows about this might teach me?

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I just upgraded my HDD to SSD. Reinstalled everything. Now I'm having trouble with installing the NVIDIA driver. It keeps saying that it cannot find any compatible hardware. I'm only using 1 PSU. The Akitio's light turn blue when I boot up my Macbook but I'm not sure if the card is really connected or not. Akitio box is detected in Mac OS X. Not sure about Windows.

PS: I downloaded the lastest driver v347.09

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