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


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whats the biggest card i could run with one of these? or is there no limit?

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So what version of the bios would i need for this to work properly and am i correct to think they must be unlocked

I beg your pardon?! What?

GTX 980, GTX 780Ti and Titan Z have been tested working with an AKiTiO!

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Thanks for this. However, that’s too risky. I believe that SilverStone engineers have done the best in order that PSU can operate safely as they say “there is still inherent limitation with 80mm fan’s ability to dissipate heat at maximum loading conditions while maintaining satisfactory noise profile for users sensitive to higher-pitch sounds”.

SilverStone Technology Co., Ltd.- INTRODUCTION?SX500-LG

I would recommend to choose SFX-L size PSU such as Silverstone SX500-LG or Chieftec SFX-500GD-C with 120mm fan.

I agree that SFX-L PSU models are currently the best option for a small form factor case PSU. The benefits of having a 120mm fan over a 80 mm one are unquestionable.

That being said, what SilverStone is not saying in that statement is that cost saving concerns play a significant role in engineering decisions, something that was clearly obvious from the V1.0 of this same PSU, where they chose to fit it with a higher RPM lower torque fan that was cheaper at the expense of being noisier. All things considered, the Noiseblocker fan is probably too costly for a PSU with a $99.99 price point. Instead, this is a good mod option for someone wanting to adapt an existing PSU to use in a HTPC or other scenario where 33db/A of fan noise is not acceptable. The number of successful mods reported on HardForums and elsewhere argue that it's a stable mod and works especially well for reducing fan noise under 350W load which is where most eGPU implementations would fit.The real risk here is electrocution if one is not careful to discharge the PSU properly before opening it up, but it can be done safely like shown in @Phantron's recent implementation.

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@Oscar J

Good luck with your project! :) How are you going to use both the HD 7970 and HD 7950? Maybe your purpose is more GPGPU computing than accelerated graphics as you mentioned Indigo. I see only three ways to utilise more than one GPU at the moment:

1) AKiTiO + Amfeltec GPU-oriented PCIe expansion cluster or similar

2) Two or more AKiTiO boxes daisy chained

3) Disassembled Netstor NA211TB making possible to use up to 3 AMD eGPUs

What’s your Mac? There is max GPU count limit depending on the Mac model. For example, Mac mini 2011 allows up to 3 eGPUs if we are talking about normal PC graphics cards.

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Thanks goalque! :)

I got an opportunity to buy both these cards at an attractive price, about 200€ for the both of them.

As you said, I figured I could try daisy-chaining two AKITIO enclosures if this little experiment works out. That will have to wait though, right now my focus is on trying to get just one of them to work. The AKITIO is estimated to arrive here on Tuesday.

My Mac has the following specifications:

15" MBP 2011, 2,2 ghz i7, 16 GB RAM, AMD HD 6750M, 256 GB Crucial M4 SSD, and the "Hi-res" screen. Still quite a performer apart from the graphics.

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Dual GPUs with either AKiTiO+PCIe cluster or daisy-chained AKiTiOs would be pretty cool but keep in mind that a ST45F-G (450W at 87% efficiency = 397W) doesn't have enough juice to power both a 7950 and a 7970 simultaneously in a stable manner (240W + 300W TDP respectively). You'll need a >600W ATX PSU - I don't think the SilverStone SX600-G will cut it either.

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Wait, are you saying I could power two AKITIO's with a single PSU, granted its powerful enough?

In principle, yes. You could wire them up in a couple different ways: you could either make two separate boxes, each of them with its own AKiTiO + PSU and connect them using two TB cables in a daisy chain or instead go for a large box with a single PSU + two GPUs + single AKiTiO with PCIe cluster or two AKiTiOs. Either way could work. One key question is whether it's possible to set up SLI/Crossfire between GPUs hooked up to different TB-to-PCIe adapters - AFAIK all SLI/Crossfire eGPUs reported here used a single TB device (Sonnet or Netstor) connected to 2 or more GPUs but that doesn't necessarily mean it isn't possible.

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Hi everyone,

I remember that it was mentioned here that we can use some software to allow macs w/ dedicated GPUs to use external AMD cards on internal screens. Is the same technique available with Nvidia?

Also, for macs w/ dedicated graphics, is it just windows where we can't use eGPUs on internal screens? Or is it OS X, too?

I am thinking about buying 960/970 for my rmbp w/750m, and my approximate future configuration includes: gpu, psu (modular), akitio, power riser, tb cable.

Do I need anything else? It seems to me I just lost track of why some suggest not to power akitio at all, while some suggest to power it and to put tape around 6 pins on the pcie connector.

Thanks in advance.

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In principle, yes. You could wire them up in a couple different ways: you could either make two separate boxes, each of them with its own AKiTiO + PSU and connect them using two TB cables in a daisy chain or instead go for a large box with a single PSU + two GPUs + single AKiTiO with PCIe cluster or two AKiTiOs. Either way could work. One key question is whether it's possible to set up SLI/Crossfire between GPUs hooked up to different TB-to-PCIe adapters - AFAIK all SLI/Crossfire eGPUs reported here used a single TB device (Sonnet or Netstor) connected to 2 or more GPUs but that doesn't necessarily mean it isn't possible.

I would bet that by daisy chaining two AKiTiOs it’s very likely to get AMD Crossfire working on Win8.1. Of course, a powerful ATX PSU is a requirement. Just download the latest Catalyst Control Center + Boot Camp display driver from AMD. The Mac model does matter, not sure about 15” MBP 2011 with 6750M, but on the OS X side AMD card should be detected and also the eGPU screen output. It’s a pity that those Asus AMDs are still a bit unstable, but I have found a new powering method without taping trick :)

For the SLI, it’s difficult, but you may have luck with older Kepler architecture cards + HyperSLI 1.0 + manual delay methods:

http://forum.techinferno.com/implementation-guides/7326-%5Bguide%5D-2013-13-macbook-pro-gtx780ti-sli%4016gbps-tb2-sonnet-ee-sel-win8-1-a.html

“DifferentSLIAuto” tool is also worth to try.

However, for OpenCL computing and rendering you can mix any GPU supporting OpenCL, no need for Crossfire/SLI.

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For now a quick question regarding powering the Akitio and graphics card since I'm looking into getting a Thunder2.

I've got a GTX 580 card and according to nvidia the Maximum Graphics Card Power (W) = 244 W

Does this mean that if I power the card with a 6- and 8-pin connector, supplying (75 + 150) 225 W, the 25W pci connector power is enough, of do I still need to use a powered riser or supply 12V molex to the akitio board?

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That depends on the card. Some cards need more than the 25W! But the AKiTiO PSU can provide more than 25W, it is labeled as a 60W PSU (if I am not mistaken). I even got up to 80W from that PSU.

You can see that in my first Guide: http://forum.techinferno.com/implementation-guides/7879-%5Bguide%5D-2013-13-macbook-pro-gtx970%4016gbps-tb2-akitio-thunder2-win8-1-osx10-10-a.html

Still… it is better, safer and more stable to power the AKiTiO from a computer PSU!

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So everything seems to be running fine (the fans are running both in the PSU, the AKITIO and the GPU), except for the fact that I can't find the graphics card in System information or Indigo. Do I need to connect an external display to the graphics card in order to make it able to show up in the System profiler and accelerate OpenCL apps? Or do I need to modify and kexts or perform any other commands?

post-32203-1449499959459_thumb.png

post-32203-14494999593236_thumb.jpg

post-32203-14494999594334_thumb.png

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So everything seems to be running fine (the fans are running both in the PSU, the AKITIO and the GPU), except for the fact that I can't find the graphics card in System information or Indigo. Do I need to connect an external display to the graphics card in order to make it able to show up in the System profiler and accelerate OpenCL apps? Or do I need to modify and kexts or perform any other commands?

Great work! I am happy to give some advice. Your eGPU does not automatically show up under OS X system report. Modify the kext files for Tahiti series cards according to my guide:

http://forum.techinferno.com/implementation-guides/8585-%5Bguide%5D-2014-15-macbook-pro-2x-r9_280x%4016gbps-tb2-netstor-na211tb-win8-1-osx.html

External monitor is not necessary in order to run OpenCL apps.

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My post was the last on the previous page, and it seems that it was skipped, so I am repeating it.

Hi everyone,

I remember that it was mentioned here that we can use some software to allow macs w/ dedicated GPUs to use external AMD cards on internal screens. Is the same technique available with Nvidia?

Also, for macs w/ dedicated graphics, is it just windows where we can't use eGPUs on internal screens? Or is it OS X, too?

I am thinking about buying 960/970 for my rmbp w/750m, and my approximate future configuration includes: gpu, psu (modular), akitio, power riser, tb cable.

Do I need anything else? It seems to me I just lost track of why some suggest not to power akitio at all, while some suggest to power it and to put tape around 6 pins on the pcie connector.

Thanks in advance.

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Great work! I am happy to give some advice. Your eGPU does not automatically show up under OS X system report. Modify the kext files for Tahiti series cards according to my guide:

http://forum.techinferno.com/implementation-guides/8585-%5Bguide%5D-2014-15-macbook-pro-2x-r9_280x%4016gbps-tb2-netstor-na211tb-win8-1-osx.html

External monitor is not necessary in order to run OpenCL apps.

Thanks! Please have in mind that I'm not an experienced programmer. You describe a place in the kexts where it says "/dict". However when I open the kexts there are many places where it says that. How do I know where to paste your lines?

Start of the 7000Controller kext:

post-32203-14494999598978_thumb.png

End of it:

post-32203-1449499959934_thumb.png

Thanks in advance!

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My post was the last on the previous page, and it seems that it was skipped, so I am repeating it.

Macs with only integrated GPU at least allow accelerated full screen graphics in the internal screen after installing Virtu MVP (Windows):

http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/2967-lucidlogix-virtu-internal-lcd-mode-amd-egpus.html#post120413

Windowed apps in the internal screen are accelerated without any additional software with AMD cards, but you need an external monitor. I am not sure how dGPU affects, but on their web page they are saying that you can connect to either discrete GPU port or to the integrated GPU port. On OSX internal screen, I have seen only windowed apps that can be accelerated if you set the external monitor as primary display.

As far as I know, Nvidia Optimus only works with Macs without dGPU. One user has found a way to enable the Intel Iris Pro:

http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/8717-%5Bguide%5D-enabling-intel-iris-pro-hd5200-win8-1-15-macbook-pro-gt750m.html

Taping 6 pins of the powered riser is recommended to block back power that may result in instability. However, many users have successful implementations trusting only to back power, and nothing plugged into DC jack. There are powered risers that aren’t back powered too. But if you choose this method - either taping or non-back-powered riser, a molex-to-barrel adapter is necessary. I wouldn’t run the AKiTiO with the included power adapter.

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I am thinking about buying 960/970 for my rmbp w/750m, and my approximate future configuration includes: gpu, psu (modular), akitio, power riser, tb cable.

Do I need anything else? It seems to me I just lost track of why some suggest not to power akitio at all, while some suggest to power it and to put tape around 6 pins on the pcie connector.

Well if you are going to use a powered riser you don't have to worry about taping the 6pins. The only thing you might be missing is a way to turn on the PSU (paper clip trick or adapter) and a case to put everything into.

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goalque, Dschijn, thank you very much! Now my understanding is clear. As I saw on other threads, even if I use a fully modular psu (like Corsair RM450), I still need to do the paper clip trick w/ 24pin. Is this correct?

About dragging windows from external monitor to internal, does it work only on AMD?

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