Intel Thunderbolt NUC + HD7870@10Gbps-TB1 (AKiTiO Thunder2) + Win8.1 [arclord]

[arclord]

Here is a short guide on setting up the HD7870 for the Intel NUC DC3217BY (with Thunderbolt 1) using the AKiTiO Thunder2 PCIe Box.

Hardware:
•    Intel NUC DC3217BY with Thunderbolt 1 + Win8.1/64 (EFI) 
•    Crucial M500 480GB mSATA
•    2 x 4GB DDR3 1333 ram (old ram from my laptop)
•    AKiTiO Thunder2 PCIe Box + Thunderbolt cable
•    Seasonic X 760W
•    Powercolor Radeon HD7870
•    PCIe 16x riser extender with power molex
•    SWEX (ATX power supply on switch)

As mentioned in other guides, the AKiTiO 60W power supply is not required as power is supplied via the molex on the PCIe 16x riser extender to the Thunder2. If power is provided by the AKiTiO power supply instead of the molex, the HD7870 is unstable (not detected by Win 8.1 at times). This might be due to the HD7870 drawing more power from the PCIe slot than what the AKiTiO power supply can provide.

 

Software: 
The M500 was partitioned using GPT. Installed Win 8 and upgraded to Win 8.1 without any major issues. Thunder2 was detected by Win8.1 after connecting to the NUC. Detection of the HD7870 required a reboot and Catalyst drivers was installed after that. Both Catalyst 14.4 WHQL and 14.7 RC3 drivers work for the HD7870.

 

Benchmarks:
3DMark (with and without HD7870)




3DMark 06



Other graphics cards tested:
Powercolor R9 290X (using PCIe 16x riser extender) – 290X detected by Win8.1 and Catalyst drivers installed. However, artifacts appear on the desktop screen after a few minutes and Win8.1 crashes.

EVGA GTX 750Ti SC (using PCIe 16x riser extender) – 750Ti detected by Win8.1 and GeForce drivers installed. However, Win8.1 hangs after a reboot.

PNY GT 730 (inserted directly into the Thunder2) – 730 detected by Win8.1 and GeForce drivers installed. However, Win8.1 reports error 12. Tried the DSDT override but error 12 still remains. By the way, this card uses 25W power only and has 1GB GDDR5 ram.

I am currently migrating the Thunder2 PCIe + TB boards to the Cooler Master Elite 130 mITX casing.



Here are the 3DMark scores with the last ribbon cable removed from the PCIe riser:

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm06/17657202
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/8749410
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/4083085


Here is the 3DMark11 score:
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/8749410

This test was done with the final setup in the Elite 130 casing. Essentially, there are 3 cables connected to the setup. The power cable to the ATX power supply, the Thunderbolt cable to the TB board and the HDMI cable to the HD7870.

 

[Tech Inferno Fan]

Thank you for posting this guide. The are the first pioneer to release a public Thunderbolt eGPU implementation on a NUC.

Only tweak to your config I can suggest is you could remove the last ribbon cable of your PCIe riser. That's because there is only a x4 2.0 electrical link to the video card so the last ribbon cable that services higher lanes (probably x8.. x16) isn't sending traffic.

You can confirm that removal of that ribbon cable has no side effects by running GPU-Z and confirming it's still a x4 2.0 link as it shows currently.

Forgot to add, you might try M-low's rEFInd solution posted here to deal with the error 12 under UEFI mode with the GT 730.

[arclord]

Thank you for posting this guide. The are the first pioneer to release a public Thunderbolt eGPU implementation on a NUC.

Only tweak to your config I can suggest is you could remove the last ribbon cable of your PCIe riser. That's because there is only a x4 2.0 electrical link to the video card so the last ribbon cable that services higher lanes (probably x9.. x16) isn't sending traffic.

You can confirm that removal of that ribbon cable has no side effects by running GPU-Z and confirming it's still a x4 2.0 link as it shows currently.

Thanks for the suggestion. Will remove the last ribbon cable of the PCIe riser.

[jacobsson]

@arclord

This some interesting stuff right here, good job buddy!

Please post the links to the new 3Dmark scores when you remove the redundant lanes of the riser.

This concept is pretty awesome imo, I'm really interested to see some gaming tests too if you don't mind?

[arclord]

Forgot to add, you might try M-low's rEFInd solution posted here to deal with the error 12 under UEFI mode with the GT 730.

Thanks, will give it a try once I have time.

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@arclord

This some interesting stuff right here, good job buddy!

Please post the links to the new 3Dmark scores when you remove the redundant lanes of the riser.

This concept is pretty awesome imo, I'm really interested to see some gaming tests too if you don't mind?

Here are the 3DMark and 3DMark06 with the last ribbon cable removed from the PCIe riser:

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/<wbr>4083085

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm06/<wbr>17657202

The scores are quite similar. Which gaming tests should I run?

[jacobsson]

Thanks, will give it a try once I have time.

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Here are the 3DMark and 3DMark06 with the last ribbon cable removed from the PCIe riser:

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/<wbr>4083085

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm06/<wbr>17657202

The scores are quite similar. Which gaming tests should I run?

Nice, thanks buddy!

I'll just post some games that I find interesting, maybe you happen to have one or two of them:

• Borderlands 2
  
• Chivalry: medieval warfare
  
• Counter-strike GO
  
• DOTA 2 (free)
  
• Skyrim
  
• Metro: Last light
  
• Far cry 3
  

I'm looking at your scores for 3DMark06 and I guess they are a bit low due to the CPU. I wonder if 3DMark11 would be more suitable since the test is more CPU independent than 06, would you mind do a test?

I know I might ask a lot of stuff from you, but you can use all this info in your write-up later =)

After all you are the pioneer of this kind of implementation

[arclord]

Nice, thanks buddy!

I'll just post some games that I find interesting, maybe you happen to have one or two of them:

• Borderlands 2
  
• Chivalry: medieval warfare
  
• Counter-strike GO
  
• DOTA 2 (free)
  
• Skyrim
  
• Metro: Last light
  
• Far cry 3
  

I'm looking at your scores for 3DMark06 and I guess they are a bit low due to the CPU. I wonder if 3DMark11 would be more suitable since the test is more CPU independent than 06, would you mind do a test?

I know I might ask a lot of stuff from you, but you can use all this info in your write-up later =)

After all you are the pioneer of this kind of implementation

The i3-3217U is probably the limiting factor since it is dual-core and has a maximum speed of 1.8 Ghz.

Here is the 3DMark11 score:

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/<wbr>8749410

This test was done with the final setup in the Elite 130 casing. Essentially, there are 3 cables connected to the setup. The power cable to the ATX power supply, the Thunderbolt cable to the TB board and the HDMI cable to the HD7870.

I don't have the games you listed. Will try Bioshock Infinite and RE5 benchmarking utilities soon.

[jacobsson]

@arclord

The GPU score of 3Dmark11 seems pretty good right?

Oh, and nice work with the enclosure buddy!

[arclord]

@arclord

The GPU score of 3Dmark11 seems pretty good right?

Oh, and nice work with the enclosure buddy!

The GPU score for 3DMark11 is similar to those in the HD7870 reviews so it isn't too bad.

Thanks! By the way, what resolution should I use for the game benchmarking utilities?

[jacobsson]

I always use the free standard reaolutions ~720p. It's gonna be awesome seeing some gaming on that little beast!

[ReaverM1]

Can you do a Unigine Heaven Benchmark (v4) and also Cinebench(vR15) please. Would like to compare gaming performance and power consumption for a personal GRID Server In the works. My old eGPU Setup

My cpu throttled even after getting 2 different units and undervolting so I returned the MacBook Pro. Now I want to build an always on GRID Server with as little hit in the power consumption department as possible. Nuc's have very low idle and load power consumption vs Mac Mini which has low idle but 3-4 times higher load power consumption and desktop CPU's are out of the question as far as idle Power Consumption goes (unless someone could point me in the right direction not looking for atoms lol).

[arclord]

Quote

I always use the free standard reaolutions ~720p. It's gonna be awesome seeing some gaming on that little beast!

Here are the framerates for Bioshock Infinite (1280 x 720, DirectX11 default settings)

Average FPS	Min FPS	Max FPS
64.83	7.83	135.63

Have been busy with work so I apologize for taking such a long time with the benchmarks.

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Quote

Can you do a Unigine Heaven Benchmark (v4) and also Cinebench(vR15) please. Would like to compare gaming performance and power consumption for a personal GRID Server In the works. My old eGPU Setup 2014 15" Top of the Line MacBook Pro + GTX 780Ti My cpu throttled even after getting 2 different units and undervolting so I returned the MacBook Pro. Now I want to build an always on GRID Server with as little hit in the power consumption department as possible. Nuc's have very low idle and load power consumption vs Mac Mini which has low idle but 3-4 times higher load power consumption and desktop CPU's are out of the question as far as idle Power Consumption goes (unless someone could point me in the right direction not looking for atoms lol).

Sure, will do the Unigine Heaven Benchmark and also Cinebench soon when I have the time.

[arclord]

Thanks much appreciated

Here you go:

[Dschijn]

Have you been able to screw the AKiTiO circuit board to the Elite 130? Can you post a close up picture?