The basic eGPU hardware guide (for Macs)

[Rational]

Alarming0. I also contacted that ebay seller for the first cable you listed: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Akitio-eGPU-8-PIN-TO-2-x-PCI-E-6-PIN-super-low-profile-no-latch-1-x-BARREL-/261932428549?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cfc63ad05&afsrc=1&rmvSB=true And they told me that they no longer have any. I asked if they could make more and they said their supplier "does not provide the material". Lol.

 

 

 

 

That's too bad because that cable looks like the PERFECT set up for using the Dell 220w DA-2 power brick. Perfect for a stock GTX970 card like the Zotac rated at 140W TDP here: http://www.techpowerup.com/gpudb/b3053/zotac-gtx-970.html Am I right on this conclusion?

 

 

Next, is anyone on this board willing to fab up a cable for me? And perhaps others? I'll pay. Not really interested at the moment in creating a cable myself unless someone put together a really nice and verified video guide and posted it on youtube. I don't want to take the risk of making a mistake and shorting out a brand new gtx970. So far the diagrams are still a bit too unclear for me upon first glance.

 

And Kblack21, I'm calling 2nd dibs on your cable if Alarming0 decides on another solution.

 

 

Dschijn, I have to thank you for all your high quality guidance here on the forum. I joined because of your efforts. So thank you.

 

I plan to do up a Zotac 970 in a Akito using the DA-2 for my 2012 Mac Mini i7 2.3Ghz and give it a go. The cable is the only thing really stopping me from ordering anything yet.

 

Thanks everyone.

R

 

Edited March 16, 2016 by Rational

[Dschijn]

I could help you with that cable, just have to order the parts, solder and mail it.

They are not as pretty as the ones from eBay (because I have limited tools and limited access to the parts), but they work.

[Alarming0]

6 hours ago, Rational said:

Alarming0. I also contacted that ebay seller for the first cable you listed: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Akitio-eGPU-8-PIN-TO-2-x-PCI-E-6-PIN-super-low-profile-no-latch-1-x-BARREL-/261932428549?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cfc63ad05&afsrc=1&rmvSB=true And they told me that they no longer have any. I asked if they could make more and they said their supplier "does not provide the material". Lol.

 

 

 

 

 

That's too bad because that cable looks like the PERFECT set up for using the Dell 220w DA-2 power brick. Perfect for a stock GTX970 card like the Zotac rated at 140W TDP here: http://www.techpowerup.com/gpudb/b3053/zotac-gtx-970.html Am I right on this conclusion?

 

 

 

 

That is hilarious because I have been in contact with them again and they apparently are selling me the cable. I'm currently waiting for them to invoice me for it and then another 3-9 days for shipping. I will keep you updated if you would like.

Edited March 16, 2016 by Alarming0

[Rational]

Lolz. Too funny. Well perhaps my inquiry sparked their interest in the profit motive again. Maybe I should ask them again once yours ships out or after you receive it.

 

Or I'll get with Kblak21 then if you're letting that option go in pursuing his cable.

 

Once I have a cable in hand I'll take some detailed macro close up shots, create a pin out and maybe even post a video on YT for others as I don't believe one has been done yet for this cable design? It looks like the best design out there to me as it has 90 degree 6pin connectors, long length, and the barrel plug incorporated already.

 

Oh, and in other news, the Razer Core was announced today as being available soon http://liliputing.com/2016/03/razer-core-graphics-dock-ships-april-399.html

 

But its $499 for the masses who don't already own a Razer notebook. So I'll probably pass on it unless it's somehow truly stellar over the Akito Thunder 2 with this cable.

 

 

Oh, Dschjn, Just seeing your post now. VERY cool of you to offer. Let me see what pans out with kblack21 and if not, then I'll probably be happy to pay you for making me a cable. To me, you've earned a purchase easily considering how much you've given to this community. Thank you.

 

 

And my last thought of the day is about my choice of the GTX970. I saw that they're still selling for $300-$320 or so, the exact same price you paid more than a year ago. Considering Nvidia is releasing all the new Pascal based cards here starting in April/May, I might be better off waiting for the next version card. It is likely to get the same performance for 1/2 the wattage and heat. Or the 970 will reduce in price. Might wait 6 weeks...

Edited March 17, 2016 by Rational

[Dschijn]

46 minutes ago, Rational said:

Oh, Dschjn, Just seeing your post now. VERY cool of you to offer. Let me see what pans out with kblack21 and if not, then I'll probably be happy to pay you for making me a cable. To me, you've earned a purchase easily considering how much you've given to this community. Thank you.

 

Believe me, I don't make profit on that cable. It simply is work... So if you find it at another place, I am happy. But if you need help, I can help.

[kblack21]

Hey Sorry @Alarming0 and everyone else, i've been a little busy. Here are the photos I promised. I bought it from Antronst, as many of you probably have been trying to. Not working on any profit, it cost me $24 and i'd ship it for $24 to break even. I also bought a barrel plug to 6 pin for $18 from ScryptMiner64 if any one can use that... oh boy i didn't know what I was doing when I started this haha (But hopefully any of this stuff can help you guys)

 

 

[ditkafan]

5 hours ago, kblack21 said:

Hey Sorry @Alarming0 and everyone else, i've been a little busy. Here are the photos I promised. I bought it from Antronst, as many of you probably have been trying to. Not working on any profit, it cost me $24 and i'd ship it for $24 to break even. I also bought a barrel plug to 6 pin for $18 from ScryptMiner64 if any one can use that... oh boy i didn't know what I was doing when I started this haha (But hopefully any of this stuff can help you guys)

 

 

kblack21:  Do you still have your cable from Antronst for sale?  I would love to take it off your hands.  I'm sure I could whip one up on my own, but I would love to have a proven cable to use for my first build.  Additionally as a way to help pay back the forum, I would be willing to run down to my local electrical supply store and price out the parts I need to make additional cables at cost to help other board members who would prefer ready made cables.  As an electrical engineer I am fairly handy when it comes to these types of tasks.  

thanks! -Ditkafan

[Alarming0]

5 hours ago, kblack21 said:

Hey Sorry @Alarming0 and everyone else, i've been a little busy. Here are the photos I promised. I bought it from Antronst, as many of you probably have been trying to. Not working on any profit, it cost me $24 and i'd ship it for $24 to break even. I also bought a barrel plug to 6 pin for $18 from ScryptMiner64 if any one can use that... oh boy i didn't know what I was doing when I started this haha (But hopefully any of this stuff can help you guys)

 

I will definitely take this if I don't hear back from them. They have taken about a day to respond to each of my messages so I'd expect to hear from them soon...

[kblack21]

@ditkafan I'd have no problem to get it to you, but I assured @Alarming0 i'd offer it to him first. If he gets the cable from Antronst over the next day i'll gladly sell it to you though. Either way is cool with me, I know how annoying the first egpu build can be.

[Alarming0]

2 hours ago, kblack21 said:

@ditkafan I'd have no problem to get it to you, but I assured @Alarming0 i'd offer it to him first. If he gets the cable from Antronst over the next day i'll gladly sell it to you though. Either way is cool with me, I know how annoying the first egpu build can be.

Alright, they invoiced me and I paid it so it looks like this is going through. Works out for me because I only needed the 2x6pin as opposed to the 6+2pins. I explained to them in the course of our communications that they are the only people making a ready-to-use cable like this one so they should consider selling them and that if they did I would help others get in touch with them. The process for ordering is simple and I will detail it in its own post below.

[Alarming0]

Ordering ready-to-use cables for Dell DA-2 and Akitio Thunder2 from AntronST:

Send an email to [email protected] with the following information:

 

Paypal email address

Physical Address

Phone number

Part # / quantity

 

The part numbers for the two different types of cables are as follows:

 

2x6-pin version ($20):

Part #: AeGPU8P2PCIE6SLPBARREL

 

2x6+2-pin version ($24):

Part #: AeGPU8P2PCIE6+2BARREL

 

They will then invoice you for the cable.

 

Antron have less than 10 of the 6-pins as far as I have gathered and a similar amount of the others so this will not necessarily last long. Good luck!

Edited March 17, 2016 by Alarming0

[kblack21]

@Alarming0 cool, i'm glad you heard back from them. If anyone wants this one i'll keep mine around then, but can't beat getting a freshly made cable. 

Edited March 17, 2016 by kblack21

[ditkafan]

1 hour ago, Alarming0 said:

Ordering ready-to-use cables for Dell DA-2 and Akitio Thunder2 from AntronST:

Send an email to [email protected] with the following information:

 

Paypal email address

Physical Address

Phone number

Part # / quantity

 

The part numbers for the two different types of cables are as follows:

 

2x6-pin version ($20):

Part #: AeGPU8P2PCIE6SLPBARREL

 

2x6+2-pin version ($24):

Part #: AeGPU8P2PCIE6+2BARREL

 

They will then invoice you for the cable.

 

Antron have less than 10 of the 6-pins as far as I have gathered and a similar amount of the others so this will not necessarily last long. Good luck!

Just sent antron an email.  I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[Rational]

Don't forget I've got second dibs on that cable after alarming0.

 

kblack21, I'll gladly buy that cable off of you. But ditkafan, if you really want to research it first and can't get one from antron, I'll of course gladly let it go to you first considering you said you would use it as a model to make cables for other forum members. That's very cool of you. Being an electrical engineer, I think you'd have much more success than me in fabbing up some cables for others.

 

But if you can get one from antron, then I'll gladly buy it from kblack today or tomorrow, or whenever you can confirm you can get one elsewhere.

 

Also, I'm also so new to this that I was going to buy those exact two cables. I have a question though. How come you're not using them now? What have you learned since that now you don't need these two cables? And I'm confused on the difference between the 2x6 pin and the 2x6+2 pin options. Which one is the cable you're selling and which do I actually need for the Akito Thunder2 with a Zotec GTX970? Thanks for any clarification you can provide.

 

Anyway, I can pay anytime. Let's PM each other on the sale depending on ditkafan's answer. (Actually, I'm told I can't receive PMs as yet. Perhaps my post count is too low.)

 

dschjin, I understand. Thank you for being awesome.  

 

And did anyone get a response back from Antron? Are they supplying cables now does it look like? That'd be cool.

Edited March 19, 2016 by Rational

[ditkafan]

On 3/17/2016 at 3:25 PM, kblack21 said:

@Alarming0 cool, i'm glad you heard back from them. If anyone wants this one i'll keep mine around then, but can't beat getting a freshly made cable. 

 

I had no luck trying to buy a cable from antron... It seems very hit or miss over there depending on who you get when you email them    I'd still love to purchase the cable from kblack21 if you are up for selling...

 

Rational - for being so nice and letting me get it when you had dibs, I'd gladly let you have my first cable I put together - at no cost of course  

[Rational]

12 hours ago, ditkafan said:

 

I had no luck trying to buy a cable from antron... It seems very hit or miss over there depending on who you get when you email them    I'd still love to purchase the cable from kblack21 if you are up for selling...

 

Rational - for being so nice and letting me get it when you had dibs, I'd gladly let you have my first cable I put together - at no cost of course  

 

Wow ditkafan, now THAT is very nice of you.  See, it proves that what goes around comes around.

 

But I don't mind paying you. In fact, I have the feeling others after us will want a bunch of cables from you. So I think you're about to have a nice little side business. Can't wait to get your first fabbed up cable. I'd be an honor.

I won't be putting mine together for probably another month I don't think as I'm still on the fence about getting a gtx970 or waiting until next month for the new cards about to drop by NVidia to see if they are going to be a lot less power hungry and lower heat. Or maybe they'll make the 970's cheaper! Either way, it's a win. But I'll probably order my Akito Thunder2 as soon as I have a cable from you. Thanks bro. I really appreciate it.

 

Let's work out the price and ship details once my PM box starts working.

[kblack21]

@ditkafan sorry about the late reply, my weekends get pretty hectic. I can send you the cable though. Wasn't able to PM for some reason, but shoot me a email at [email protected] and we can get the cable off to you. Let me know.

[Rational]

Very cool guys. Can't wait to hear how the progress comes along on the cables ditkafan. Cool stuff!

[kblack21]

On 3/18/2016 at 2:25 PM, Rational said:

Don't forget I've got second dibs on that cable after alarming0.

 

kblack21, I'll gladly buy that cable off of you. But ditkafan, if you really want to research it first and can't get one from antron, I'll of course gladly let it go to you first considering you said you would use it as a model to make cables for other forum members. That's very cool of you. Being an electrical engineer, I think you'd have much more success than me in fabbing up some cables for others.

 

But if you can get one from antron, then I'll gladly buy it from kblack today or tomorrow, or whenever you can confirm you can get one elsewhere.

 

Also, I'm also so new to this that I was going to buy those exact two cables. I have a question though. How come you're not using them now? What have you learned since that now you don't need these two cables? And I'm confused on the difference between the 2x6 pin and the 2x6+2 pin options. Which one is the cable you're selling and which do I actually need for the Akito Thunder2 with a Zotec GTX970? Thanks for any clarification you can provide.

 

Anyway, I can pay anytime. Let's PM each other on the sale depending on ditkafan's answer. (Actually, I'm told I can't receive PMs as yet. Perhaps my post count is too low.)

 

dschjin, I understand. Thank you for being awesome.  

 

And did anyone get a response back from Antron? Are they supplying cables now does it look like? That'd be cool.

 

Hey @Rational I apologize for not responding to your questions. In regards to why i'm selling the cables is because I'm using a Titan X GPU, and after doing some research I found out the Dell PSU wasn't powerful enough for my needs. But being a bit too eager I purchased the cables, and realized this after. I eventually bought and EVGA 500w PSU and that's been faithfully powering my eGPU for almost a month now, no problems.

 

As for the cables a 2 X 6pin is simply a cable with 2 6pin connectors on the same end, like a splitter, and a 2 X 6+2 is the same idea except the 6 pins have an additional 2 pins that can be used (making them 6 pin or 8 pin connectors). These connectors are generally used with GPU's as they'll either require 6 or 8 pins.

I hope this makes sense, as it's how I've come to understand it. Anyone that would like to add or refine to this please feel free to chime in.

 

If your's using the Dell PSU you may not want the 6pin to a barrel plug I still have, as it may not fit. But if your using a stronger PSU you can use it to power your Akitio.

 

 

This link is for figuring out the psu requirements for a whole system, but if you zero everything out except for your  GPU, it should give a decent idea of the amount of power you'd need from your power supply:

http://powersupplycalculator.net/

[Rational]

Thank you kblack21. I appreciate it. Good info to know.

 

ditkafan, any luck as yet with fabbing up cables based on the one you received? Curious to hear how you're coming along.

 

Also, I'm still waiting as I heard that NVidia has their big show on April 5th and are likely to release the info on the next gen cards which will run cooler and use less power for the same performance. Or maybe double performance. Depending on pricing, I may go with that. Also curious about the Highpoint Rocketstor 6361a enclosure over the Akitio as I've been reading others' posts about kernel panics of late with the Akito? Plus the price has gone up on the Akitio to $240, which is now actually higher than the Highpoint currently at $234.

 

Always interested in opinions before I decide. Thanks everyone.

[ditkafan]

On 4/2/2016 at 8:15 PM, Rational said:

ditkafan, any luck as yet with fabbing up cables based on the one you received? Curious to hear how you're coming along.

 

Rational, first time checking this thread in about a week and a half.  I had a death in the family and have been (still currently) out of town.  Hope to be back home on the east coast in another week or so... I need to order the items to fabricate my first cable, but the good news is that I had created an amazon list and found everything I needed there fairly cheap.  I'll touch base again in a towards the end of the next week.  Thanks for the understanding.

[leendert]

Hi there, im confused. I really want to build an external GPU with the Akitio as base to start. I just can't figure out the power supply part. Im not an engineer or something and although there is really a lot of information on this great forum i just don't get any further so i really really hope someone can help me going. I have a Mac Mini late 2012 top model, so quad core i7 16 gigs of ram and 500 GB SSD. I want to buy the  GeForce GTX 980. It has 2 x 6 pins power connectors. I found the EVGA 100-B1-0700-K1 700W SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Power Supply, which has the 2 x 6 pins power connector. But what i read is that the 6-pins connector delivers like 75 w max, so 2 x 75w is 150w. The GTX 980 needs 165W according the geforce.co.uk site. I can't solder or something so i need it as easy as it can be. I really hope someone can help me to get it right. Thanks in advance for your reply. 

[Dschijn]

-- please ignore --

Edited April 29, 2016 by Dschijn

[leendert]

10 hours ago, Dschijn said:

The CPU cable should be the EPS one that is supposed to go into my barrel plug cable.

The PCIe cable into the GPU

The PSU starter into the 24-pin of the PSU, the big wide cable.

 

Thanks for your quick reply Dschijn but its not really helping me. What i understand is your selling a specific cable that i need? Whats EPS? Im really green about this and spend like 10 hours searching and reading on how to do it. Really hope you can be a little more clear. Thanks in advance.

[Dschijn]

1 hour ago, leendert said:

 

Thanks for your quick reply Dschijn but its not really helping me. What i understand is your selling a specific cable that i need? Whats EPS? Im really green about this and spend like 10 hours searching and reading on how to do it. Really hope you can be a little more clear. Thanks in advance.

 

Haha, sorry the post was supposed to go into a PM, not this thread

So, regarding your questions:

- Keep in mind that you only have TB1 and a GTX 980 might an overkill, still a good choice

- the PSU is fine!

- Yes, both 6-Pin PCIe plugs will provide up to 75W, but the PCIe slot (e.g. in the AKiTiO) will provide 75W as well

 

Since the AKiTiO PSU is only rated to deliver 60W, you will have to provide power from a different source. Best source is the already used EVGA PSU. You can make an adapter with 2x Molex -> barrel plug or even better from the 8-Pin EPS ATX plug -> barrel plug. The barrel plug has to be 2.5 and 5.5mm! If you do not want to solder get the Molex/EPS plugs/extensions and a barrel plug with screw terminals.

 

For a better understanding please read my basic guide: https://www.techinferno.com/index.php?/forums/topic/7947-the-basic-egpu-hardware-guide-for-macs/

Since you are from The Netherlands, I could link you to parts from german shops (if you want to).