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Sonnet Echo Express (1st Gen.) with thunderbolt 2


dwinnbrown

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So I have an early 2015 13 macbook pro pro with retina display and am looking to get an EGPU setup to improve gaming performance in bootcamp as well as improving render times when editing in Premiere Pro CC. I am on a tight budget and had planned to get the Akitio Thunder2 but it is quite tricky to get hold of now in the UK and I have found a used Sonnet Echo Express enclosure that I am close to buying. Does anyone know if it would work on a thunderbolt 2 machine or if that is asking for more issues? I plan to get a 950ti or something (half length) to put in the enclosure...anything to be aware of or would I follow one of the many tutorials on the forum for drivers etc?

 

Any help is much appreciated,

 

dwinnbrown

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Well im sure the upgrade for it would be more than that.  I would go with Akitio as there is a lot of other TI users that have experience with them and can prob help.  Just remember that its def not plug and play at this point so there will be tinkering to do.

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Yeah that's fine...tinkering is no issue ;)

 

Are AKITIO THUNDER2's generally the cheapest thunderbolt 2 enclosure that people use for EGPU's? I was considering a thunderbolt to express card and then an express card to pcie adapter but figured for an extra £30 or something it's worth getting a full enclosure.

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You will have less bandwidth with the adapaters as you will be going with slow connection to thunderbolt.  Thunder2 box from Akitio is best bang for the buck to performance ratio indeed.  I am actually selling my New setup lol, I can ship to you ;)  There are pictures in the akitio thread.  Still need to finish wiring, but I actually have XPS 13 with Thunderbolt 3 so I might either wait for them to come out with new enclosure, and I really want more slots, so might get the Express II or the III-D.  take a look and let me know.

 

 

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Sorry if im unable to link it.... basically its the following:

 

Akitio Thunder 2(unused)

Silverstone SG05 Case

Silverstone 300W SFX power supply

 

Basically all it needs is to be wired as others have done so, I just dont have a MAcbook or TB1/2 laptop for testing so I am just going to wait for TB3 board to be released.

Oh yea, I would absolutely go with it, specially being that you dont have to worry a bout import tax.  I think you will still have good performance, but if you can get your hands on a TB2 it would be even  better. 

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