Heads Up: Thundertek/PX TB1 to PCIe x4 Enclosure is on Sale (139.95$+Shipping)!

[Yukikaze]

Just a heads up for anyone with an older machine that only has TB1 and wants TB to PCIe capability: The Thundertek/PX enclosure is currently on sale for 139.95$. Price does not include shipping (+13.38$ for ground shipping in the US, no idea on international costs, but they do provide the option to ask for a shipping quote). Since the Akitio Thunder2 and the Rocketstor are 229$ and 234$ currently, this is significantly cheaper.

 

The obvious drawbacks are:

1) Thunderbolt cable not included (can be bought for ~20$ on ebay).

2) Only TB1 speeds.

3) The PCIe x4 slot is not open-ended, so a riser is required, or the rear of the slot needs to be modded.

4) Needs to be modded for use with dual-slot cards (but the same is true for the Rocketstor, and the Akitio in the case of long cards).

 

I am currently trying to resist buying one just to play around with it...

Edited June 6, 2016 by Yukikaze
Typos.

[Relaxedsense]

Thanks for the heads up, it does look tempting! 

[mfort312]

Has anyone taken it for a spin? I notice it mentions video cards not supported, much like the Aikito Thunder2 states. Doesn't state how much power it provides. I have a mid 2011 iMac I'm curious this would work for with a GTX 1060...

Edited August 27, 2016 by mfort312

[mfort312]

I also notice this only supports PCIe 2.0 cards.  So pretty much eliminates modern GPUs?

[Yukikaze]

PCIe is backwards compatible. Any card will work here.

[mfort312]

So a PCIe 3.0 will work in a PCIe 2.0 slot? Isn't that forward compatibility? That would be great if it does, but doesn't sound like anyone has tried it yet on these forums?

[Yukikaze]

From the slot's perspective, that is forward compatibility. From the card's perspective it is backwards compatibility

 

But regardless of the semantics, a PCIe 3.0 card works in a PCIe 2.0 slot. It has been tried many, many times on these forums: All modern video cards are PCIe 3.0, while the Akitio Thunder2 (by far the most popular Thunderbolt2 eGPU solution) is PCIe 2.0. So, for example, my GTX750Ti in my Akitio is running a PCIe 2.0 x4 link. It also works on desktops: I ran an old X58 motherboard (PCIe 2.0 only) with a HD7950 (a PCIe 3.0 card) for years.