Mac Latop and Thunderbolt GPU extension

[p3taoctane]

I know several discussions about how to setup a GPU expansion chassis have gone back and forth about PC and Mac's and last I checked the thunderbolt expansion boxes did not have enough of a power supply to run the cards we all use... this looks like it could but I can;t seem to find where one might buy such thing and check out the actual specs etc.

Has anyone been abel to do this in any way?

Thanks

Peter

http://www.eteknix.com/computex-silvers ... n-display/

[glimpse]

hi,

there are boxes with thunderbolt that has enough juice to feed up to four Titans, but the problem is Tb and drivers..-last time Guys were discusting here I remember it was impossible to connect mac to expander true Tb for GPU intensive tasks. but maybe something changed?

and about the link - this was a test device, sort of a prototype as far as remember =)

cheers

[dionysiusmarquis]

As far as i know its only possible with bootcamp/windows. I'll do some tests soon and probably post some results with single/daisy chain and so on. With windows it should be doable.

[glimpse]

As far as i know its only possible with bootcamp/windows. I'll do some tests soon and probably post some results with single/daisy chain and so on. With windows it should be doable.

ou, that's very interesting =) drop a line 'bout Your progress!

[p3taoctane]

Thanks to both... yeah I am OK with bootcamp if thats the only alternative.

Last I checked the PCI extension boxes that had thunderbolt capability they were only juicing about 240 watts.

I'll have to do some new digging... if you have a make and model of one that can do titans under load... that has thunderbolt... I'd love to hear.

This forum is one of the most collaborative around.

It also does not abound with passionate opinions that turn into ugly verbal battles... Simply a pleasure to be a part of. I have been on some where you ask the question.... "Anyone using thunderbolt with GPUs?" Suddenly you have an all out war on CPU vs GPU, thunderbolt vs USB, Mac vs PC, Light vs Dark : > ))

Thanks to all

Peter

[dionysiusmarquis]

I'll build custom extension boxes based on cheap Thunderbold PCI ones replacing the powersource with PSU of choice. You can find alot searching for "DIY eGPU Thunderbold". It seems you'll get up to 80% of the original GPU Power with this setup. I want to know how much it'll drop when you connect multiple ones via daisy chain or multiple GPUs per PCI Thunderbold board and so on.

[p3taoctane]

I have a similar thing. I have a PCI extension box with a 1200 Watt power supply and enough space for 4 double wides... but it is PCI connected not Thunderbolt. I do not think sticking a thunderbolt PCI card in one of the slots wold work would it?? The 'PCI MOB' in it is designed to speak PCI not thunderbolt. The GPUs communicate through the PCI channels....

I am guessing (and hope I am wrong) that the MOB ( I use that term loosely) that you slot your GPU's into has to speak Thunderbolt natively in order to communicate to the PC that you are plugging it into that it sees the GPU's via thunderbolt speak.... am I right on that.

Any ideas from tech wizards out there appreciated : > )

Peter

[dionysiusmarquis]

What I meant with PCI Thunderbold board was something like this:
http://www.sonnettech.com/product/echoexpressiii.html

In some cases you need to boot a custom efi do get the GPU started. There are a lot of dudes out there already using this setup for gaming purpose. All with a mac - bootcamp - Thunderbold - PCI setup. I'm hoping multi GPU will work as well. fingers crossed.

[p3taoctane]

Sweet!! What is a custom efi?

Thanks

Peter

[dionysiusmarquis]

To answer your questions:

- its not possible to make a PCI Extension Box communicate over Thunderbold.
- If the GPU is recognized and can communicate over Thunderbold depents on the Drivers/OS. I read that someone got his GPU working over Thunderbold in OSX, but he had to go very deep in the driver structure of OSX. OSX so far isn't supposed to use other GPUs than the one build in. In Windows it's more open and already possible to communicate with GPUs over Thunderbold. I can imagine It'll change with the release of the new MacPro.
- Mac boots over efi. PCs use BIOS. Bootcamp will create a efi for your Windows OS and additionally you can also use custom efis which will start your GPU in this case.