Using an eGPU with a desktop

[The-Templist]

Budget (including currency): 

Country: UK

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: 

Other details : AMD 3900x, Nvidia 3090 FE, Nvidia 1080ti FE, ASUS Crosshair VIII Formula,

 

Hi Guys,

 

I've been looking around and cant find an answer to this as its not a normal use or something people would think of doing. So any thoughts or help would be great.

 

I recently upgraded my 1080ti to a 3090. I was using my 1080ti for mining when I wasn't gaming, so I want to keep the 1080ti and mine on it 24/7.

I was wondering if I could buy an eGPU enclosure to house the 1080ti, to move it out of my system for temperature and power reasons. A used eGPU would be cheaper and more power efficient than a bare bones PC.

 

I have an Asus Crosshair VIII formula motherboard and 3900x, the mobo has a USB-C port but no thunderbolt. Can you connect a thunderbolt eGPU to a USB-C port?

 

 

[boggy77]

2 minutes ago, The-Templist said:

Can you connect a thunderbolt eGPU to a USB-C port?

no, you'd need a  thunderbolt pcie card.

 

why not keep the 1080ti in? what's your PSU?

[Quackers101]

you could likely buy a small PC and connect it to an external GPU. Unsure what exactly you need for mining, but I guess you can't only use the GPU?

You can connect the similar ports, but if you want to have the performance or such, it might not be the same or as good.

nvm said above, a good thunderbolt support?

[The-Templist]

Just now, boggy77 said:

no, you'd need a  thunderbolt pcie card.

 

why not keep the 1080ti in? what's your PSU?

I have a Corsair HX850i PSU, so its just on the limit for a 3090 and with PSU stock limits getting a 1000W or 1200W is difficult and more expensive than an eGPU.

I don't want it in my case for temperature reasons, the 3090 already puts out a lot of heat so I don't want to stress the system too much.

[The-Templist]

3 minutes ago, Quackers101 said:

you could likely buy a small PC and connect it to an external GPU. Unsure what exactly you need for mining, but I guess you can't only use the GPU?

You can connect the similar ports, but if you want to have the performance or such, it might not be the same or as good.

nvm said above, a good thunderbolt support?

Ive been using Nicehash mining program and it allows you to choose what components to mine on. Mining doesn't need high PCIE bandwidth most mining rigs split a 16x slot into lots of 1x slots to connect as many GPUs as possible