eGPU - Chassis Options?

[tylermmorton]

Hi guys,

 

For context, I've just ordered a new Macbook Pro. It's the 13" w/ touchbar, i7 3.5GHz processor and 16GB of RAM. My plan is to use it for work - mainly iOS development - and have a separate Thunderbolt 3 enabled external drive that I can use BootCamp to install Windows 10 on for gaming. I also have an older desktop computer that I barely ever use with a GTX 1070 that is just going to waste. My goal is to rid myself of the old, non-portable desktop computer and recycle the graphics card into an eGPU setup in a PCIe expansion chassis. The expansion chassis allows you to hook up 1 (or more) PCIe cards through the laptops Thunderbolt 3 compatible port. With the right hacking, this effectively allows you to hook up any PCIe compatible expansion board as if it were directly plugged into your laptops motherboard.

 

I know there are already options out there for virtually plug and play eGPU setups, the main one for Mac being the Sonnet eGFX Breakaway Box, which is backed by Apple as the best solution. It has a slot for a full sized graphics card, and a strong enough power supply to handle whatever the card might be using and power the Macbook at the same time. However, I am not convinced this would be the best setup for me. 

 

The main motivation behind finding a different solution is the fact that my girlfriend and I love to bring our Oculus Rift to different places like parties, friends houses, etc. Our current routine is to pack up the Rift and all of our desktop computer cables into boxes, and lug the tower and Rift to each location. We want an all encompassing case to handle both the GTX 1070 and the 4 USB 3.0 ports required to hook up the Oculus headset and it's 3 IR cameras. This should be completely possible, per the math below:

 

Thunderbolt 3 Transfer Rate: 40Gbps

PCIe 3.0 Transfer Rate: 15.5Gbps

USB 3.0 Transfer Rate: 5Gbps

 

If I were to combine the GTX 1070 (15.5Gbps) plus four USB 3.0 ports (20Gbps) I would only be using 35.5Gbps of the 40Gbps bandwidth available on the Thunderbolt 3 port. The Razer Core v2 does exactly this. It has a slot for a full sized graphics card, and also has 4 on board USB 3.0 ports. Unfortunately though, the Amazon reviews are extremely concerning. I know I could always just buy a 4 port USB 3.0 hub that plugs into another Thunderbolt 3 port, but I explicitly do not want to do this simply because I'm OCD and it's ugly. I've been searching around for the cards that are used in these enclosures (the ones with the PCIe slots on them) but either I haven't been able to type the right search terms into Google or they just simply do not exist. 

 

I'm looking for any suggestions someone might have! Maybe there's something I've overlooked. Please let me know

 

Unrelated, but I want this setup to be nice. If I buy an enclosure, would it be safe to powder coat it the same space gray color as the Macbook?

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Tyler 

[Theguywhobea]

If it's a small 1070, like a gigabyte mini one, you can buy one of gigabytes enclosures off ebay pretty cheaply. Back when GPU's hit their peak it was actually cheaper to buy on of these eGPU boxes and take the GPU out, so a lot of people have just the box for sale. However, a full size card wont fit, they are wayyyyy too big. And the one I got has some pretty bad coil whine, but I don't know if that's typical.

[Electronics Wizardy]

6 minutes ago, tylermmorton said:

Thunderbolt 3 Transfer Rate: 40Gbps

PCIe 3.0 Transfer Rate: 15.5Gbps

USB 3.0 Transfer Rate: 5Gbps

you got bit and byte wrong.

 

pcie 3 x16 is ~124gb/s, but gpu's can run on less

 

Also latency.

[Crunchy Dragon]

5 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

gpu's can run on less

I doubt this is the case, I've heard about a lot of bottlenecking when using TB3 for an eGPU.

[TheGlenlivet]

https://egpu.io/bootcamp-setup-guide-tb3-macbook-pro/

I'm assuming you've read this?

It doesn't mention VR and USB connections, but otherwise looks like it works.  Will the system be playable with all that data passing through one TB3 and 4PCIE lanes?