How to build a own eGPU case with Thunderbolt 3?

[Hip]

Hey guys,

 

a friend of mine would like to build a eGPU case like the Razer Core V2 with Thunderbolt 3 connectivity.

Can anyone tell me if that is possible at all under 250 $?

 

If so, what parts do we need for that?

 

Thank you in advance!!

[Adorable Cat]

I'd design around something like this: https://www.amazon.com/XCSOURCE-External-Independent-Graphics-AC774/dp/B071RTC9HP/. I'd probably place it on top of a power supply (doesn't have to be a super high wattage one, it's only powering the GPU) and then design the rest of the enclosure around it.

edit: oh wait that one I linked doesn't have tb3. regardless, I'm sure there's something similar to it out there that does have tb3.

[jj9987]

How deep do you want to go?

Do you have electrical knowledge, how PCBs work, how TB3 standard works, how to interconnect USB-C with PCI Express x16 slot, how and what power is delivered and through which connectors?

 

Or you just want to buy a case and change that?

[Hip]

52 minutes ago, jj9987 said:

How deep do you want to go?

Do you have electrical knowledge, how PCBs work, how TB3 standard works, how to interconnect USB-C with PCI Express x16 slot, how and what power is delivered and through which connectors?

 

Or you just want to buy a case and change that?

I thought about.. plug and play lol

Just buy the components and stick them together.  Or is it more complicated??

[plato.manchi]

I'm actually looking to do same modifications to my alienware 17 r3. (got it as part of school curriculum, and now that i'm done with school laptop is mine to do anything with)

I did see the EXP GDC but it uses one mPCIe slot and upon some research i found out that the bandwidth is usually the prime form of bottleneck. So I started to see if there is any way to improve this and also maybe a way to combine multiple PCIe slots into single.

My laptop has two mPCIe slots one is used by m.2 nvme ssd. I considered combining both mPCIe slots into single one to improve the bandwidth but I read some place that the PICe lanes these slots are using have to be next to each other. I checked HWiNFO and found out that they both are not using PCIe lanes that are next to each other so that went into drain.

But my laptop has Thunderbold 3 too and its bandwidth is 40Gbps and PCIe x4 is 31.84Gbps. Clearly thunderbolt 3.0 has higher bandwidth although using same x4 lanes (I wonder what magic is going on with TB3) So I thought there might be something similar to EXP GDC but with male thunderbolt 3 ping but all I can find are these pre build boxes that cost 200 - 500 dollars.

 

[Hip]

21 hours ago, plato.manchi said:

I'm actually looking to do same modifications to my alienware 17 r3. (got it as part of school curriculum, and now that i'm done with school laptop is mine to do anything with)

I did see the EXP GDC but it uses one mPCIe slot and upon some research i found out that the bandwidth is usually the prime form of bottleneck. So I started to see if there is any way to improve this and also maybe a way to combine multiple PCIe slots into single.

My laptop has two mPCIe slots one is used by m.2 nvme ssd. I considered combining both mPCIe slots into single one to improve the bandwidth but I read some place that the PICe lanes these slots are using have to be next to each other. I checked HWiNFO and found out that they both are not using PCIe lanes that are next to each other so that went into drain.

But my laptop has Thunderbold 3 too and its bandwidth is 40Gbps and PCIe x4 is 31.84Gbps. Clearly thunderbolt 3.0 has higher bandwidth although using same x4 lanes (I wonder what magic is going on with TB3) So I thought there might be something similar to EXP GDC but with male thunderbolt 3 ping but all I can find are these pre build boxes that cost 200 - 500 dollars.

 

I found some PCB with Thunderbolt 3 but those are just removed from eGPU cases from Akitio. Because I need Thunderbolt 3, 3x USB. The only one I found cost about 150 USD and it's not even new.