There’s a lot to be said for a device that can significantly boost the graphics performance of a MacBook Pro simply by plugging it into a Thunderbolt 3 slot. Regardless of which Thunderbolt. For years, we saw trade show demos that linked laptops to powerful desktop graphics cards via external Thunderbolt enclosures. Those demos were neat, but we hadn't seen the approach replicated in the real world—until now. An intrepid user in the Inferno Tech forums has using off-the-shelf parts. The rig connects a MacBook Pro notebook to a desktop GeForce GTX 780 Ti using an external Sonnet chassis with a Thunderbolt 2 interface. There are, of course, a few limitations. The Sonnet enclosure is restricted to Gen2 PCI Express speeds, and its x16 slot has only eight lanes of electrical connectivity. ![]() Also, the Thunderbolt 2 interface is effectively capped at 20Gbps in each direction, making the pipe to the graphics card much narrower in a typical desktop. Despite those challenges, the system seems to perform pretty well. Performance is claimed to be 85-90% of what the GTX 780 Ti achieves in a desktop machine. Here's a video of the setup in action: Impressively, the rig is 'completely plug and play' using a standard Boot Camp install of Windows 8.1. Nvidia's normal desktop GeForce drivers work without issue, and so does MSI's Afterburner tweaking software. The user even set a custom fan profile for the card. So, why haven't we seen anyone doing this before? The Sonnet enclosure on its own, and that's without the necessary Thunderbolt cable. The setup also requires an external PSU to power the graphics card, which isn't terribly elegant. It's exciting to see the promise of external Thunderbolt graphics realized using standard hardware, though. If only there were more affordable solutions along the same lines. Colin Kent wrote:its been a while since i had to deal with any Macs. However is this what you are suggesting?Does TB allow you to daisy chain Macs? Or is it just peripherals? This strikes me as one of them situations where a bit of money is spent and then people scratch theirs head asking why its not working as they thought it might. Not supported, and not the intended use of the technology. 'Thunderbolt combines PCI Express (PCIe) and DisplayPort (DP) into two serial signals [4], and additionally provides DC power, all in one cable. Up to six peripherals may be supported by one connector through various topologies.' OP, time to rethink this, can't do what it seems you're thinking, any more than share one PCIe video card between multiple workstations. Daisy-chaining (TB, and previously Firewire) is for multiple peripherals connected to a single host. Not multiple hosts connected to a single device. You'll need an individual Thunderbolt storage device per workstation, or investigate other options. Perhaps or Toby Wells has mentioned something else that I can't recall just now.
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Март 2019
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