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I have a MacBook Pro Retina 13" with 8GB RAM and i5 processor and wanted to get better graphics performance out of it. I saw a couple of companies that have already made eGPU housings (such as Akitio), but those were well over my budget. Is there a way to utilize the USB or thunderbolt ports of the MacBook Pro and make my own external eGPU setup?
Anish Muthali
Posted 2016-08-22T03:21:56.283
Reputation: 103
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Thunderbolt is a complex standard; and I'm not sure if it's even open. I think you'd need to buy an expensive Intel controller chip (DSL6340, iirc?); and even then, it's no simple electrical-engineering task.
Look at it this way: transferring data in the tens of gigabits per second is an impressive electrical-engineering task. Much more so when you have an active component negotiating and mediating that alternate-mode communication. I'd guess that this isn't a very approachable project on your home bench. :P
ELLIOTTCABLE
Posted 2016-08-22T03:21:56.283
Reputation: 1 207
if there was a cheaper way, why would these external eGPU docks exist? – Keltari – 2016-08-22T03:44:13.847
USB would be too slow, Thunderbolt might be possible, been a while since I looked at such devices though. – Alexander O'Mara – 2016-08-22T05:02:09.000