- #External graphics card for laptop 2017 drivers#
- #External graphics card for laptop 2017 update#
- #External graphics card for laptop 2017 windows 10#
- #External graphics card for laptop 2017 pro#
- #External graphics card for laptop 2017 software#
#External graphics card for laptop 2017 windows 10#
With this in mind, I brought the Akitio Thunder3 eGPU box that I put together for an earlier Boot Camp Windows 10 project.
#External graphics card for laptop 2017 drivers#
I’m traveling right now, but I knew that Nvidia was planning on releasing its Pascal drivers this week. What we found was an encouraging sneak peek at the potential of eGPU setups on the Mac.
#External graphics card for laptop 2017 pro#
We plan on testing out the beta drivers more extensively in the future, but for quick testing purposes, we decided to try powering our 13-inch MacBook Pro with the Pascal-based GTX 1050 Ti. It means taking a relatively underpowered computer like the 13-inch 2016 MacBook Pro, and running games at high settings with respectable frame rates.
It means that we can now use the latest Nvidia hardware to drive our machines graphically. This release has major implications for legacy Mac Pro, Hackintosh, and eGPU users. These drivers make it possible to use graphics cards from the company’s popular 10-series lineup, which include the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti, among other hardware. These days it’s exceptionally priced at $170, but it only works on Alienware laptops using a proprietary connector.As we reported earlier this morning, Nvidia has released its long-awaited Pascal beta drivers for the Mac. The lowest priced competitor is Alienware’s Amplifier, which was the first mainstream external graphics box that worked. PowerColor’s Devil Box, which we haven’t reviewed, is also quite expensive at $450 Remember, you still have to add your own GPU. Razer’s Core was the first Thunderbolt 3 eGPU box but at $500, it’s hard to justify despite the beautiful construction. Akitio doesn’t charge what the competition charges, either. If we were to pick another negative, it might be the lack of additional ports such as ethernet or USB, such as the competition has. The Akitio Node doesn’t have the frills of the competition but it’s got the one that counts the most: eGPU support. The company said a 3-foot or 6-foot cable could support Thunderbolt 3, USB, and DisplayPort, but only at 20Gbps. There are other limitations to passive cables.
Even if we absorb the cost impact and include the long (up to 2m) active Thunderbolt 3 cable with the Node, we are afraid that users may use this cable in other applications such as connecting to a USB-C DisplayPort monitor and find it won’t work.” “On the other hand, the active Thunderbolt 3 cable has a known issue that it only carries Thunderbolt 3 signal (but not the USB 3 nor the DisplayPort signals). “The active cable is about three times more expensive in cost because it embedded an IC in both ends,” company officials said. Even though Nvidia has drivers for its GeForce cards on OSX, it apparently doesn’t work, Akitio says.
#External graphics card for laptop 2017 software#
The limitation is the OS: Sierra doesn’t work with external graphics without much hardware and software hacking, but High Sierra does apparently implement it if you use a Radeon RX 480 GPU. We tried it on a MacBook Pro 13 (2016) a few months ago. Support on the Apple side of the aisle has also been bad.
#External graphics card for laptop 2017 update#
We also had issues trying to get it to work with laptops with internal discrete graphics. Akito has since added a firmware update that lets it bypass laptops that don’t support it, but we haven’t tested it yet.
We bombed out with the Skylake and Kaby Lake versions of the Dell XPS 13. We bombed out on laptops that said they supported external GPUs. The bottom line of this settings window should indicate whether external graphics is supported. If your laptop says it supports external GPUs, then it might work. Click Settings and then Details to get this pop-up. So how do you know if your laptop supports external graphics over Thunderbolt 3? One way to do that is to check the Thunderbolt 3 utility that should appear in the system tray. As of this writing, it’s Intel’s NUC, the HP Spectre x360 13T, and Razer’s Blade and Blade Stealth. Many who have purchased it using laptops not listed by Akitio have reported success too, though. That means the list of laptops with official support is pretty minimal.
The problem, we’re told by vendors: Boot support for external graphics over Thunderbolt 3 isn’t quite standardized yet. Although we think Thunderbolt 3 is wonderful, support for external graphics is still pretty spotty. It’s pretty much a no-brainer: If the Node works with your Thunderbolt 3-equipped laptop, go for it. The graphics score shows you just how serious the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti is even when constrained by a x4 PCIe Thunderbolt 3 connection.
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