You’ll need a small GPUĪt 9-inches long, 3-inches wide, and a little over 5.5-inches tall, the Thunder3 is a tiny specimen when compared to the Akitio Node. The Akitio Thunder3 also has the advantage of having a second Thunderbolt 3 port, so you can use it in a daisy chain if you so desire. In the end, it allows for an eGPU solution that’s significantly smaller and more portable than other graphics enclosures. Working around this limitation was part of the fun of engaging in this project. True, it’s a PCIe enclosure, but its small size and lack of power severely limits the type of cards that can be used inside it without making major physical hardware modifications. The Akitio Thunder3 really wasn’t designed to house graphics cards. Those enclosures are specifically designed with graphics cards in mind. Let me preface this by saying that if you wish to run the biggest and baddest Pascal graphics cards in an eGPU setup (GTX 1070, GTX 1080, etc.) you should look at other solutions like the Akitio Node, the Razer Core, etc. Subscribe to 9to5Mac on YouTube for more videos About the Akitio Thunder3 2016 13-inch MacBook Pro with Four Thunderbolt 3 ports.Watch our full walkthrough, as we showcase this simple and compact eGPU solution on video. The setup also lets you tap into the power of the GPU right from your MacBook Pro’s built-in display, no external display required. The now-available $249 Akitio Thunder3 is much smaller than the larger Akitio Node, so it takes up a smaller footprint on your desk. Instead, you can utilize a Boot Camp installation, and turn your MacBook Pro into a 1080p gaming machine. That’s not to say that you should run out and buy a Windows laptop if you want to play the latest games requiring a more powerful GPU. It should come as no surprise that the setup process and support with Windows is, in some ways, quite a bit better than using an eGPU with macOS.

While that solution yielded definite benefits, it was also hindered by difficulties caused by macOS itself. In our previous tutorial, we showed you how to wield an AMD RX 480 in macOS. As we’ve shown in a previous post, an eGPU can make a significant performance difference, turning an otherwise graphically pedestrian MacBook Pro into a competent gaming machine. While they’ve existed before the most recent MacBook Pro, the surge of interest in external GPUs is largely thanks to the implementation of Thunderbolt 3 in the latest Mac hardware.

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