Sonnet Announces Thunderbolt 3 Compatible eGFX Solution

[btarunr]

Sonnet Technologies today announced the eGFX Breakaway Box 650, the latest and most capable model in the company's series of Thunderbolt 3 to PCI Express (PCIe ) eGPU expansion chassis for professional graphics and gaming applications. The Breakaway Box 650 is designed and qualified specifically for large, power-hungry video graphics processing unit (GPU) cards, including the AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 and overclocked NVIDIA GeForce GTX 10 series-based cards. The AMD-approved Breakaway Box 650 is equipped with a 650-watt power supply, which provides ample power for GPU cards with high transient peak power requirements.

"With the introduction of AMD's Radeon Pro and RX Vega Series cards, we have experienced a high demand for an eGPU chassis capable of supporting the higher standards of these GPU cards," said Robert Farnsworth, CEO of Sonnet Technologies. "The eGFX Breakaway Box 650 meets the demand, enabling users to tap the compute power of even the AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 and Radeon Pro WX 9100 cards while still providing up to 87 watts of upstream Power Delivery to support popular notebook computers."



The eGFX Breakaway Box 650 provides a single slot for connecting any size Thunderbolt-compatible GPU card, and features enough room for many high-performance water-cooled cards - making it ideal for professionals and gamers who need to run bandwidth-intensive graphics applications on their eGFX-compatible notebook, all-in-one, or other small-form-factor computers. The unit is equipped with a 40Gbps Thunderbolt 3 port that enables data transfers up to 2750 MB/s, and supports all Thunderbolt-compatible GPU cards - such as AMD Radeon R9, RX, RX Vega, and Pro WX models; and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 9 and 10 series, Titan X and Xp, V, and Quadro models. In addition, the Breakaway Box 650 includes two eight-pin auxiliary power connectors and provides 87 watts of upstream power (Power Delivery), useful for powering and charging a connected notebook computer that supports Thunderbolt 3 charging.

The eGFX Breakaway Box 650 (part number GPU-650W-TB3) is available now from Sonnet Technologies and its dealers at an MSRP of $449.

For more information, visit the product page.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[berniebennybernard]

I received the 550W variant yesterday. Works well out of the box with my Macbook Pro on Boot Camp. No support on High Sierra unless you're using an AMD card. Pretty pleased.

 

[muSPK]

Don't understand the pricing of these eGPUs, why are they priced so high, without an GPU? It will not be long until you can build your own eGPU-system, and Im betting the cost will be much lower, probably around 100-150 USD.

 

[Octavean]

Don't understand the pricing of these eGPUs, why are they priced so high, without an GPU? It will not be long until you can build your own eGPU-system, and Im betting the cost will be much lower, probably around 100-150 USD.

Just about anything Thunderbolt related is relatively expensive. Including Thunderbolt cables. A Thunderbolt GPU enclosure without the GPU (an empty box basically) will cost you about ~$250 at the entry level.

 

[kuwlness]

One would think just buying a powered PCIe Riser and then putting their GPU in a much cheaper box/case would be more cost-efficient than something like this. I don't understand the value-add when you can purchase the necessary parts for a fraction of the cost and do it yourself (over PCIe nonetheless) rather than going this route via Thunderbolt.