Anyone gaming with an eGPU?

[P00t]

I'm looking for anyone's opinions on gaming with an eGPU?

I'm looking at gaming with my 2012 Mac Mini (Dual Core)
I have a GTX 980
Looking at using my Steam account (for the first time)
Using Windows 8.1 (Maybe Try out Windows10)

I do have a Mac Pro 2010 which is very upgradeable, but to be honest it seems like an overkill for me and maybe too much power consumption, but I guess I'll see how it goes.

So many Thunderbolt PCIe systems out there, some reasonable, some crazy expensive, which puts me in two minds about just using my Mac Pro for Windows Gaming and my Mac Mini for my web/downloading/music etc

Another part of me is thinking about an Alienware x51 and using a couple GTX 980's externally, but that's another story and to be honest nobody builds tech like Apple (clean, tidy, modern).

Look forward to hearing if you do use this kind of thing with your verdicts.

 

[MacVidCards]

Hey, I got a 2014 Mini and am able to play games via an eGPU. When i 3Dmarked it the other day the end result said "Faster than 69% of machines tested" most notable it got 6900 while a "gaming laptop" bar ended at 3900 or so.

Mind you, this on the $500 throw-away Mini.

That being said, I had to write a special EFI rom for the card. I am curious if anyone else has gotten 2014 Mini going with eGPU without this.

Plenty of reports of earlier Minis but this is new ground for us and I am wading in.

Good luck to you !!

BTW, I used the Akitio TB2 enclosure for this.

 

[P00t]

Great stuff, thanks for the information MVC.

I might use my Mac Pro for abit until its fully compatible with Thunderbolt, I may even trade in my Mac Pro towards a 2012 Quad Mini.

Keep me/us updated on your progress etc, I'd really appreciate that.

 

[nando4]

Great stuff, thanks for the information MVC.

I might use my Mac Pro for abit until its fully compatible with Thunderbolt, I may even trade in my Mac Pro towards a 2012 Quad Mini.

Keep me/us updated on your progress etc, I'd really appreciate that.

There are several Mac Mini eGPU implementations at DIY eGPU Implementations Hub: Thunderbolt (Tech|Inferno).

Though if you have a 2013-14 15" Macbook Pro you'd get the highest performance platform for an native Thunderbolt eGPU: quad-core CPU, 16Gbps-Thunderbolt2 port.

Recommend using a US$200 AKiTiO Thunder2 PCIe Box (16Gbps-TB2) enclosure for it.