TB3 Cable recommendations for eGPU

[russell_314]

I'm getting a Razer Core X eGPU case for my Mac mini. I understand it comes with a very short half meter long TB3 cable. I'm thinking about getting a one meter long cable since they're not crazy expensive like the two meter ones. Any recommendations for a good quality cable or what should I look for? I've been looking on Amazon but not sure what would work.

 

[satcomer]

You want a Active Cable for TB3!

 

[BeatCrazy]

For my Razer Core X Chroma eGPU, I went with the Belkin F2CD085BT 2M-BLK, which is an active cable.

I recommend consulting this TB3 cable compatibility chart from Akitio:

 

[russell_314]

This is interesting. I'm just surprised of how scarce TB3 cables that support this are. Maybe that's why the longer ones are so expensive. I'm going to try to get it setup with the half meter cable for now when I get my GPU in next week. I found a few active cables on Amazon. Two meter long Cable Matters brand for $60 and StarTech for $75. I found a Basevs one meter long cable for $27. I've never heard of that brand but it has some good reviews. I couldn't find that Belkin cable on Amazon but I found it on the Belkin website for $70. I might end up biting the bullet on that one if I need longer because I feel buying something cheaper might be a waste of money.

Any tips when I get this to set it up or is it basically plug and play?

 

[Michael Scrip]

For my Razer Core X Chroma eGPU, I went with the Belkin F2CD085BT 2M-BLK, which is an active cable.

I recommend consulting this TB3 cable compatibility chart from Akitio: View attachment 923851

That chart is troubling...

Are they saying that a 1m or 2m 40Gbps Thunderbolt 3 cable does not carry Displayport or USB 3.1... but the shorter ones do?

No wonder Thunderbolt is confusing... ?

 

[Erehy Dobon]

I suggest you purchase the longer cable from a vendor with a comprehensible track record like Monoprice.

They are typically very clear on the specs that their interconnects feature.

Here are label descriptions on the actual stickers on the packaging for a few Monoprice cables:

• Monoprice Select Series High Speed HDMI Cable - 4K@60Hz HDR 18Gbps YUV 4:4:4 28AWG 6ft.Black
• DynamicView Ultra 8K High Speed HDMI Cable - 48Gbps, 8K Dynamic HDR, eARC, 6ft
• Monoprice Select Series DisplayPort 1.4 Cable, 3ft

When you buy from Amazon vendors, it's often unclear what they are really selling.

Monoprice's reputation is built on selling stuff that doesn't suck at a reasonable price. If they were frequently deceitful about the products, they would have gone out of business years ago.

For these sort of applications, if I find an over-specced cable just a couple of dollars more than the one that fits the bill, I often buy the over-specced one. Yes, at some point I will probably have a need for an 8K HDMI cable.

I would favor buying the TB3 cable from Monoprice (or paying the Apple Store premium for the Apple branded cable if you are completely skittish). While there's no reason to buy the most expensive part, there's also little logic to trying to buy the cheapest one.

In any case, I would definitely look for a cable with both the Thunderbolt logo and the "3" numeral. The standards body regulations dictate that the cable can't have the printed "3" designation if it doesn't meet the standard.

 

[joevt]

Are they saying that a 1m or 2m 40Gbps Thunderbolt 3 cable does not carry Displayport or USB 3.1... but the shorter ones do?

They carry DisplayPort only as Thunderbolt packets (a Thunderbolt controller in the host converts DisplayPort from a GPU to Thunderbolt packets, another Thunderbolt controller in the display or a dock or adapter converts Thunderbolt packets to DisplayPort). They carry USB as PCIe packets that are transmitted as Thunderbolt (similar to DisplayPort). A USB controller at the destination does the actual USB communication.

I guess they only support Thunderbolt because they have chips that only work with Thunderbolt signals (10.3125 Gbps or 20.625 Gbps) - making the cables "active". The chips do not work with USB 3.x (5, 10 Gbps) or DisplayPort signals (1.62, 2.7, 5.4, 8.1 Gbps). The USB 2.0 signals (480 Mb/s) use separate lines.