System specs
- Laptop: HP Spectre 13 7th Gen i7 7500u
- Monitor: LG 34WN80C-B (also works as Power Delivery + USB Hub)
- iGPU: Intel HD620
- OS: Windows 10
eGPU hardware
- EGPU Board: ADT-Link R43SG
- M.2-TB3 Bridge: JEYI Thunderdock
- EGPU card: EVGA Geforce RTX 3060 12GB
Build Description
Since the very time I know about eGPUs I decided I wanted to get into it, since then, all the my hardware purchases considered that future, therefore the monitor I choose had a requirement of USB-C PD so I could power the laptop and connect to the setup through a single cable.
Then I saw Anjas's post and got very interesting on giving it my own spin.
I also like the minimalist and portable feeling of the Aorus Gaming Box (the smaller ones) and the elegance of the Asus XG Station so these were part of the design and specification goals.
Goals
- As small as possible
- Screw-less (I kind of regret it, but it's good for other people to re-use the design if wanted)
- Single cable solution
- As few parts as possible
- Looks as retail product as possible
Design
- Jumped into Fusion 360 and imported ADT-Link's Step files to make the EGPU around it
- Created a Virtual Yeji Thunderdock to create a slot for it to be inserted
- Created a cut of a 24 pin ATX adapter that matched the shape of the Dell DA-2 so an extension cable and adapter could be made to move the power input from the side to the back of the R43SG.
Having these parts at hand the design ended up like this:
The lower part of the bottom is 3mm instead of the 5mm that came screwed below the R43SG, but I did not wanted to wast so much material so small fittings were designed to match the thick of the piece anywhere screws had to be fixed.
Printing and post-process
I tried to minimize the ammount of post process needed but was unavoidable.
The plug for the DA-2 has to be thinned with a dremel and small bits because the printer could not print walls as thin as the ones for the ATX lugs
also had to drill and glue the ATX adapter part but the end result was very satisfactory
My initial plan was discarding the thunderdock's case, but after having it in hands, it felt good quality enough not to be broken so much so I made a hole big enough for the cable to get out but keepint everything else.
Then putting everything together
And the final result
Benchmarks
More benchmarks will be added later
Time is worth what we do with it.
-No GPUs were harmed during the making of my build-
2017 13" HP Spectre 13 [7th,2C,U] + RTX 3060 @ 16Gbps-TB3 (JEYI Thunderdock * ADT-Link R43SG) + Win10 // custom 3D printed case [build link]
Nice work! Only problem is you are getting equivalent of 16Gbps-TB3 rather than 32Gbps-TB3 CUDA-Z bandwidth.
For measures and checks to do why this is the case see https://egpu.io/builds#perf
eGPU Setup 1.35 • eGPU Port Bandwidth Reference Table
2015 15" Dell Precision 7510 (Q M1000M) [6th,4C,H] + GTX 1080 Ti @32Gbps-M.2 (ADT-Link R43SG) + Win10 1803 // compares M.2 vs TB3 performance inc unoptimized H-CPU BIOS [build link]
This is amazing, love the custom (small) build, deserves better pics!
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LG 5K Ultrafine flickering issue fix
2018 Mac Mini [8th,6C,B] + RX 580 @ 32Gbps-TB3 (AKiTiO Node Lite) + Win10 20H2 [build link]
Nice work! Only problem is you are getting equivalent of 16Gbps-TB3 rather than 32Gbps-TB3 CUDA-Z bandwidth.
For measures and checks to do why this is the case see https://egpu.io/builds#perf
Thank you for the guidance, I have reviewed all the configuration and drivers but haven't found the reason yet.
My only missing test is opening the box and moving the power cable away from the nvme connector cable, I am not sure but maybe is giving causing electrical noise (I have 0 idea of these concepts but is the only guess I have at the moment).
I will keep you posted if I figure out what might be
Time is worth what we do with it.
-No GPUs were harmed during the making of my build-
2017 13" HP Spectre 13 [7th,2C,U] + RTX 3060 @ 16Gbps-TB3 (JEYI Thunderdock * ADT-Link R43SG) + Win10 // custom 3D printed case [build link]
This is amazing, love the custom (small) build, deserves better pics!
Thank you for your comment, that was the most my old LG G6 could do, I will try to get a decent camera to share a few nicer pics of the final build.
Time is worth what we do with it.
-No GPUs were harmed during the making of my build-
2017 13" HP Spectre 13 [7th,2C,U] + RTX 3060 @ 16Gbps-TB3 (JEYI Thunderdock * ADT-Link R43SG) + Win10 // custom 3D printed case [build link]
@arn, Such an amazing build! I believe your host laptop is set to GT2 which unfortunately caps the Thunderbolt 3 throughput. If you don't intent on using the eGPU for loopback internal display acceleration, it would not be too bad. Will get best performance of this eGPU build [JHL7440] with a 11th gen CPU host. Thank you for sharing this build progress with us!
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2021 Gigabyte Z590i Vision D [11th,6C] + RTX 3060 Ti @ 32Gbps-TB4 (Gigabyte Gaming Box) + Win11 [build link]
@itsage, thank you!
You are absolutely right, I just logged to share a screenshot of a test done on a 11th gen i5 I had available to test, the numbers are not 100% ideal, but they lead me in the right direction.
I also found out that the HP Spectre PSU is slightly glitchy, right now I have 2 things on my new to-do list.
Re-print the base part with some slight variations and screw holes
Buy another PD PSU (likely I will buy a 100W PD one so it's future proof).
Buy a PD extension cable to go from the Yeji to the back of the case, this way the PD cable can be easily plugged and unplugged, this will add easier portability
Maybe with some fine tunning this case can become an easy open platform for others to use, I just need to make it in smaller easy to join parts for it to be smaller printer friendly, improve the rigidity of the joined parts and potentially think on another way to extender the power input to the ADTLink (I almost screw it myself when making the cable).
Time is worth what we do with it.
-No GPUs were harmed during the making of my build-
2017 13" HP Spectre 13 [7th,2C,U] + RTX 3060 @ 16Gbps-TB3 (JEYI Thunderdock * ADT-Link R43SG) + Win10 // custom 3D printed case [build link]
Sorry I haven't been updating the progress, for some reason the site was crashing everytime I tried to interact with it.
Here are some extra updates:
Bencharks: Ran Blender benchamark and the results were strangely good for a 3060, not sure if has something to do with the type of setup or margin of error:
Added a USB-C extension cable so the power cable does not needs to be plugged directly to the Jeyi (what required to open de box everytime I wanted to move it around).
Added bolts to the back of the box, for this iteration I designed some adapters that allow me to add nuts inside fo the box and bolts from the outise, it is not aligned with the minimalist asthetic I want, but it really added rigidity to the box that was much needed.
The 3d Fusion360 design has been updated so bolts can be added on a more elegant way
Time is worth what we do with it.
-No GPUs were harmed during the making of my build-
2017 13" HP Spectre 13 [7th,2C,U] + RTX 3060 @ 16Gbps-TB3 (JEYI Thunderdock * ADT-Link R43SG) + Win10 // custom 3D printed case [build link]