My local MicroCenter is clearing out these previous generation NUCs so I picked one up. I have read about the i7 version running too loud and hot for this tiny form factor. Therefore I went with the i5 model. Accessing the internal was straight forward. I was up and running Windows 10 1803 within an hour.
System specs:
NUC7i5BNH - i5-7260U/Plus Graphics 640 iGPU/32GB RAM/512GB SSD
eGPU hardware:
Gaming Box + RX 580 & GTX 1080 + .5m Thunderbolt 3 cable
Hardware pictures:
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Installation steps:
Prior to installing the eGPU, I checked and upgraded the Thunderbolt firmware of this NUC. It came with NVM firmware 12. The newest one released in April 2018 is 33. Intel Thunderbolt Software is a requirement for this firmware upgrade. The Thunderbolt FW Update Tool also needs an active connection to a Thunderbolt device.
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I installed Nvidia graphics drivers to use the AORUS GTX 1080 Gaming Box first. The software installation went smoothly. The HDMI port from the NUC connected to an LG 4K monitor. I tested internal display mode with this GTX 1080 eGPU by not connecting the LG monitor to any of Gaming Box's video ports. That did not work.
Next was the Gigabyte RX 580 Gaming Box. AMD XConnect worked much better. Internal display mode worked right away with the LG monitor connected through the NUC's HDMI port. Connecting the LG monitor directly to the RX 580 Gaming Box for external display mode yield very minimal performance gain.
Benchmarks:
The NUC systems have 4 PCI lanes for their Thunderbolt port. Here are the screen captures for AIDA64 and HWiNFO64. The low Memory Write speed in the RX 580 Gaming Box is due to its firmware.
| RX 580 eGPU | GTX 1080 eGPU |
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Comments:
This NUC has great build quality and a tiny footprint. It's a pity Apple has yet to make a Thunderbolt 3 Mac mini because this NUC would be a great platform for it.
• external graphics card builds
• best laptops for external GPU
• eGPU enclosure buyer's guide
2020 15" HP Spectre X360 [11th,4C,G] + RTX 2080 Ti @ 32Gbps-TB4 (AORUS Gaming Box) + Win10 2004 [build link]
Interesting build, i things this particular nuc and this particular eGPU are perfect match, better and cost effective than the Hades Canyon NUC. Wondering how it performs with mining and Hackintosh?
To do: Create my signature with system and expected eGPU configuration information to give context to my posts. I have no builds.
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It looks good. Maybe you could stick that small Intel reckoner onto somewhere on the video board box (to make it into all one clump).
2009 15" Samsung P510 [0th,2C,M] + HD 5750 @ 2Gbps-EC1 (EXP GDC 8.4) + Win7 [build link]
Lucky me that I found this post while still struggling to get my eGPU (Sonnet 550/GTX1080Ti) working reliably with my MacBook Pr0. It just happens that I have a recent NUC7i7BNH with Windows 10, and getting this eGPU working as per your description was a breeze.
The difficult part was finding the right MSVCP100.dll for Unigine Heaven 4.0 in the 2010 version of Visual C++ redistributable (x86). With standard settings: FPS = 202, Score = 5090, temperature < 70 deg C.
Radeon RX 5700 XT + Razer Core X + LG 23.7" 4K UltraFine + Huawei VR2 DP/USB to USB-C cable
Mac Mini 2018 always latest public macOS build
2017 Intel NUC7i5BNH [7th,2C,U] + GTX 1080 Ti @ 32Gbps-TB3 (Sonnet Breakaway 550) + Win10 [build link]
@hkoster1 We'd love to see your build and the performance of the NUC7i7BNH + GTX 1080 Ti eGPU. You can follow the build guide template.
• external graphics card builds
• best laptops for external GPU
• eGPU enclosure buyer's guide
2020 15" HP Spectre X360 [11th,4C,G] + RTX 2080 Ti @ 32Gbps-TB4 (AORUS Gaming Box) + Win10 2004 [build link]
@hkoster1 We'd love to see your build and the performance of the NUC7i7BNH + GTX 1080 Ti eGPU. You can follow the build guide template.
I'm working on it.
Radeon RX 5700 XT + Razer Core X + LG 23.7" 4K UltraFine + Huawei VR2 DP/USB to USB-C cable
Mac Mini 2018 always latest public macOS build
2017 Intel NUC7i5BNH [7th,2C,U] + GTX 1080 Ti @ 32Gbps-TB3 (Sonnet Breakaway 550) + Win10 [build link]
"Next was the Gigabyte RX 580 Gaming Box. AMD XConnect worked much better. Internal display mode worked right away with the LG monitor connected through the NUC's HDMI port. Connecting the LG monitor directly to the RX 580 Gaming Box for external display mode yield very minimal performance gain."
That is super interesting, if it is possible to build a SFF PC with 2x TB3 ports then I could connect my LG 5K to one, an eGPU to the other, and let the AMD software pipe the GPU through to the screen.
2017 13" MacBook Pro Touch Bar
GTX1060 + AKiTiO Thunder3 + Win10
GTX1070 + Sonnet Breakaway Box + Win10
GTX1070 + Razer Core V1 + Win10
Vega 56 + Razer Core V1 + macOS + Win10
Vega 56 + Mantiz Venus + macOS + W10
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LG 5K Ultrafine flickering issue fix
2017 13" MacBook Pro [7th,2C,U] + RX 5700 XT @ 32Gbps-TB3 (Mantiz Venus) + macOS 10.15.4 & Win10 2004 [build link]
Does someone know if the NUC8i7HNK, has 4 lanes too? Thanks!!
@ed_co Yes the Thunderbolt connection has 4 PCI lanes.
• external graphics card builds
• best laptops for external GPU
• eGPU enclosure buyer's guide
2020 15" HP Spectre X360 [11th,4C,G] + RTX 2080 Ti @ 32Gbps-TB4 (AORUS Gaming Box) + Win10 2004 [build link]
Sorry for digging that thread up another time.
@itsage, you're using an second PSU for the NUC on the build, right? Is this really necessary? The block diagram indicates that (obviously) the TB3 port is connected to the power controller, just like the DC input, is there no way of using the Aorus Box' PD for powering up the NUC?
2017 13-inch MacBook Pro TB
2019 Intel NUC10i7FNK, 16GB RAM + PM981a 1TB
Aorus Gaming Box 1070 (EVGA GTX1060 3G) - silent mod #1
Aorus Gaming Box 1080 (Gigabyte GTX1070 ITX OC) - Custom Case solution (TBD)