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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Cubix new Thunderbolt-based GPU-Xpander Mobile product for Apple iMac, macbook

i see this being more viable for da vinci on a macbook if u really wanna use it on the road, but you really need 16x slots for quality GPU acceleration, as fast as TB is it's not replacement for a true slot expander. but for everything else is gonna be wicked.
 
a mobile power packed macbook pro solution is always nice to have on set if it doesn't allow for anything bigger. can't wait to see some test reviews.
 
One issue I see with this and a few of the other expanders coming to market is the slot profile or electrical configuration. There are two slots in this expander, but both are only X4 electrical. Which will be a problem for installing many GPUs or even a Rocket card. There may be additional PCIe aux power connectors within the expansion box, but some cards are designed to draw their power only from the slot itself.

This does look like a nice option for a lot of situations and the Cubix expanders have proven very reliable so far. Everyone just needs to be aware of what slot and power configuration their PCIe cards require and choose the proper expander to fit.
 
and from what i hear, cubix is loud as *(#@(*#$&

i see that cyclone is qualified for resolve now, hopefully they jump on the TB bandwagon too, if not i'm thinking of just getting a cyclone and swapping out the psu. i really want something rackmount, and the only ones cubix have are a bit overkill.
 
Hey Jeff, is there any reason why all of these expanders are all x4 electrical? I started doing the research and that makes most of these sort of deal killers for me at least. Are there any alternatives that you know of now coming to market that are at the bare minimum x8 electrical?
 
Joe Walker said:
Hey Jeff, is there any reason why all of these expanders are all x4 electrical? I started doing the research and that makes most of these sort of deal killers for me at least. Are there any alternatives that you know of now coming to market that are at the bare minimum x8 electrical?
Click to expand...

Thunderbolt tops out at x4. The next version in 2014 should be capable of x8 PCIe 3, i.e. effectively quadruple bandwidth of x4 PCIe 2.

x8 is definitely the bare minimum for anything more than mid-range GPUs, which is why Thunderbolt isn't really suited for external GPUs.
 
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