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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 :)

Pre-Orders AKiTio Thunderbolt 3 eGPU Box at MagStor.com + Coupon

T

Tim Gerhard

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Hey all,

I've locked in one of the first batches of the AKiTio NODE Thunderbolt 3 eGPU Box. I'm taking a limited number of pre-orders for release day shipping, which is expected to be be near the end of Feb or early March.

https://magstor.com/products/akitio-node-preorder

You can also use a discount code at checkout for $35 off - REDNODE35


These will be first come first serve and are in very limited quantities.
 
eGPU on TB3 is not supported in Mac, no matter the maker. AKiTiO has said they will have a firmware update for the NODE to work and certain cards have been tested to work. Apple is not supporting eGPU and manufacturers can't claim it is certified to use on Macs. Also Apple at any time can update the OS and block it.
 
Eh what the heck. I'll give it a try on the group buy Chad. Its only 300. Plus if it doesnt work on the laptop or gets blocked i'll just use it on a PC.
But thanks for the info guys.
Wow the Bison box seems so expensive compared to the Node but i remembered i paid 1200 for the sonnet on TB2
 
Apple is not specifically blocking eGPU support and eGPU support is part of the TB3 specification. The problems currently facing OS X and eGPUs are that the OS really has very poor support for it because there is no real demand. Sorry guys, we live in a tiny bubble here. And to pile onto that heap of no support is that nVidia and AMD have all but abandoned driver development for OS X. The Akitio boxes are working with GPUs once the GPU drivers are properly installed and the correct entries are made to various OS and driver config files. Things that a proper eGPU-supporting display driver install would take care of, if such a thing existed. And for those diving into the Akitio or Bizon TB3 expanders, don't go rushing out and getting a Pascal GPU (GTX 10x0 or Pascal Titan X). They're not fully or properly supported with the currently available driver set from nVidia. Prior generation Titan X or GeForce GTX 9x0 are your best bet. I recommend the 980TI or Titan X myself...

I might grab a Node myself, still thinking about it. I'd probably be using it for a SAS card though so I can connect to a few of non TB RAIDs and whatnot, just for convenience. Would probably play with the eGPU thing just for reasons... I guess I just don't have the need to go mobile and drag GPUs with me lately, thankfully.
 
I've been receiving a lot of emails asking if more units are available for pre-order. Once we run out of our allocated pre-orders, the website will stop taking pre-orders for the Node.

If we sell out on pre-orders email me and I'll see if I can squeeze another one out of Akitio.
 
just heard this thing goes on sale in japan on the 20th!!! Excited for the US Release!!!!
 
So if I went this route, would any 980 ti card work? I haven't bought a video card in ages, so I'm not sure what's what. There seem to be a ton of brands, are any recommended? Some have higher clock speeds, fancy cooling and whatnot. And do I need a Mac flashed card?

I realize I won't gain much, but an extra few fps could mean the difference in smooth playback at 24 and choppy playback at 21. Any feedback would be appreciated as I'd like to hold this nmp together until apple either releases something new or throws in the towel. Thanks gang.
 
What I was ordering, was if there were differences in the different 980ti cards? Different brands, different clock speeds and such. Living in the OSX world, I've never had to shop cards. Thx.
 
jeff in another forum chimed in and he said you only needed mac flashed for the old towers, and that's if you wanted pre OS bios controls. You can just get a PC one if it's just for graphic acceleration or a second card, as long as there is a driver available.
 
I'm running a non-flashed 980TI from Zotac (3 fans, yay!) in an old Mac tower and it works fine. Caveats: No startup Apple logo / Startup Screen (the desktop just appears after 30 seconds of startup) and if the NVIDIA drivers ever go down (as happened on a recent OS upgrade), then it's a card swap back to the stock card to run the gui and bring drivers up to date.
 
We have our first batch in stock as of now in San Diego. Shipping units out Tuesday April 4th.

There are still some units available from the magstor.com that wern't reserved yet. Once we sell out we will stop offering them on the site.
 
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